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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live weekdays at ten am

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Speaker 1: Eastern on Apple, Cocklay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or watch us live on YouTube.

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Speaker 2: Merger Monday, another m and a trade. I'd like to

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Speaker 2: see it.

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Speaker 3: This time Currick Doctor Pepper ingreed to buy JD E

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Speaker 3: Peats for fifteen point seven billion euros to bolster it's

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Speaker 3: struggling coffee business. They're not done then, CURRK Doctor Pepper

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Speaker 3: will separate its coffee and beverage units into two independent

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Speaker 3: US listed companies once the deal is completed. All I

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Speaker 3: hear is the cash register ringing for the backers and lawyers.

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Speaker 3: Let's see what's going on here. Ken schae joined to

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Speaker 3: senior consumer analysts. A Bloomberg Intelligence safely ascons down there

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Speaker 3: in our Princeton campus. Ken, talk to us about Carrick

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Speaker 3: Doctor Pepper. What are they trying to do here?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Hi, Paul.

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Speaker 5: So, this two step deal basically addresses a lagging division

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Speaker 5: they've had, the carried coffee business. You know, it's it's

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Speaker 5: cold beverage business, namely Dr Pepper, Mott's Canada Dry is

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Speaker 5: doing it really well, whereas the Carre coffee business really

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Speaker 5: has been a laggered over the last couple of years.

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Speaker 5: Now that you have higher green coffee costs, you have

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Speaker 5: you know, fifty percent tariffs coming in from Brazil, namely

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Speaker 5: coffee beans, slow demand for at home you know pod business,

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Speaker 5: you know, the ubiquitous CA cups, and it really is

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Speaker 5: painted a dismal picture for that division of the second half.

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Speaker 5: So rather than try to sell it, and I don't

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Speaker 5: know if they try to do that, but rather than

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Speaker 5: try to do that at a low multiple, what they're

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Speaker 5: trying to do cleverly is team it up with JD. E. Peats,

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Speaker 5: which is the number two coffee producer in the world,

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Speaker 5: behind only Nesley, but mostly big in Europe, and you know,

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Speaker 5: attached the US essentially US business, the CA cup business

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Speaker 5: together and you have a pretty good, pretty good entity.

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Speaker 6: You know what struck me when I was reading about

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Speaker 6: this deal, guys, Doctor Pepper was the second most popular

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Speaker 6: soda in the US last year. Is that right behind

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Speaker 6: coke and a head of PEPSI I did not know that.

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Speaker 6: I can't remember the last time I drank a Doctor Pepper.

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Speaker 3: Well, if you're in Texas, that's like the stage drink,

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Speaker 3: then is it now?

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Speaker 7: Yes?

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Speaker 6: All right, So but Ken, the questionnaire is, talk to

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Speaker 6: me about the beverage side, the soda side here, because

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Speaker 6: I know bottled water has sort of been eating their

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Speaker 6: lunch the overall industry right for years now, outpacing the

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Speaker 6: sales of soda. So how what's the health of that

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Speaker 6: side of the business.

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Speaker 5: Oh, it's doing very well, le sais the cold everage

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Speaker 5: side is doing really well, whether it's Coke or Pepsi

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Speaker 5: or Cure Doctor Pepper, particularly those three companies, because distribution

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Speaker 5: is everything. These three company have national footprints, so they

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Speaker 5: can reach all the outlets, you know, whether it's fountain

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Speaker 5: drinks or traditional supermarkets, you know, vending, whatever, they can

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Speaker 5: reach it. And they have all had powerful brands. As

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Speaker 5: you said, Doctor Pepper's really been coming on strong over

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Speaker 5: the last couple of years, and they have other powerful brands,

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Speaker 5: and unfortunately they are somewhat mini conglomerate business structure is

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Speaker 5: being dragged down by you know, Carrig the coffee business.

