Billionaire Tilman Fertitta to buy Caesars Entertainment in $17.6bn deal
All-cash takeover will be one of the biggest gaming deals in years
The hospitality billionaire Tilman Fertitta has agreed an all-cash takeover of Las Vegas casino operator Caesars Entertainment, marking one of the biggest gaming deals in years.
As part of the take-private deal, Fertitta Entertainment will pay $31 a share in cash to Caesars shareholders, valuing the group’s equity at $5.7bn. Including debt, the deal values Caesars at $17.6bn.
The deal marks the latest twist in the colourful history of one of the jewels of the Las Vegas Strip, which had emerged from a contentious bankruptcy process in 2017.
The FT first reported that Fertitta, who is at present the US ambassador to Italy, had made a bid for Caesars in February. The deal values Caesars’ stock at a 49 per cent premium to before the FT report.
The deal will unite the Caesars gambling empire, including the Eldorado casinos, its flagship operations in Las Vegas and its betting app, with Fertitta’s hospitality empire spanning 600 venues including Landry’s restaurant group and Golden Nugget casinos.
The Carano family, which took control of Caesars when the group was combined with Eldorado in 2020, will maintain a 5 per cent shareholding in the new company. Caesars’ management team, including chief executive Tom Reeg, will continue to run the business.
A group of 10 banks has backed a debt financing package to fund the deal. The deal also includes a “go-shop” period through to mid-July during which Caesars and its advisers can weigh offers from other potential buyers.
Fertitta has also agreed to compensate investors if the takeover is not wrapped up within the next 13 months. A “ticking fee” of almost 1 cent a share will be added to the $31 per share deal price for every day after June 26, 2027 that the transaction has not been closed. Gaming regulatory reviews, conducted individually by US states, can take several months to complete.
The transaction comes at a time when Caesars and Las Vegas have been struggling. Visitor numbers to Sin City moderated after a post-pandemic boom and Wall Street investors had worried about the impact of smartphone sports betting and prediction markets on traditional casino gaming.
The Fertitta deal, however, is a vote of confidence that both gambling and other forms of Las Vegas entertainment such as nightclubs, restaurants and spas will remain resilient.
The Carano family’s rollover equity is expected to allow Caesars to keep its existing debt in place allowing for significant savings in interest expense. Caesars also pays billions of dollars in rent to the property trust Vici, a landlord that was created from the 2017 restructuring transaction.
The new financing provided by the group of banks is less than $5bn, according to people familiar with the matter.
Fertitta, a Texas native, has been among the most prolific American dealmakers in hospitality as well as professional sports. Among his restaurant chains are Mastro’s Steakhouse, Del Frisco’s, Catch as well as Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. He also owns the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets.
PJT Partners and Latham & Watkins provided advice to Caesars on the deal. Freshfields served as counsel for the Carano family. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs provided financial advice to Fertitta Entertainment while White & Case provided legal counsel.
How long is Anthropic’s lease with SpaceX? Opinions vary.
Earlier this month, xAI signed a major compute deal with Anthropic, pledging billions of dollars a month for exclusive use of the company’s Colossus cluster. It was a coup for both companies, giving xAI some much-needed revenue and helping Anthropic catch up in the never-ending race for compute.
But this morning on X, Elon Musk downplayed exactly how much SpaceX had committed to the deal.
“SpaceX has not committed to leasing Colossus for years, although it’s possible that may be what happens,” he said, replying to a user. “This is a 180 day lease with 90 day notice mutual cancellation thereafter. The short term was our request, not Anthropic’s. We won’t leave them hanging and will provide a reasonable off-ramp, but if compute gets super tight I said we might need it back at some point.”
Musk’s statement directly contradicts SpaceX’s recent S-1 filing, which confirms the standard 90-day cancellation but presents the deal as a three-year agreement. Page F-62 of the filing reads:
On May 3, 2026, the Company entered into a cloud services agreement with Anthropic PBC, an AI research and development public benefit corporation, with respect to access to compute capacity. Pursuant to this agreement, the customer has agreed to pay a monthly fee through May 2029, with capacity ramping in May 2026 at a reduced fee. The agreement may be terminated by either party upon 90 days’ notice. The customer will retain ownership and intellectual property rights in its content, AI models, and related data.
