Insights | Meridian Research Group | Page 12

Mergers & Acquisitions

Paramount Sydance/Warner Discovery

Upcoming/recent developments… The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Paramount Skydance (Paramount) is preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Brothers Discovery (Warner). The bid is apparently for the entire company. Our outlook… We believe Paramount/Warner would ultimately be cleared by federal regulators. As we are observing...

Tech / Media / Telecom

International Digital Taxes/Regulation

President Trump continues to signal his alignment with large U.S. tech firms, most recently reflected in his hosting of industry leaders (e.g., Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, others) at the White House. Meanwhile, his allies in Congress are highlighting censorship of U.S. citizens abroad and foreign discrimination against...

Tech / Media / Telecom

With California lawmakers having passed new AI legislation - and that bill awaiting Governor Newsom’s approval - Republican discussions around a possible moratorium on state-level AI laws are beginning to reemerge.

Tech / Media / Telecom

AI/Semiconductors

Senate China hawks want to include export control legislation in its annual defense bill (NDAA) that would give U.S. companies the right of first refusal on advanced AI chip orders before foreign countries like China could place orders for the same semiconductors. A similar effort failed in the House earlier this month as the tech industry has...

FY26 Government Funding/Shutdown, ACA

House and Senate Republicans appear to be planning for votes next week on a “continuing resolution (CR)" that extends FY26 government funding (appropriations) through 11/20. Without a CR, government operations (loans, grants, other non-entitlement programs) will shut down on 10/1.

Nutrition Policy/FDA

As part of the FDA’s recently unified agenda update (which outlines upcoming regulatory actions for the coming months) - and as called for in the MAHA Strategy Report released this week - the agency has signaled it will issue a proposed rule that (1) requires the mandatory submission of "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) notices for substances...