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Speaker 5: So that business doing really well. Carrick has shown that

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Speaker 5: it's also flexible and willing to pivot to fast growing

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Speaker 5: niche cold beverages. You know, it's a business that continually

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Speaker 5: changes with consumer tastes. Over the last year or so,

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Speaker 5: for instance, energy drinks have taken off. So what they do.

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Speaker 5: They went out and bought Ghost Energy. You know, for

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Speaker 5: even a younger demographic that typically drinks beverage energy beverages.

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Speaker 5: They are bigger into the sports the sports drink category

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Speaker 5: they talked about on the last call a few weeks ago,

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Speaker 5: to get strong longer. In the protein space, everybody wants protein,

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Speaker 5: you know, the golp one folks need protein replenishment. So

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Speaker 5: they've shown a willingness to branch out and tap into anywhere.

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Speaker 5: We're fast growing col beverages are you know, doing well.

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Speaker 3: So I look on my global commodity screen and I

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Speaker 3: see the price of coffee. It's up like twenty five

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Speaker 3: percent this year. I mean, what's going on with that?

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Speaker 3: Talk to us about coffee and just the cost of

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Speaker 3: the beans and all that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 5: Well, you know, coffee beans are essentially sourced from Brazil,

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Speaker 5: so to some degree the roasters are hostage to good crops.

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Speaker 5: And over the last year or so, you really haven't

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Speaker 5: had great crops. I think some of the sellers in

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Speaker 5: Brazil are also holding back knowing that towers are coming

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Speaker 5: uh and you're not going to get what you know

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Speaker 5: they would like to get. And that's exacerbating the run

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Speaker 5: up that you've seen over the past six months a

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Speaker 5: year in coffee beans. If you went back over the

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Speaker 5: last couple of years, thirty two or three years, you

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Speaker 5: would see that the retail price of coffee, whether it's

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Speaker 5: rate to drink or hot coffee at your local coffee shop,

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Speaker 5: have increased faster than most other beverages soft drinks I'm

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Speaker 5: talking about. So you've even seeing some consumers bypower or

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Speaker 5: switching from say like cold brew cold coffee to move

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Speaker 5: to energy drinks. It's more cost effective, so the energy.

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Speaker 5: So the coffee producers have a condundrum. Do they continue

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Speaker 5: to raise prices and get flatter lower volumes or do

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Speaker 5: they eat that margin. And so what Cure has decided

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Speaker 5: to do is kind of divest in a tax efficient way.

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Speaker 2: Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live

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Speaker 1: weekdays at ten am Eastern on Apple, Cocklay and Android

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Speaker 1: Auto with the Bloomberg Business app, Listen on demand, wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, what us Live on YouTube deals.

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Speaker 3: The Pinaut family is said to explore options for selling

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Speaker 3: perhaps it's sports brand Puma, and I looked at the

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Speaker 3: Puma shares as they trade in Germany.

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Speaker 2: They've almost like half their value.

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Speaker 3: I don't know what's going on over there, but Punham

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Speaker 3: Coyle does. She's the senior US retail and also Bloomberg Intelligence.

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Speaker 3: Punham talk to us about Puma. What's going on with

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Speaker 3: that brand and why the Pinot family and maybe we're

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Speaker 3: going to sell here.

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Speaker 7: Yes. I think Puma has come under a lot of

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Speaker 7: pressure in the last two years, especially since they lost

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Speaker 7: their CEO to Aditas just about two years ago. What's

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Speaker 7: happened is that Huma was able to thrive when Nike

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Speaker 7: had pulled out of wholesale, as they regained a lot

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Speaker 7: of that shelf space. But now with Nike pushing back

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Speaker 7: and really entering wholesale in a more meaningful way, Huma

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Speaker 7: doesn't have that same visibility in wholesale, So their wholesale

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Speaker 7: sales have struggled and they really haven't found a niche

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Speaker 7: for themselves to grow the company from where it is today,

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Speaker 7: so lots of pain points. I think, you know, with

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Speaker 7: a sale, if there is a sale that is it

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Speaker 7: might just give it a bigger lap to fall into,

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Speaker 7: giving it more scale to leverage, and maybe allow it

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Speaker 7: to grow a little stronger.