The key point here is that Anthropic “has agreed to pay a monthly fee through May 2029” — a pretty straightforward description of a three-year lease. The same language is repeated on F-96 and in slightly varied form (“the customer has agreed to pay us $1.25 billion per month through May 2029”) on pages 13 and 146, so it’s not as if there was a typo.
xAI did not respond to a request for clarification.
Maybe we can quibble about whether Anthropic agreeing to pay for a service means the same thing as SpaceX agreeing to provide that service, but that’s not usually what “lease” means. And why have a one-way lock-in if either party can terminate the deal with three months’ notice anyway?
I don’t have the deal in front of me, so I don’t know what it says — and neither SpaceX nor Anthropic is saying anything about the duration of the deal in their announcements. Still, there should be a pretty straightforward fact of the matter here, and it’s not the sort of thing you want to make false statements about during a company’s quiet period.
As always, we should note that the SEC probably will not do anything — and even if they did, Elon probably wouldn’t care. But this sort of does seem like a material misrepresentation made while marketing a security, which is bad karma at the very least.
Apple to Renew Push for AI That Runs on Devices, Instead of the Cloud
As the tech industry pours fortunes into data centers for AI, Apple is expected to increasingly showcase the benefits of running models locally on iPhones and other devices.
The Takeaway
- Apple plans to push on-device AI, leveraging custom silicon at its developer conference.
- Apple has approved the use of an Nvidia privacy technology to handle the processing of AI tasks in Google Cloud
- Apple is distilling Google’s Gemini for local use, but some AI tasks still need the cloud.
At Apple’s annual developer conference next month, the star of the show will be a series of long-delayed artificial intelligence upgrades to the iPhone. But the company is also expected to emphasize what could be an underrated asset in its efforts to catch up in AI: Its ability to run AI models on the billions of Apple devices in circulation.
People familiar with the company’s plans for its Worldwide Developers Conference say that Apple is likely to showcase how the company’s 15 years of experience of designing custom silicon chips for iPhones, Watches and Macs will give it an advantage when running AI models locally on those devices. Typically, AI models are run in expensive data centers filled with powerful AI chips.
Many AI queries from Apple’s devices will still have to be processed in the cloud because of their complexity and need for access to troves of online information. For example, as part of an Apple agreement with Google, some user queries to a new version of Siri will run in Google Cloud on a licensed version of the search giant’s Gemini model. Apple recently approved the use of a privacy technology from Nvidia in that setting, suggesting it will use Nvidia AI chips for at least some of its computing needs in Google Cloud, according to people familiar with the matter.
But running models locally could reduce the risk of exposing consumers’ data and prevent advertising companies from monetizing their personal information. It could save business customers money by reducing their consumption of “tokens”—the units of text that cloud AI models base their pricing on. And for Apple, pushing more AI chores onto devices could allow it to continue to avoid the eye-watering investments its tech peers have made in data centers.
As part of its Google agreement, Apple is using a version of Google’s large Gemini model to train a smaller version of the model that can run locally on Apple devices, a process known as distillation, said people familiar with the effort. Apple is also on the lookout to acquire smaller companies that can assist in the effort of shrinking down AI models to run on its devices, people familiar with the company said. One such company it has considered acquiring is Liquid AI, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup specializing in running AI locally on devices, said people familiar with Apple’s strategy.
Apple first began touting the privacy benefits of running models on devices in 2024, when it introduced Apple Intelligence, a collection of new AI features it announced at the time. Since then, it has largely been quiet on the topic, after an embarrassing series of stumbles, including a tepid response to its new AI features and a delay with the launch of the new Siri.
At the same time, Apple has largely sat on the sidelines as the biggest companies in tech have poured fortunes into building AI computing capacity in the cloud. Last year, Meta Platforms, for example, spent $72 billion on capital expenditures—mostly stemming from data centers—while Microsoft spent $88 billion. Apple, meanwhile, spent only $12.72 billion on capital expenditures during that period.
At times, the company’s hesitation to pour more money into AI has prompted criticism from investors and pundits who believe the company could risk being left behind in a future where AI is a key ingredient in personal devices. As the tech industry’s AI investments have swelled to mammoth proportions—Microsoft, for one, is projecting $190 billion in capital expenditures this year—some technologists have started to worry about overspending on AI computing capacity and look more favorably at Apple’s relatively conservative bets in the category.
