Pivot Paramount Wins Warner Bros. Bid, Anthropic vs. Pentagon, and AI Doomsday Memo
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Feb 27, 2026 
Bill Cohan, media and deals journalist at Puck, breaks down Paramount's winning $31-per-share bid for Warner Bros. He explains why Netflix walked away and Larry Ellison’s role in funding the deal. The conversation also touches on Anthropic’s resistance to Pentagon demands and a viral memo about AI-driven mass layoffs.
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Hamptons Renovation Workers Watched Porn In The Kitchen
- Scott Galloway recounted renovating a Hamptons house where day laborers watched porn on a small TV late at night.
- He used the image to lampoon dubious personal behavior while telling a self-deprecating story about his past.
Scarcity And Auctioncraft Drove Warner Bros Price Surge
- Paramount won the Warner Bros. bidding because scarcity and a disciplined auction made the asset exponentially more valuable.
- Bill Cohan credits David Zaslav's M&A process for driving Warner's price from ~$7 to $31 per share via competitive tension and smart dealcrafting.
NVIDIA's Data Center Boom Is Reshaping Tech Economics
- NVIDIA's data-center revenue exploded (up ~75% YoY) and gross margins hit ~75%, making it one of the most dominant companies today.
- Scott Galloway notes fiscal 2026 revenue guidance of ~$216B and that NVIDIA's growth defies normal big-number math despite China exposure dropping.