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Speaker 6: You know, I'm curious about endorsements because I just don't

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Speaker 6: feel like I see it with Puma in the way

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Speaker 6: that I do with a Nike certainly, or or Adidas.

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Speaker 6: I mean, I think I saw Duaalipa out there hawking.

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Speaker 6: I don't know the connection there, but hawking you know

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Speaker 6: Puma's So are they behind the curve when it comes

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Speaker 6: to what can be really vital endorsements.

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Speaker 7: The vital endorsements are critical in the game of sports,

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Speaker 7: and you're absolutely right. When it comes to mainstream sports

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Speaker 7: that we're used to, like basketball and soccer and football,

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Speaker 7: Puma doesn't have as big of a play there as

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Speaker 7: Nike and Adidas. But Puma has crafted itself into the

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Speaker 7: smaller sports like cricket. For example, it endorses the one

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Speaker 7: of the largest cricket players in India. For cricket. It

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Speaker 7: has the Ferrari sponsorship for racing cars right, so it

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Speaker 7: does participate more meaningfully in the smaller sports. You might

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Speaker 7: want to call it versus basketball. You know, it has LaMelo,

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Speaker 7: but it doesn't have really that much more in terms

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Speaker 7: of in the other mainstream sports like football or others.

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Speaker 3: Who do you think should if this company is put

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Speaker 3: up for sale, who do you think should buy Puma?

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Speaker 7: That's a tough question. I mean it's probably going to

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Speaker 7: be right now, it's speculated as anti sports and leaving,

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Speaker 7: and I think those are all possibilities because they have

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Speaker 7: the room to take in a brand that wouldn't have

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Speaker 7: as much overlap. Right it's the predominant brand. It could

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Speaker 7: help them scale their own visibility. I don't think of

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Speaker 7: Huma makes sense for a Nike or Adidas, for example.

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Speaker 7: I don't think that's where alongs, but I think anywhere

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Speaker 7: else is fair game.

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Speaker 6: If they don't sell, what are the other options on

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Speaker 6: the table here?

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Speaker 7: I think it's just going back to the basics, right.

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Speaker 7: I think it's going to be harder for them to

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Speaker 7: compete on with Nike and Adidas because they don't have

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Speaker 7: the dollars or the deep pockets to advertise and market

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Speaker 7: as aggressively as the other two do. But they have

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Speaker 7: to stay true to their niche markets and really craft

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Speaker 7: their way up from there. It's going to be tough. Look,

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Speaker 7: the at leisure market is getting more competitive. Everyone is

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Speaker 7: trying to sell at leisure right. Whether it's a specialty

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Speaker 7: apparel retailers or the mainstream retailers, whoever it is, they're

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Speaker 7: all going after that market share because the market is growing.

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Speaker 7: It's not going to be an easy ride. And they

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Speaker 7: have a new CEO in place to help them drive

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Speaker 7: the turnaround, but we haven't heard a strategy yet, so

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Speaker 7: we're not sure what their intentions are and what the

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Speaker 7: roadmap is to really drive this turnaround.

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Speaker 3: At least yet thirty seconds put them who's the Pino family?

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Speaker 7: Who are they? About twenty nine percent of plum I share,

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Speaker 7: so I think they're an investor that's largely invested there.

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Speaker 7: But I would say there's a push to get the

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Speaker 7: sale going because of the underperformance that they've had.

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Speaker 2: Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live

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Speaker 1: weekdays at ten am Eastern on Applecarplay and Android Auto

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Speaker 1: with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube.

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Speaker 6: Believe it or not, Apple is just weeks away from

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Speaker 6: its biggest product launcher, one of its biggest product launch ever.

