WSJ's Take On the Week12 Jan 2025

Will Dealmaking Boom Under Trump? Lazard CEO Peter Orszag Weighs In

On WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Gunjan Banerji and Telis Demos dive into what almost everyone on Wall Street is fixated on right now: rising bond yields. Then they explore what Disney’s potential merger with FuboTV means for streaming services and how sports and other live events are driving those deals. Telis also gears up for the Super Bowl. Well, his super bowl — bank earnings. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others report later this week.

Later on, Peter Orszag, CEO of the asset manager and investment bank Lazard, joins the co-hosts to talk about what to expect when it comes to M&A dealmaking in 2025. Peter, who also served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama administration, also talks about prospective tariffs, how the dealmaking landscape may change in a second Trump administration, and about the proposed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy-led advisory council, Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

This is WSJ’s Take On the Week where co-hosts Gunjan Banerji, lead writer for Live Markets, and Telis Demos, Heard on the Street’s banking and money columnist, cut through the noise and dive into markets, the economy and finance—the big trades, key players and business news ahead.

Have an idea for a future guest or episode? How can we better help you take on the week? We’d love to hear from you. Email the show at takeontheweek@wsj.com.

Episoder(129)

How AI Spending Is Fueling the Economy Overall

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos dig into the shifting sentiment away from AI stocks and the pivot into consumer sectors. Are we heading into...

9 Aug 35min

Why Oil Prices Could Hit a Breaking Point by Year End

In this episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-host Telis Demos is joined by guest co-host and Wall Street Journal reporter David Uberti to break down the Federal Reserve’s latest moves, and what oil’s...

2 Aug 34min

The Buried $150B Bet Inside the Top 20 U.S. Stocks

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, host Telis Demos and guest host Spencer Jakab, the Wall Street Journal’s investing columnist and writer of the Markets A.M. newsletter, are joined by ...

26 Jul 32min

How This $150B+ Wall Street Strategy Could Lower Your Taxes

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos are joined by Brent Sullivan, founder of Tax Alpha Insider, to dive into a hot, over $150 billion investing ...

19 Jul 34min

Are Corporate Earnings in a Bubble? This Quarter Is a Test

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos preview earnings from Taiwan’s flagship chip maker, TSMC. They also break down why this coming week’s earnin...

12 Jul 37min

Can Hot Consumer Companies Like Oura and Whoop Make Good IPOs?

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos dig into this past week’s tech selloff and how the market’s volatility reflected serious questions about spe...

28 Jun 39min

How Big Tech’s Financials Obscure the True Cost of the AI Buildout

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, host Telis Demos and Heard on the Street columnist Jonathan Weil sit down with Kevin Koharki, principal at CAE Consulting and professor at Purdue Univ...

21 Jun 28min

The Hidden Risks of Buying Into Mega-IPOs Like SpaceX

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos break down the historic launch of SpaceX, the biggest initial public offering ever, which priced at $135 a s...

14 Jun 33min