September 22, 2026

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Gourd morning. It’s the first day of fall, or autumn, if you think you’re better than us.

—Sam Klebanov, Molly Liebergall, Dave Lozo, Neal Freyman, Holly Van Leuven

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

Paramount’s settlement to merge with Warner Bros.
Major TV networks suspending video coverage of presidential events
Meta Muse getting banned from shopping on Amazon

Markets

Nasdaq

27,122.09

+2.26%

S&P

7,764.7

+1.49%

Dow

52,048.83

+0.71%

10-Year

4.963%

-4.0 bps

Bitcoin

$86,688.05

+7.13%

AMD

$615.52

+9.95%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:30pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: The three major indexes finished the day up yesterday, with the Nasdaq setting a new record, as oil prices fell and tech stocks skyrocketed. Investors seemed optimistic that this week’s diplomatic meetings would net good news for the world.
Stock spotlight: The cadre of companies with a $1 trillion valuation is starting to look like a poker game: The semiconductor firm AMD joined the elite table yesterday with its caddy full of chips.

License to wed

States let Hollywood’s historic merger proceed

Paramount Pictures water tower seen over LA with palm trees in foreground

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The massive $110 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. is back on track after California—and 11 other states that sued to block it on antitrust grounds—agreed yesterday to settle their lawsuit. So, the betrothed companies can continue planning their honeymoon.

The states’ legal challenge was the biggest obstacle to the merger after regulators in Europe and the UK approved it this summer.

Strings attached

To complete its merger, Paramount had to agree to conditions aimed at addressing potential job losses and concerns about political meddling:

A board composed entirely of journalists will guarantee the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News.
Paramount committed to paying a fine if it fails to widely distribute at least 30 movies in theaters and at least four indie films each year for the first five years. It also agreed to spend $300 million more than it did last year on US-based film production annually.
Paramount will remain in California and won’t sell its iconic studio lot in LA, nor the Warner Bros. lot, for at least five years. It previously threatened to move its headquarters and thousands of jobs out of the state if regulators didn’t green-light the deal before next month.

Notably, Paramount doesn’t have to divest any media assets as part of the settlement.

Epic savings

The agreement lets Paramount avoid a $7 million fee it would have owed Warner Bros. for each day the deal was delayed past Oct. 1. The companies say joining forces will help them compete with other studios in a difficult environment for the entertainment industry, helping them save $6 billion over three years (which analysts say will likely include job cuts). But the combined entity will emerge with up to $87 billion in debt, including the $54 billion Paramount borrowed to buy Warner Bros.

Wide-screen picture: The emergent corporate behemoth will own the streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+, CNN and CBS News, and iconic IP ranging from the Harry Potter franchise to Friends.—SK

Sponsored By Anheuser-Busch

Brewin’ up bright futures

Ever thought about the people behind your favorite beer? Anheuser-Busch’s Brewing Futures initiative is building on 165+ years of continuous investment in their people, breweries, and communities—all supporting American manufacturing careers.

In 2026, Anheuser-Busch increased their investment in US manufacturing to $600m over two years.

They’re strengthening their operations, collaborating with trade schools, opening 15 new technical skills training centers, and helping both veterans and current service members pursue manufacturing careers in the private sector.

Next time you crack open a cold one, you can feel good about the team that made it. Learn more.

World

Tour de headlines

Empty network broadcast booths on the White House grounds. Graeme Sloan/Getty Images

📺 The 5 major TV news networks suspended pool coverage of President Trump. Yesterday, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC suspended video pool coverage of presidential activities after Trump’s decision on Friday to bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds for what he characterized as negative coverage. The five networks said in a joint statement, “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” Trump’s events were still being covered by print, wire, and radio reporters, as well as still photographers, but as one NYT reporter characterized it, “For the first time in my 30 years of covering the White House, the president will not have a network TV camera covering his everyday official actions and travels.” CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed a lawsuit yesterday against the White House to regain their access under the First Amendment.

✈️ East Coast airports ground to a halt over air traffic control infrastructure issues. At least five airports, including Philadelphia, Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK International, experienced massive problems yesterday morning, after a radio communications system in Philadelphia failed and a backup system in New Jersey was found to be inoperative because of an accidental cut made to a fiber-optic line, which was only discovered once the main system failed. According to FlightAware, at least 430 flights bound for affected airports were canceled yesterday, and hundreds more were delayed. Operations at the airports were resumed with major delays yesterday evening. The groundings were unrelated to a new AI tool rolled out yesterday to air traffic controllers at Washington, DC-area airports (more on that below).