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Speaker 6: You're calling it a once in a generation iPhone overhaul.

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Speaker 6: What does that really mean? What can we expect? Anirag Rana,

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Speaker 6: Bloomberg Intelligence technology analyst, coming to us live from our

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Speaker 6: Chicago bureau. An Rag thanks so much for being with us. Look,

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Speaker 6: I'm the kind of person who holds on to her iPhone. Okay,

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Speaker 6: I don't have to run out and buy the latest, greatest,

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Speaker 6: I will have it four years. Why because there's not

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Speaker 6: really a compelling reason oftentimes to upgrade, unless I'm looking

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Speaker 6: for a better camera. So tell me what's going to

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Speaker 6: get me to go out and buy these new iPhones?

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Speaker 4: You know, frankly speaking most of the Western world that

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Speaker 4: is still the story is you will go and change

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Speaker 4: when you're you know, your battery is not working properly,

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Speaker 4: or there is some issue with the screen. However, you know,

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Speaker 4: every time there is a new model that shapes up

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Speaker 4: comes out, you know, there is some excitement, and it

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Speaker 4: seems that this time bar Guman's done such a good

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Speaker 4: job reporting again that they'll be launching called the iPhone

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Speaker 4: Slim or the seventeen, which is like an iPhone, you know,

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Speaker 4: just like a Macair airbook, you you know, it's a

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Speaker 4: slimmer phone. It's going to be replacing the iPhone sixteen plus,

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Speaker 4: so still the base end model. But I think that

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Speaker 4: is the one area where we are seeing something new

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Speaker 4: come out of Apple iPhone, which has not been the case,

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Speaker 4: I thing for the last several years.

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Speaker 3: So, I mean, again, what can they really do here?

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Speaker 3: I mean, is there something I kind of think that

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Speaker 3: phone's fine? What are they looking to do? What are

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Speaker 3: they looking to achieve? Are they looking to address some shortfall?

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Speaker 4: It typically targets more the emerging markets, more the Western world.

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Speaker 4: When you look at some market like the US and

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Speaker 4: it's pretty saturated in terms of unit growth. What can

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Speaker 4: happen in the US mostly is people may decide to

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Speaker 4: upgrade to a larger skew with more memory or a

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Speaker 4: better camera, and that just leads to higher average selling price.

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Speaker 4: But in emerging markets, where the cost bass or the

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Speaker 4: entry level point, you're giving them something new, something cooler,

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Speaker 4: perhaps in a new color. You know, that's what brings

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Speaker 4: in more people to the ecosystem. And then over time

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Speaker 4: they can go from the base model to the pro

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Speaker 4: model or the ProPlus model.

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Speaker 6: What about this foldable iPhone. I know that Samsung did

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Speaker 6: it with the Galaxy, but that was like five or

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Speaker 6: six years ago, so Apple's a little late to the game.

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Speaker 6: That happens sometimes Apple's not always the first to market,

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Speaker 6: but it sort of takes over the market once that

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Speaker 6: enters it. So what can we expect from this foldable phone?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but that's not going to happen till next year.

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Speaker 4: I mean Markomann said that that's the base or the

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Speaker 4: slim model is the base of the foldable phone, which

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Speaker 4: is going to come out next year. So Apple's still

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Speaker 4: behind on that. But Apple has an argument that they

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Speaker 4: will not go unless they are absolutely sure. They don't

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Speaker 4: want to give the users a bad experience, and their

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Speaker 4: big issue has been, you know, when you fold that phone,

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Speaker 4: there's a slight crease in the middle, and they really

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Speaker 4: don't want that level of technology. Another thing they've done

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Speaker 4: is using their own mortem in this case rather than

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Speaker 4: the one that using from Qualcom. Apparently that helps them

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Speaker 4: to slim the design or the size of the phone.