At times, the company’s hesitation to pour more money into AI has prompted criticism from investors and pundits who believe the company could risk being left behind in a future where AI is a key ingredient in personal devices. As the tech industry’s AI investments have swelled to mammoth proportions—Microsoft, for one, is projecting $190 billion in capital expenditures this year—some technologists have started to worry about overspending on AI computing capacity and look more favorably at Apple’s relatively conservative bets in the category.
“I think the data center boom is a mistake,” said David Stout, chief executive of Austin-based AI startup webAI. “Intelligence is getting smaller. Data centers won’t disappear, but the majority of work will happen at the edge. Apple made the bet correctly there.”
Stout is among a growing cohort of AI developers who are making bets on new businesses based on Apple hardware. WebAI develops specialized AI applications for enterprises that run locally on Apple chips. For example, webAI builds tools for aviation customers with an AI trained on a massive manual describing the intricacies of a Boeing Dreamliner engine to assist in engine maintenance.
The models can run on an iPad or Mac, without the need for an internet connection. Apple’s computers have also taken off among techies who use them to run OpenClaw, an open-source tool for creating AI agents that can autonomously run a computer.
Technology analyst Richard Kramer of Arete Research said in a recent note to investors that he estimates Apple has $50 billion worth of compute capacity in on-device chips “funded by users.”
Mark Suman, a former Apple senior engineering project manager who worked on internal AI systems before leaving in 2024, said that the billions of Apple devices around the world collectively amount to a powerful source of AI computing capacity.
“Apple could deploy the largest edge-compute AI that anybody has in the world,” said Suman, who is now co-founder of Maple, a startup offering customers an encrypted system for accessing AI models in the cloud. “It’s really a matter of time before they leverage that.”
Apple still can’t rely entirely on on-device models for its AI strategy. Google’s full Gemini model has trillions of parameters—a rough measure of the complexity of an AI model. The full model requires so much computing horsepower that Apple has struggled to get it to work on its own internal server infrastructure, called Private Cloud Compute, which runs on the same Apple chips in Mac computers, said people familiar with the situation.
Apple will likely have to take advantage of Google’s cloud infrastructure to run parts of the new Siri, former Apple engineers said. Still, Apple is looking for ways to run AI services in the cloud while still offering improved privacy protections. Its decision in recent weeks to approve the use of Nvidia’s confidential compute system to handle some of the processing of the bigger Gemini-based model inside Google Cloud is one such effort, people familiar with the partnership said.
Confidential compute is a security feature inside Nvidia graphics processing units that encrypts data and AI models as they are being processed. When enabled, it slightly slows down the processing of AI queries in the cloud, but it could help Apple keep its promises about protecting users’ privacy.
The plan would also represent a reversal from Apple’s original announcement of Apple Intelligence, in which the company said that Apple hardware inside its Private Cloud Compute system would process all AI queries that weren’t processed locally on users’ devices. Despite that, Apple is likely to continue to use the Private Cloud Compute brand, said people familiar with the partnership.
Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- PLAB -28.5%, BRZE -10.5%, P -10.2%, ICLR -6.2%, LI -3.8%, MRVL -2.8%, ATHM -2.4%, AMSC -2.1%, SNPS -2% (also appoints new board member in agreement with Elliott Asset Management), HPQ -1.5%, FUTU -1.3%
Other news:
- SIDU -20.5% (prices offering of 19,685,039 shares of its Class A common stock at $5.08 per share)
- PWP -7.5% (plans to reduce their number of employees by 10%, including senior positions, according to Bloomberg)
- TH -6.4% (stock offering by selling shareholders)
- NEOV -4.7% (stock offering)
- SPCE -4.5% (VSS Unity has returned above Spaceport America in New Mexico)
- BTBT -4% (originates financing facility for WYFI)
- SEER -3.2% (The Radoff-JEC Group issues open letter)
- SCOR -3.1% (Advaya Capital completes acquisition of Comscore Movies from SCOR)
- NERV -3% (files prospectus supplement, relates to sales agreement for offering up to $75 mln in common shares)
- TBBB -2.6% (stock offering)
- CCL -2.4% (provides update on cyber security event)
- ONC -2.1% (Phase 3 HERIZON-GEA Data Published in NEJM)
- PCRX -1.2% (mails letter to stockholders reiterating confidence in the company's strategic direction)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- SNOW +38.2% (also signs multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with AWS; also to acquire Natoma), PHR +19.1%, CTRN +12.6% (guidance), NCNO +12.2%, DLTR +10.7%, BBY +10.5%, KSS +10.4%, A +10.2%, DOO +8.6%, HEI +8.3%, HRL +6.3%, XNET +4%, XPEV +3.1%, NTNX +1.2%, CRM +0.8% (also enters accelerated share repurchase program)
Other news:
- PUSA +13.6% (selected for Phase II qualifier in Pentagon $1 bln drone initiative)
- DELL +4.4% (awarded a $9.69 bln single-award, firm-fixed-price blanket purchase agreement under the Department of War Enterprise Software Initiative)
- ESLT +3.8% (awarded $350 mln international tank upgrade contract)
- DAVE +3.4% (to join S&P SmallCap 600)
- LYTS +2.6% (strategic partnership with Carter Thermal Industries Group)
- ARQ +2.6% (appoints new CFO)
- CSV +2.6% (acquires assets of assets of McCammon Ammons Click Funeral Home)
- CZR +2.5% (Fertitta Entertainment to acquire Caesars Entertainment in an all-cash transaction at $31 per share)
- TPC +1.9% (awarded $81.8 mln U.S. Coast Guard Family Housing project)
- ALOY +1.9% (signs MOU with Ramaco to support U.S. rare earth supply chain expansion)
- ZBIO +1.7% (announced the submission of its BLA to the FDA for obexelimab in Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease)
- WYFI +1.3% (enters into a $100 mln delayed draw term loan facility)
- JAZZ +1.2% (Phase 3 HERIZON-GEA Data Published in NEJM)
- HCA +1% (to acquire The College of Health Care Professions)
- FUN +1% (appoints new CFO)
- BTU +1% (proposes $225 mln convertible senior notes due 2031 offering)
Research Calls I
-
Upgrades:
- Agilent (A) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities, tgt $145
- Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, tgt $270
- Dominion Energy (D) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, tgt $76
- Equillium (EQ) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink, tgt $6
- Integra LifeSciences (IART) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup, tgt $16
- L'Oreal (LRLCY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Berenberg
- LyondellBasell (LYB) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo, tgt $98
- Quanta Services (PWR) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer, tgt $800
- Agilent (A) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities, tgt $145
-
Downgrades:
- Baxter (BAX) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup, tgt $17
- Boston Scientific (BSX) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, tgt $55
- Electronic Arts (EA) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus
- Heineken (HEINY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
- Mueller Industries (MLI) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Northcoast
- PDD Holdings (PDD) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays, tgt $89
- PDD Holdings (PDD) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie, tgt $87
- RLJ Lodging Trust (RLJ) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James, tgt $11
- Verra Mobility (VRRM) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, tgt $4
- Baxter (BAX) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup, tgt $17
