Randall, with the $85B Time Warner merger pending, is unlikely to disavow his very visible friendship with Donald Trump although I’m pretty sure he despises much of what the President is saying. Brian Krzanich of Intel, Kenneth Frazier of Merck, Elon Musk of Tesla, Inge Thulin of 3M, and even Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup have resigned.
Donald Trump called the merger, “a deal we will not approve in my administration because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.” However, WSJ reports the fix is in. “An approval could underscore the administration’s pro-business credentials at a time when Mr. Trump’s ties with America’s CEOs are under unprecedented stress,” Flint and Fitzgerald point out.
Steve Schwarzman, one of Trump’s strongest and richest supporters, secured a $20B investment from the Saudis. It was “announced at the royal palace in Riyadh as Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner looked on,” NYT noted in a devastating article, The Benefits of Standing by the President.
