Beauty’s M&A Drought, The F.B.I. Kluster, Sotheby’s Miami Shake-Up

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon roundup of Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Dylan Byers’ holiday cocktail of media business intel: Will Lewis and Jeff Bezos’s shortlist for Washington Post executive editor, the real story of Rashida Jones’s impending exit from MSNBC, the latest SpinCo spin from 30 Rock, and more.

Plus, below the fold: Bill Cohan wonders whether a reverse merger with Elon’s X could save Truth Social from its post-election slump. Rachel Strugatz reminisces about a year to forget for beauty industry dealmakers. John Heilemann chats with a pair of F.B.I. veterans—Frank Figliuzzi and Andrew Weissmann—about Kash Patel and the state of the bureau as Trump II looms. And on The Powers That Be, Marion Maneker joins Peter Hamby to preview Art Basel Miami, which kicks off this week, and the chatter surrounding potential layoffs at Sotheby’s.

DYLAN BYERS

News and notes on the yuletide fixations of legacy media and its stalwarts as corporate holiday party season beckons: Rashida Jones’ impending MSNBC exit, SpinCo spin, and the denouement of the Washington Post (first newsroom!) executive editor sweepstakes.

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WILLIAM D. COHAN

The value of the president-elect’s media company, which is on track to lose an incredible $363 million this year, has bizarrely skyrocketed before the election and is trading at an absurd 2,770x revenue. Will Elon get his taste via a reverse merger?

RACHEL STRUGATZ

Despite rose-tinted expectations, it’s shaping up to be a barren year for beauty business hookups, as sellers and buyers diverge over valuations and strategic investors pull back.

JOHN HEILEMANN

With Trump bent on revenge and having appointed the ideal henchman to carry it out, F.B.I. honchos are dusting off their résumés while field officers cross their fingers. Two bureau veterans—Frank Figliuzzi and Andrew Weissmann—explain how worried we should really be.