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Speaker 4: And you know that again, what's the base for next

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Speaker 4: year's foldable phone.

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Speaker 3: You know, there was a time when people would get

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Speaker 3: excited about new product launchers. Ma Apple, that feels like

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Speaker 3: ten fifteen years ago.

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Speaker 2: All people want to know about is AI. What's the

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Speaker 2: AI strategy?

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Speaker 3: What's the nuance from recent discussions with Apple about kind

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Speaker 3: of their AI strates?

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Speaker 6: Well, Siri get any better?

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Speaker 5: Please? Please?

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Speaker 4: I think this is a you know, it's people. If

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Speaker 4: there's one peg company that's made so much fun around AI,

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Speaker 4: that's Apple in the last you know, one and a

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Speaker 4: half to two years. But I still go back to

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Speaker 4: say that this is probably one of the most important

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Speaker 4: distribution systems out there in the world to get mask

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Speaker 4: adoption of consumer AI applications. So Mark's done an amazing job.

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Speaker 4: Again to talk about what they're doing in that case

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Speaker 4: is on Friday he reported they are working now with

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Speaker 4: Google to get to their Gemini models, and frankly that

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Speaker 4: has been our hope that down the road, if there

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Speaker 4: is an agreement between Google and and and Apple to

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Speaker 4: get their Gemini models in the ecosystem, I think it's

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Speaker 4: going to help Apple defend that you know, Hefty feed

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Speaker 4: that they generate from Google, which is you know, under

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Speaker 4: scrutiny right now. But it seems to me that based

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Speaker 4: on Oldmark has said that they're going to be working

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Speaker 4: with open Ei and Tropic and Google, and these are

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Speaker 4: the three companies with the top models right now. So

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Speaker 4: whether they use it in you know, one particular area,

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Speaker 4: whether it's you know, whether that's the headphones, or whether

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Speaker 4: it's on device, whether it's sending stuff to the cloud,

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Speaker 4: I think they if they can't build it themselves, they

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Speaker 4: have the capacity to outsource it to one of these experts.

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Speaker 2: Say with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live

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Speaker 1: weekdays at ten am Eastern on Apple, Cocklay and Android

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Speaker 1: Auto with the Bloomberg Business app, Listen on demand wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.

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Speaker 6: We want to dive into a broadcasting deal that was

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Speaker 6: announced not long ago, Next Star A buying its rival Tegna.

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Speaker 6: It's a six point two billion dollar cash transaction works

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Speaker 6: out to about twenty two dollars a share. I think

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Speaker 6: that was about a thirty percent premium when it was

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Speaker 6: first announced. Shareholders seem to like the idea, but well,

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Speaker 6: the government so We've got Jennifer Ee here, Bloomberg Intelligence

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Speaker 6: senior litigation analyst, to break it all down for us. So, Jen,

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Speaker 6: once upon time there were rules about how many stations.

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Speaker 6: Once upon that time one company could could own. Will

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Speaker 6: this FCC approved this deal?

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Speaker 8: You know, I think in the end yes, because the

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Speaker 8: timing was right. You know, this isn't a deal. I

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Speaker 8: think that these companies could have gotten through a few

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Speaker 8: years ago during the Biden administration. So both of the

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Speaker 8: rules that the FCC has that would get in the

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Speaker 8: way are in the process of being changed as we speak,

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Speaker 8: and Republican commissioners have for a long time wanted to

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Speaker 8: change these rules. So the first one is the thirty

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Speaker 8: nine percent ownership cap. You know that one company can't

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Speaker 8: own or operate TV stations that reach more than thirty

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Speaker 8: nine percent of US households. These companies say they'll reach

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Speaker 8: eighty percent. So it's just clear on its face that

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Speaker 8: there's a problem there. But the FCC is in a

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Speaker 8: rule making process. They'll probably have this rule, get rid

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Speaker 8: of it, vacate it. We think by the end of

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Speaker 8: the year. You know, my colleague Matt Chattenhelm is an

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Speaker 8: expert on the FCC and we've talked about this quite

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Speaker 8: a bit. That's probably going to clear out of their way.