-
Others:
- Absci (ABSI) initiated with a Buy at BTIG Research, tgt $9
- Adlai Nortye (ANL) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $32
- Alpha Tau Medical (DRTS) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $15
- CarGurus (CARG) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $35
- Cardinal Infrastructure Group (CDNL) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $60
- Cellectis (CLLS) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $9
- Comfort Systems USA (FIX) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $2,200
- Damora Therapeutics (DMRA) initiated with an Outperform at Wedbush, tgt $35
- Emcor (EME) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $1,100
- Encompass Health (EHC) initiated with a Buy at TD Cowen, tgt $125
- Everus Construction (ECG) assumed with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $185
- Flowco (FLOC) initiated with a Neutral at Citigroup, tgt $31
- Granite Construction (GVA) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $170
- Immunome (IMNM) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $36
- Knife River (KNF) assumed with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $95
- Martin Marietta (MLM) initiated with a Perform at Oppenheimer
- National Healthcare Properties (NHP) initiated with an Outperform at Citizens, tgt $18
- Octave Intelligence (OCTV) initiated with a Buy at Guggenheim, tgt $30
- Omnicom (OMC) resumed with a Neutral at Rothschild & Co Redburn, tgt $89
- Organogenesis (ORGO) initiated with a Hold at Truist, tgt $3
- RB Global (RBA) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $124
- Sensei Biotherapeutics (SNSE) initiated with a Buy at Lucid Capital, tgt $50
- Snap-On (SNA) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays,. tgt $420
- Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $950
- Suncrete (RMIX) initiated with an Outperform at Robert W. Baird, tgt $21
- Sutro Biopharma (STRO) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $56
- The Trade Desk (TTD) initiated with a Sell at Rothschild & Co Redburn, tgt $11
- Valmont Industries (VMI) assumed with an Outperform at Oppenheimer, tgt $600
- Valvoline (VVV) initiated with an Equal Weight at Barclays, tgt $35
- Vulcan Materials (VMC) initiated with a Perform at Oppenheimer
- WPP (WPP) initiated with a Buy at Rothschild & Co Redburn
- Absci (ABSI) initiated with a Buy at BTIG Research, tgt $9
LA LETTRE — 28 MAI 2026 — SYNTHESE
CONSEIL / ACCENTURE FRANCE
• Yves Bernaert (ex-DG Atos 104j, ex-CTO Europe Accenture) entre dans la course a la succession de Koen Derickere; rencontre mi-mai avec la direction parisienne
• Cedric Vatier (DG Strategy & Consulting Europe, 6 ans) reste favori
• Autres pretendants: Stephanie Jandard (Consumer Goods & Services France/Benelux), Khalid Lahraoui (assurances EMEA)
• Derickere parti apres 16 mois -> rejoint IT Cegeka
• Toile de fond: reorg mondiale “Reinvention Services” (mars), 5 verticales fusionnees autour de l’IA; resultats France en demi-teinte depuis 2024 (1ere reduction d’effectifs de l’histoire du groupe)
PARTIS / FNTP-RN
• Diner hors agenda le 20 mai entre la FNTP (Alain Grizaud, DG Cousin Pradere) et une delegation RN: Alexandre Loubet (depute Moselle, prefiguration campagne Bardella), Francois Durvye (conseiller Bardella), Ambroise de Rancourt (dir cabinet Le Pen)
• Objectif: sanctuariser l’investissement public local post-2027, simplification vs normes environnementales, limiter la taxation du gazole non routier
• Sujet immigration / main d’oeuvre etrangere (metiers en tension) soigneusement evite
• AG 11 juin: table ronde animee par Marie Drucker — Tanguy (RN), Juvin (LR), Thevenot (Renaissance), Vallaud (PS), Coquerel (LFI)
PARLEMENT / PESTICIDES (loi Duplomb II)
• L’Assemblee refuse les amendements (cavaliers legislatifs); la majorite senatoriale s’organise le 26 mai: Louault (Indep), Duplomb (LR), Menonville (UC) + Estrosi Sassone (presidente comm. affaires eco)
• 4 amendements pour reintroduire acetamipride et flupyradifurone (interdits en France depuis 2020, autorises ailleurs en UE) dans le PJL urgence agricole de juin
• Pari sur la “sagesse senatoriale”; CMP possible rentree 2026
• Precedent invoque: cavaliers ZFE censures par le Conseil constitutionnel le 21 mai (art. 45)
EDF / RH
• Elisabeth Terrail (DRH EDF) nomme Florence Cordier directrice du dialogue social au 1er sept, en remplacement de Nadege Ghizoli
