Happy Monday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 952 words… 3.6 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Larry Ellison Personally Guarantees Paramount Bid, Trump Names Special Envoy To Greenland, Car Bomb Kills Russian General, Mamdani’s Double Inauguration, Alphabet To Buy Intersect… & much more!
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
💰 Larry Ellison Personally Guarantees Paramount Bid: Escalates Hollywood’s Bidding War
Paramount Skydance, led by David Ellison, just sweetened its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with a $108B all-cash tender offer—and a credibility flex:
Larry Ellison is now personally guaranteeing up to $40B in equity, using his own Oracle-heavy fortune to nuke doubts about financing.
🧮The bid math
💰 $108B all-cash, tender deadline pushed to Jan. 21, 2026
🛡️ $40B personal backstop from Larry Ellison (Kushner’s Affinity withdraws from the bid)
🔁 $6B projected synergies
💣 Matches Netflix’s $5.8B breakup fee if the deal implodes
The rival: Netflix’s $72–$82.7B deal for WBD’s studios + streaming, excluding CNN and cable. Cleaner. Smaller. Less drama.
WBD’s stance: CEO David Zaslav has rejected six prior Paramount offers (up to $30/share) as underfunded. He prefers Netflix’s certainty—even if it strips out linear TV and invites regulatory heat.
👀Behind the scenes:
Private dinners, exec job offers, and Zoom calls between Larry Ellison, David Zaslav and WBD shareholder John Malone.
Reported White House chatter around CNN’s future—friendly terrain for Paramount which aligns with Washington on keeping CNN’s structure intact.
Netflix’s Ted Sarandos fires back: synergies = layoffs, not growth
💡Why it matters: Paramount’s enhanced bid forces WBD shareholders to choose between two futures: a consolidated traditional media giant or a streaming powerhouse. The shareholder tender by January 21 will decide if Ellison’s guarantee is enough to override the board’s recommendation in favor of Netflix.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
👀 Trump Reopens the Greenland File
President Trump named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as U.S. special envoy to Greenland, reviving a geopolitical obsession he never dropped.
The White House framed Greenland as mission-critical for Arctic security, minerals, and “peace through strength.”
Denmark is furious. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is summoning the U.S. ambassador.
Meanwhile, Danish and Greenlandic leaders jointly stressed the island “is not for sale” and belongs to Greenlanders.
💡Why it matters: Greenland sits atop rare-earth minerals and key Arctic shipping lanes, plus a U.S. military footprint. Trump has previously floated U.S. control—military options included. Washington sees leverage; Copenhagen sees a red line.
💥 Moscow Car Bomb Takes Out Senior Russian General
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, a senior figure in Russia’s General Staff, was killed by a car bomb in Moscow’s Yasenevo district early Dec. 22.
Explosives detonated under his SUV as he pulled out, shredding the vehicle—another precision strike deep inside the capital.
Sarvarov ran operational training, fought in Chechnya, and led missions in Syria.
This is the third senior Russian military killing in Moscow in a year, signaling porous internal security.
💡Bottom line: The blast lands amid U.S.-mediated Ukraine ceasefire talks. Moscow hints at Kyiv. Ukraine stays silent.
🤖 Chips, Crypto, and Conflict of Interest?
The U.S. Senate is investigating whether Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and AI/crypto adviser David Sacks crossed ethical red lines by backing U.S. AI chip exports to the UAE while UAE money flowed into their crypto orbit.
The trigger: In May, Washington approved billions in Nvidia-class AI chips for the UAE—despite China-linked security fears—after Witkoff advocacy.
Around the same time, UAE fund MGX poured $2B into Binance using World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin (a firm tied to Witkoff and the Trump family.)
💡Why it matters: Democrat Senators Elizabeth Warren and Elissa Slotkin warn of quid pro quo risk at the intersection of national security, AI, and crypto cash.
⚡Bottom line: AI chips are the new oil—and Congress wants receipts.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
🕵️♂️ CBS Hits Pause on “60 Minutes” Prison Exposé
CBS abruptly pulled a “60 Minutes” segment on El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison hours before airtime, citing “additional reporting.”
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi says the piece was lawyer-cleared and fully vetted, calling the delay “political.”
The prison holds hundreds of U.S.-deported migrants and is condemned by rights groups.
💡Why it matters: The move lands amid editorial upheaval at CBS under new chief Bari Weiss—and revives fears of a quiet kill switch on uncomfortable reporting.
🕑 Mamdani’s Double Oath
NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in twice on Jan. 1:
First at midnight in a private ceremony led by AG Letitia James
Then again at a 1 p.m. public inauguration on City Hall steps officiated by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
⚡Why it matters: The split signals institutional blessing + movement energy. Mamdani will become New York City’s first Muslim Mayor and the first ever to support “Globalize the Intifada” protests against the Jewish community.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
💵 Alphabet Buys the Power Behind AI
Alphabet is acquiring Intersect, a data center and energy infrastructure firm, for $4.75B in cash plus assumed debt, aiming to bring AI-era capacity online faster.
Google already held a minority stake.
⚡As OpenAI locks in trillion-dollar infrastructure commitments, Google is vertically integrating energy + data centers to stay competitive.
📲 TikTok Shop Tries the Amazon Playbook
TikTok Shop rolled out digital gift cards ($10–$500) in the U.S., timed for the holidays and aimed squarely at Amazon and eBay.
Cards are email-delivered, instantly credited, and wrapped in TikTok-native animations.
⚡After $500M in U.S. Black Friday–Cyber Monday sales, TikTok is pushing deeper into commerce—luxury included—while teasing video-message gift cards by early 2026.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
La Tomatina
Every August in Buñol, Spain, La Tomatina unleashes the world's biggest food fight—tens of thousands pelt each other with over 100 tons of ripe tomatoes, turning the streets into a slippery red sea!