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Speaker 8: There could be litigation, of course, but we do think

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Speaker 8: the rule will move out of the way. The other

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Speaker 8: issue is owning more than one of what's called the

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Speaker 8: Big four broadcast stations ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox. That rule

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Speaker 8: would also get in the way here, probably in a

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Speaker 8: number of local areas. Does it called designated market areas

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Speaker 8: by Nielsen. That rule has also been vacated by the

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Speaker 8: Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. It will also probably be

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Speaker 8: in litigation, but it seems like the road is clearing

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Speaker 8: for the FCC.

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Speaker 3: There.

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Speaker 2: It's a whole new world.

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Speaker 8: Yes, it's a whole new world. But we have Department

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Speaker 8: of Justice also, so we can't forget that, right, and

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Speaker 8: we always think about the FCC. The Department of Justice

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Speaker 8: is going to be looking at this too, but I

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Speaker 8: do think they can probably get it cleared through that

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Speaker 8: agency as well.

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Speaker 3: All we really care about is President Trump, that he

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Speaker 3: have voiced any opinion one way or the other about

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Speaker 3: this type of deal or these types of deals.

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Speaker 8: You know, I haven't heard anything from him. You know,

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Speaker 8: it would be reported in the news. I haven't heard

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Speaker 8: him say anything about these deals. We are beginning to

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Speaker 8: see a trend though in the merger world, Paul, where

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Speaker 8: if the companies do and say the right things for

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Speaker 8: the Trump administration, they're getting assistants and getting their deal through.

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Speaker 8: And they're all pretty well aware of that. So as

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Speaker 8: long as they do and say the right things, hey,

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Speaker 8: we won't block political ads, will be neutral in you know,

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Speaker 8: our censorship of content things like that that resonate with Trump.

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Speaker 8: That's going to help them.

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Speaker 6: Sinclair did come in here with an eleventh hour deal,

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Speaker 6: did they not?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 6: I think so, but you know they rebuff what it

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Speaker 6: seemed like on a per share basis, it was better

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Speaker 6: than the next Star deal for Tegna, So why rebuffet?

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Speaker 8: You know, I can't speak to that. You know, that's

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Speaker 8: much more Tegna and Tegna's strategy. Maybe they think from

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Speaker 8: an anti trust perspective, there's.

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Speaker 2: Less overlap here.

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Speaker 8: I mean, it is thirty five of fifty one of

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Speaker 8: their DMAs, That's what Techna says. But in those thirty five,

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Speaker 8: depending on what stations they own, that overlap may not

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Speaker 8: be problematic. It may only be problematic into few they

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Speaker 8: may still have to divest some stations in order to

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Speaker 8: get Department of Justice approval. I haven't done that comparison analysis,

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Speaker 8: but it may be that they have to divest your

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Speaker 8: stations for this deal, perhaps done a different one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, how is the Department of Justice when looking at

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Speaker 3: mergers and equisisms generally defined? Has it maturely changed under

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Speaker 3: the Trump administration versus the Biden administration?

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Speaker 8: You know, it's so interesting. The rhetoric at the beginning

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Speaker 8: was that it wouldn't change, that there would be this

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Speaker 8: read through, and that there was more commonality with the

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Speaker 8: Biden administrators than differences.

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Speaker 2: But it has changed.

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Speaker 8: You know, they have gone back to settling problematic deals

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Speaker 8: with you know, structural even one behavioral remedy that was

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Speaker 8: Omnicom interpublic with divestitures. This is something that wasn't happening

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Speaker 8: during the Biden administration. They just said, if a deal's problematic,

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Speaker 8: we're going to sue this. DOJ in this FTC said no,

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Speaker 8: we're going to work it out. If we have problems,

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Speaker 8: we'll work out the problems with a fix. We'll have

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Speaker 8: a settlement and will allow the broader deal to close.