• Contexte tendu: plan Fontana de reduction des frais de fonctionnement (1 Md EUR a horizon 2030), defiance syndicale
• Ghizoli -> DRH direction projets et partenariats industriels (DPPI, 2 000-3 000 pers., enjeux EPR2)
ENERGIE / FIN DU GAZ BATIMENTS NEUFS
• Conseil superieur de l’energie rejette le projet de decret: 38 contre, 8 pour (26 mai)
• Decret interdirait le gaz dans les batiments collectifs neufs au 1er janv 2027 (transposition directive perf. energetique 2024)
• Vote a contre-pied de la com Macron (“equipe de France de l’electricite” recue le meme jour a l’Elysee)
• Pour: EDF, Enedis, RTE, UFE, DGEC. Le CSCEE avait deja rejete le 19 mai
• Instance presidee par Jean-Luc Fugit (Renaissance)
MEDIAS / TIME FRANCE
• Apres la perte de la licence Forbes France (mars, publireportages non signales), Dominique Busso (360 Business Media) recycle ses contenus dans Time France (licence obtenue ete 2025)
• Depart de la redactrice en chef Elisabeth Lazaroo (refus des publireportages maquilles); Baptiste Mandrillon (ex-Prisma Media) aux commandes
• Publireportages: 4 pages (n1, dec 2025) -> 12 pages (n2 “mars 2026”); contenus factures 2 500 EUR
• Soiree Cannes 21 mai: tickets 9 500 a 40 000 EUR; formule “Signature” a 50 000 EUR
LC / Graham Advisors
LA LETTRE — 28 MAY 2026 — SUMMARY
CONSULTING / ACCENTURE FRANCE
• Yves Bernaert (ex-Atos CEO, 104 days; ex-Accenture CTO Europe) enters the race to succeed Koen Derickere; met Paris leadership mid-May
• Cedric Vatier (Strategy & Consulting head, Europe, 6 yrs) remains the favorite
• Other contenders: Stephanie Jandard (Consumer Goods & Services France/Benelux), Khalid Lahraoui (insurance, EMEA)
• Derickere left after 16 months -> joined IT services group Cegeka
• Backdrop: global “Reinvention Services” reorg (March), 5 verticals merged around AI; soft France results since 2024 (group’s first-ever headcount cut)
POLITICS / FNTP-RN
• Off-agenda dinner 20 May between FNTP (Alain Grizaud, CEO of Cousin Pradere) and an RN delegation: Alexandre Loubet (Moselle MP, running Bardella campaign prep), Francois Durvye (Bardella adviser), Ambroise de Rancourt (Le Pen chief of staff)
• Aim: ring-fence local public investment post-2027, simplification vs environmental norms, limit taxation of off-road diesel
• Immigration / foreign labor for shortage occupations deliberately avoided
• 11 June AGM: roundtable hosted by Marie Drucker — Tanguy (RN), Juvin (LR), Thevenot (Renaissance), Vallaud (PS), Coquerel (LFI)
PARLIAMENT / PESTICIDES (Duplomb II bill)
• National Assembly rejects the amendments (legislative riders); Senate majority regroups 26 May: Louault (Indep), Duplomb (LR), Menonville (UC) + Estrosi Sassone (chair, economic affairs cttee)
• 4 amendments to reintroduce acetamiprid and flupyradifurone (banned in France since 2020, allowed elsewhere in EU) into the June agricultural emergency bill
• Betting on “senatorial wisdom”; joint committee (CMP) possible autumn 2026
• Cited precedent: low-emission zone (ZFE) riders struck down by Constitutional Council on 21 May (art. 45)
EDF / HR
• Elisabeth Terrail (EDF HR director) appoints Florence Cordier as head of social dialogue from 1 Sept, replacing Nadege Ghizoli
• Tense context: Fontana cost-cutting plan (EUR 1bn by 2030), union distrust
• Ghizoli -> HR director, industrial projects & partnerships (DPPI, 2,000-3,000 staff, EPR2 stakes)
ENERGY / GAS BAN IN NEW BUILDINGS
• Higher Energy Council rejects draft decree: 38 against, 8 for (26 May)
• Decree would ban gas in new collective buildings from 1 Jan 2027 (transposing 2024 energy performance directive)
• Vote undercuts Macron’s messaging (“Team France for electricity” hosted same day at the Elysee)
• In favor: EDF, Enedis, RTE, UFE, DGEC. The CSCEE had already rejected it on 19 May
• Body chaired by Jean-Luc Fugit (Renaissance)
MEDIA / TIME FRANCE
• After losing the Forbes France license (March, undisclosed advertorials), Dominique Busso (360 Business Media) recycles the content into Time France (license obtained summer 2025)
• Editor-in-chief Elisabeth Lazaroo out (refused disguised advertorials); Baptiste Mandrillon (ex-Prisma Media) takes over
• Advertorials: 4 pages (issue 1, Dec 2025) -> 12 pages (issue 2, “March 2026”); content billed at EUR 2,500
• Cannes party 21 May: tickets EUR 9,500 to 40,000; “Signature” package at EUR 50,000
LC / Graham Advisors