The Morning Risk Report: Behind Paramount's Relentless Campaign to Woo Warner Discovery and Trump By Max Fillion| Dow Jones Risk Journal
Good morning. Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison knew his latest bid for Warner Bros. Discovery was in trouble when the company's CEO, David Zaslav, started ghosting him . Paramount had spent the morning of Dec. 4 finalizing its sixth bid to acquire all of Warner: an all-cash $77.9 billion offer. But Paramount was worried that Warner had already settled on their preferred dance partner: Netflix.
Concerns realized: "Just tried calling you about new bid we have submitted," Ellison texted Zaslav. "I heard you on all your concerns and believe we have addressed them in our new proposal. Please give me a call back when you can to discuss in detail." He didn't hear back. On Friday, Ellison's concerns were realized. Warner and Netflix announced a deal for the streaming giant to acquire the iconic Warner and HBO properties for $72 billion, a proposed merger that could radically reshape entertainment.
Father steps in: Ellison's father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Trump ally, called the president after the Netflix deal was announced and told him the transaction would hurt competition, according to a White House official and a person familiar with the matter.
Getting hostile: Not ready to give up, Paramount on Monday launched a hostile takeover effort for Warner, taking its case directly to shareholders. Ellison says his offer for Warner is a better deal for shareholders and more likely to pass regulatory muster. Paramount said its offer provides shareholders $18 billion more in cash than Netflix's.
CNN sweep: During a visit to Washington in recent days, David Ellison offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he'd make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump's ire, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has told people close to him that he wants new ownership of CNN as well as changes to CNN programming.
Vying for affection: Trump has so far avoided publicly backing a bidder. "None of them are particularly great friends of mine," he said at a White House roundtable on Monday. A person close to Trump said the president will want Paramount and Netflix to compete for his approval of a deal.
See also: Paramount Makes $77.9 Billion Hostile Bid for Warner After Netflix Struck Deal
Compliance
Nvidia AI chips to undergo unusual U.S. security review before export to China.
The artificial-intelligence chips that Nvidia is allowed to ship to China will undergo a special security review
in the U.S. before they are exported, according to administration officials.
The unorthodox step highlights the national-security pressure on the Trump administration following its decision to allow the controversial sales.
Nvidia's H200 AI chips that are part of the deal would mainly be manufactured in Taiwan. From there, they would travel to the U.S. for a national-security review, people familiar with the matter said. The chips would then be sent on to China.
U.K. weighing whistleblower awards for corruption tipoffs.
Risk Journal reports that the U.K. is considering awarding cash payments
to individuals who report economic crimes such as corruption or money laundering after seeing the success of similar programs in the U.S. and Canada, according to an anticorruption report published by the U.K. Home Office on Monday.
The government also recently expanded the cash awards it offers whistleblowers who report tax evasion. In a budget report published in late November, the U.K. said it would pay rewards of up to 30% of the additional tax it collects from whistleblower tips if the information leads to a recovery of over GBP1.5 million, or nearly $2 million.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined convenience store chain 7-Eleven and its parent Seven & i Holdings $4.5 million for violating a 2018 antitrust settlement by purchasing a gas station
in St. Petersburg, Fla., without giving the regulator prior notice, Risk Journal reports.
Brokerage firms have made significant strides
in improving their compliance operations, but plenty of regulatory challenges remain. Notably, they are struggling to comply with their overarching standard of conduct, making ineffective disclosures in public communications, and facing a barrage of ever-more-sophisticated cyberattacks, according to a sprawling industry report from Finra, the brokerage sector's self-regulatory authority. Risk
Tariffs dent Campbell's soup sales.
President Trump's tariffs are denting Campbell's soup sales .
The soup-and-snack maker said Tuesday that tariff-related price increases weighed on its ready-to-serve soup business, which include brands such as Chunky and Homestyle.
Campbell's is navigating tariffs on different parts of its business, including those tied to imported steel and aluminum used for canned soup, and others applied to Rao's pasta sauce imported from Italy.
President Trump dialed up pressure
on Ukraine to swiftly accept a U.S.-designed peace plan, hardening his position toward the embattled country and its European backers, who insist U.S. security guarantees are vital to a peace deal.
Layoffs crept higher
in recent months, but the job market remained fundamentally steady since the summer, the Labor Department reported Tuesday in its monthly survey of job openings and labor turnover.
Measures announced by the U.K. government in its budget will likely lower
the annual rate of inflation, but it is not clear that interest rates will follow, Bank of England Deputy Gov. Clare Lombardelli said Tuesday.
The U.S. economy is expected to slow
in 2026 amid a downturn in optimism among households and businesses, according to a basket of monthly economic indicators.
Honduras's attorney general urged international authorities to arrest a former president
on corruption charges days after he walked out of a U.S. prison following a pardon by President Trump. What Else Matters When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made the dramatic call for a "code red" last week to beat back a rising threat from Google, he put a notable priority
at the top of his list of fixes. The world's most valuable startup should pause its side projects like its Sora video generator for eight weeks and focus on improving ChatGPT, its popular chatbot that kicked off the AI boom.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said that he would hold a vote
later this week on a Republican measure aimed at controlling healthcare costs, amid party division over how best to head off big price increases next year for millions of households.
Luigi Mangione has been in a Manhattan court in recent days to ask a judge to bar certain evidence ahead of his state trial over the killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson. Here are five things to know
from Mangione's evidence hearing, which started on Dec. 1.
Cracker Barrel's new logo kicked off a firestorm after it made its debut on billboards and signs this summer. Some customers say the chain's real challenge is in the kitchen .
Columbus's reputation as an affordable city is making its homes more expensive . About Us
Follow us on X at @WSJRisk . Send tips to our reporters Max Fillion at [max.fillion@dowjones.com], Mengqi Sun at [mengqi.sun@wsj.com] and Richard Vanderford at [richard.vanderford@wsj.com].
You can also reach us by replying to any newsletter, or by emailing our editor David Smagalla at [david.smagalla@wsj.com].
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2025 07:15 ET (12:15 GMT)
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