🇬🇱 It was a good day for US-listed companies with ties to Greenland. Greenland Energy, Greenland Mines, and Critical Metals Corp—all listed on the Nasdaq exchange—popped by at least double digits yesterday, following the news late last week that the US and Denmark reached an agreement on security for the autonomous territory in the Arctic region. While key details of the deal have not been publicized, it’s expected to be signed during the UN General Assembly this week. On Friday, when announcing the plan, Trump said that it would “guarantee” that the US would “FOREVER have the complete ability” to defend Greenland and the US against their enemies.—HVL

AI IN THE SKY

FAA launches AI tool to reduce flight delays

Illustration of an airplane flying through clouds in a blue sky, leaving a bright pink and yellow pixelated path in its wake.

Niv Bavarsky

You won’t find Agent 99 or Hymie the Robot in Washington, DC, but its three main airports are getting SMART nonetheless. Yesterday, the FAA rolled out Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories (SMART), an $875 million AI system that’s intended to help air traffic control avoid ~~inciting the rage of a thousand travelers~~ flight disruptions.

According to the Transportation Department:

SMART is designed to analyze the skies for potential flight obstacles—e.g., weather and runway capacity—and suggest alternate routes to air traffic controllers, who will still have the final say.
The tool is being piloted at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The agency hopes to expand usage nationwide by 2028.

Still, some experts are wary of AI-maxxing the tarmac. And Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents the district containing Reagan National Airport, called for the immediate suspension of SMART after learning “air traffic controllers were not consulted” on the system’s design and “were not trained on using it prior to the system’s adoption at local airports.”

The FAA has said SMART won’t replace workers, though the union representing air traffic controllers is reportedly already beefing with the Trump administration over how many controllers the FAA should hire to plug its persistent shortage.—ML

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THE SHOPPING BLOCK

Amazon bars Meta’s AI agent from online shopping

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Matthias Balk/Getty Images, Meta

Amazon has blocked Muse—the Meta AI assistant, not the band with hits like “Starlight” and “Uprising”—from accessing its e-commerce platform, saying that the app never received permission to browse the site, and that it represents privacy and security risks.

When Meta released its AI agent designed to help with shopping and booking trips earlier this month, it emphasized safety in a statement: “Muse has no visibility into people’s passwords or payment methods.”

Amazon already has a history of not allowing rival agentic apps into its online aisles:

Last year, Amazon sued Perplexity, saying that its Comet AI was…accessing the site without permission and posed threats to Amazon’s security systems.
While an appeals court overturned Amazon’s ban in August, the underlying case is ongoing because of new questions it surfaced about what AI assistants are allowed to do under existing laws.

Bottom line: Amazon likely isn’t losing much money by restricting AI assistants, since consumers mostly use them to research, not shop, according to Bloomberg. But should that change, those agents may head to other e-commerce sites to make purchases.—DL

Reader Poll

Theoretically, which task would you be happiest to hand over to an AI assistant?

Keeping in touch with my least-favorite relatives.
Making sure my pet has its prescription meds at all times.
Playing ‘Sims’ for me while I’m at work and texting me updates.
Something else.

Matty’s work-life balance

An MBA used to promise a career in PowerPoints

University students in business casual attire sitting in a lecture hall

Getty Images

On Tuesdays, the Brew’s Matty Merritt brings you the news you need to make life a little easier during your 9–5, 5–9, or OOO.

McKinsey doesn’t really care about your time at Wharton anymore. The consulting firm said it’s recruiting employees from nontraditional backgrounds, MBA or not, with an emphasis on their technical skills to usher in the work it’s doing with artificial intelligence:

Folks with backgrounds in mathematics and computer science, and even startup founders with no higher education, have been catching the company’s eye.
But the biggest factor is candidates who know what they’re doing with AI or are willing to learn.

It’s not just McKinsey: Other large consulting firms like PwC and Deloitte have slowed hiring, with job postings falling roughly 24% in the year ending in May compared to 2025, but AI-related openings grew from 1.4% to 5%, according to labor market intelligence firm Draup.—MM

Autumnal trivia

(Yeah, we said autumnal.) In honor of the first day of autumn, each of the following clues indicates a word that ends in “-mn.”

It can be Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian
Express strong disapproval
____ Yankees (1955 musical)
Somber
“Amazing Grace” is one

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Answer

Column
Condemn
Damn
Solemn
Hymn

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: cadre, meaning “a group of people with a unifying relationship.” Thanks to Howard Weisman from Fairfield, CT, and the clique of other readers who made the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✳︎ A Note From Chase for Business

*JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC.

Written by Sam Klebanov, Molly Liebergall, Dave Lozo, Matty Merritt, Neal Freyman, and Holly Van Leuven

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