Good morning. It's Tuesday, Dec. 9, and we're covering a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a rescue package for US farmers, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4.5 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
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The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in Trump v. Slaughter—a case that could expand presidential authority over independent agencies.
The case centers on President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Kelly Slaughter without cause. That decision defied a 1914 law—and a subsequent 1935 Supreme Court ruling—that says FTC members can be removed only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.” The court yesterday appeared poised to overturn or limit its 1935 ruling, which Chief Justice John Roberts characterized as a “dried husk.” Roberts cited the FTC's expanded executive functions in the past 90 years, which could place it under the executive branch’s purview.
Trump has fired members of various agencies, citing unitary executive theory (see explanation). While yesterday's legal challenge could have implications for those cases, the Supreme Court suggests Trump’s firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is different because that agency is structured uniquely as a quasi-private entity. |
Paramount Skydance yesterday presented Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders with a $108.4B offer for the entire company, including its production studios, HBO Max streaming platform, and cable networks such as CNN.
The hostile takeover bypasses Warner’s board, which decided last week to sell Warner's studio and streaming arms to Netflix for $82.7B while spinning the cable networks into a new publicly traded company. Paramount, whose bid offers shareholders $2.25 more per share, accuses Warner's board of unfairly favoring Netflix in a weekslong bidding process. Netflix counters that the value of the new standalone cable company will exceed the difference between the offers. Paramount has also raised antitrust concerns regarding Netflix's streaming industry market share.
Paramount’s bid has financial backing from an investment firm run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth firms; and Larry Ellison, the cofounder of Oracle and father of Paramount's CEO. |
The US unveiled a $12B package yesterday to support farmers affected by trade disruptions, particularly losses from reduced exports to China, which was the third-largest market for US agricultural products in 2024 at nearly $25B annually.
Roughly $11B is earmarked for a new USDA assistance program that will offer one-time payments to farmers who grow row crops (such as corn, soybeans, and sorghum), while $1B will be reserved for specialty-crop growers. The funding will be distributed by the end of February and is expected to come from tariff revenue. As of October, the US had collected roughly $195B in customs duties in fiscal year 2025—more than 250% of what it collected in fiscal year 2024.
Soybean and sorghum exports were hit hardest, as China, which historically bought more than half of US exports, paused purchases amid tariff disputes. Chinese purchases have lagged despite trade truce promises, leaving farmers with lower crop prices and rising input costs.
Separately, China's trade surplus has reached $1T for the first time. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Louvre Museum workers vote to strike over working conditions, ticket price hikes, and poor security after $102M heist; demonstration begins Dec. 15 (More) | Armed thieves steal eight Matisse paintings from public library in São Paulo, Brazil (More) |
> "One Battle After Another" leads all films with nine nominations for 2026 Golden Globe Awards (Jan. 11); "The White Lotus" tops the TV side with six nods (More) | Jimmy Kimmel signs one-year extension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with ABC (More) |
> Florida State tops Stanford 1-0 to win its third NCAA women’s soccer national championship in the past five years (More) |
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> Google to launch its first AI-powered glasses next year: one audio-only model and another model with in-lens display (More) |
> Researchers develop wireless device that uses light to send information to the brain, bypassing natural sensory pathways; could help restore lost senses (More) |
> Global coalition of scientists seeking to understand dark matter completes most sensitive search yet, detecting neutrinos from the sun’s core for the first time (More) | What we've learned about the dark universe (1440 Topics) |
🌌 Everything we've learned about general relativity: This morning's Science & Technology newsletter explores one of Einstein's greatest achievements—the theory that reveals how mass bends space and time. The email comes out at 8:30 am ET, sign up here to receive! |
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> US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.1%) as investors await decision from Federal Reserve's final two-day policy meeting of the year, which begins today (More) |
> President Donald Trump approves Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips for sale to China; in exchange, the US will receive 25% of the sale revenue (More) |
> Candy giant Mars to close $36B acquisition of Kellanova, maker of Cheez-Its and Pringles, this week after receiving EU regulatory approval (More) | Magnum Ice Cream reaches $9B market cap after trading debut in Amsterdam (More) |
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A $4.7 Trillion Real Estate Reset Is Coming |
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> Alina Habba resigns as US attorney in New Jersey, takes role as senior adviser for US attorneys to Attorney General Pam Bondi; comes after a court ruled Habba had been serving in the role unlawfully since her tenure was slated to end in July (More) |
> Thai military launches airstrikes on Cambodia, accuses Cambodia of wounding two Thai soldiers at the border; clashes threaten US-mediated peace deal (More) |
> Magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes off Japan's northeast coast, triggering a tsunami of up to 28 inches and injuring at least 23 people (More) |
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> The First Cattalo
Popular Science | Bill Gourgey. The story behind the doomed cow-buffalo hybrid known as the "cattalo," invented by cowboy and con man Charles “Buffalo” Jones in 1888. (Read) |
> New Face in Hollywood
CBS News | Jo Ling Kent. Eline Van der Velden is the creator behind AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood: Hollywood's newest fresh face and the industry's latest villain. (Read) |
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Historybook: Actor Kirk Douglas born (1916); Actress Dame Judi Dench born (1934); “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuts (1965); Diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche dies (1971); World Health Organization confirms smallpox has been eradicated (1979). |
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