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Speaker 8: And that's a big difference.

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Speaker 6: What does this deal tell you though, just about the

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Speaker 6: larger landscape of television, especially local TV, which we know

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Speaker 6: has been losing revenue share. They're struggling just because there

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Speaker 6: are too many places the eyeballs can go, right. They're

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Speaker 6: competing with streaming and with the big guys. So is

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Speaker 6: this really a merger of necessity for these local TV stations?

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Speaker 8: You know, I would think it is, and I think

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Speaker 8: we're going to see more, you know, that kind of

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Speaker 8: consolidation has slowly There's been quite a bit of consolidation

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Speaker 8: actually has over the years. It kind of slowed down

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Speaker 8: during the Biden administration, but you know, I think it's

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Speaker 8: going to pick back up again because they are so

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Speaker 8: challenged by cord cutters, by people who never you know,

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Speaker 8: younger people who never watch TV at all.

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Speaker 2: You know, what's that? What is cable exactly? So broad

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Speaker 2: looking broader here?

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Speaker 3: I mean, over the next year or two, do you

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Speaker 3: expect to see more deal activity just because companies and

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Speaker 3: boards and private and all the forces in out in

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Speaker 3: the marketplace.

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Speaker 2: I feel like this is the time to do it.

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Speaker 3: This is an administration that will support deals.

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Speaker 8: I think so, and I think it would have already

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Speaker 8: picked up if we didn't have so much teriff uncertainty.

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Speaker 8: I think that has slowed things down. But as those

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Speaker 8: things sort of work themselves out, I think we're going

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Speaker 8: to see a lot more deal activity because you can

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Speaker 8: see a path to getting these deals done without having

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Speaker 8: to go to court and without dragging it out for

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Speaker 8: two years.

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Speaker 6: So this is sort of a litmus test, then, isn't it.

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Speaker 6: This next Star Techna deal. I think it's for the

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Speaker 6: rest of the industry. Really yeah, I think we have

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Speaker 6: a few litmus tests out there.

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Speaker 8: You know, the Google Whiz deal that's pending is a

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Speaker 8: litmus test for sure, to see what this administration will

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Speaker 8: do with a big tech platform merger. I think this

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Speaker 8: next Star Techna deal is a litmus test because they're

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Speaker 8: breaking all these old rules that were the orthodoxy for years.

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Speaker 8: We're going to see where that goes. And then you know,

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Speaker 8: you have Dick's footlocker and you've got Charter Cocks.

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Speaker 2: There are a lot of big deals.

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Speaker 8: Pending right now, and I think they all are deals

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Speaker 8: that would have had trouble during the Biden administration, but

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Speaker 8: I think can get cleared now.

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Speaker 3: Here's the deal that Charlie Pellott actually mentioned to me

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Speaker 3: just recently, what was it the Spirit Airlines and was

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Speaker 3: it jet I mean, sim of those deals that did

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Speaker 3: not get approved in the Biden administration. Do they bring

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Speaker 3: them back thinking that maybe they can get more fable

436
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 3: ruling this time. Is there an expectation we might see

437
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 3: some of that?

438
00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,479
Speaker 8: You know, I think it's possible that was blocked by

439
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,720
Speaker 8: a judge. So the Apartment did win a lawsuit in

440
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:06,280
Speaker 8: that case to you know, basically block that deal. You know,

441
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,600
Speaker 8: it's possible that they try again because you have a

442
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,520
Speaker 8: very different Department of Transportation which would have to approve that.

443
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,320
Speaker 8: You have a very different Department of Justice, and again

444
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 8: you have an opportunity to divest and get a deal cleared.

445
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 8: And maybe at this point there would be structurally different

446
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 8: deal because they could divest certain routes or something like that.

447
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:29,439
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