Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
President Trump announces billions of dollars in aid for U.S. farmers. Plus, Paramount launches a hostile takeover bid for Warner Brothers Discovery. And why pharma companies are building websites so patients can buy drugs straight from them.
There is a segment of patients that just either doesn't have insurance or doesn't have great insurance. And so sometimes it's to their advantage for the companies to offer those patients a significant cash discount because otherwise they might not even get their business at all.
It's Monday, December 8th. I'm Alex Osele for The Wall Street Journal.
Chapter 2: What is the hostile takeover bid by Paramount for Warner Bros. Discovery?
This is the PM edition of What's News? The top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Berkshire Hathaway is losing one of its top stars in Todd Combs, who led the turnaround of the company's Geico auto insurance arm. Combs is leaving for JPMorgan Chase as Berkshire prepares for a new era without CEO Warren Buffett, who's retiring at the end of the year.
Berkshire's stock has dropped nearly 8% since Buffett said he would step down as CEO. Paramount has launched a nearly $78 billion hostile takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, taking its case directly to shareholders just a few days after Warner agreed to a $72 billion deal with Netflix.
Paramount argues that its offer is a better deal for shareholders and is more likely to win approval from regulators. Here's Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison speaking about the deal on CNBC this morning.
What we're creating by putting these two companies together is a real competitor to Netflix, a real competitor to Amazon, a real competitor to Disney. Not something that is so anti-competitive. There will be no more competition in Hollywood if this deal is allowed to come to pass.
Netflix says Paramount's bid was expected and that Netflix is confident its deal will get done. As for Warner, the company says it'll advise shareholders on what to do within 10 business days and that it's recommending supporting the Netflix deal for now. There's a big shift going on in how people buy medicine.
Drug makers are cutting out middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers, setting up their own websites and selling straight to patients. I'm joined now by Peter Loftus, who covers pharma for The Journal. Peter, how do these services work?
It often starts with a website that the drug manufacturers have set up. Patients can go there if they already have a prescription from the doctor or they could actually connect you with certain doctors, which then could eventually lead to ordering that company's drug or maybe another company's drug.
The price is often discounted and they could order the drug online like you would go through Amazon to do and then have it delivered to your home.
Why are drug makers doing this? What's the advantage for them?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Paramount's bid for shareholders?
And it's a problem that goes beyond airbags. About one in three cars that have been recalled for any reason don't get fixed. A spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that while the agency can issue recalls, it cannot force car owners to fix the recalled vehicles. The local school district in Monterey, California, is becoming a landlord.
It's spending $35 million to buy an apartment complex with 64 units that it's renting to staff at lower prices than they'd find elsewhere, like a one-bedroom apartment for $1,500 a month, which, according to Zillow, is 30 percent lower than the market rate. School systems across the country are investing in housing for their employees, and especially in California.
Scott Calvert, who covers national affairs for the journal, joins me now to discuss why these schools are embracing the teacher village model. Scott, why did the Monterey School District think it was necessary to buy these apartments for teachers?
Yeah, well, the school district has been grappling with this problem of high teacher turnover for a long time. In any given year, about 20% of the teachers walk out the door. And one of the big reasons for that is the high cost of living. And a big reason for that is the incredibly expensive housing in the Monterey area. And so their thought was, well, we'll become a landlord.
We'll provide the housing at a discount in hopes that that will stem the tide.
Is this a problem that's isolated to teachers?
No, it's really not. You see it in the context of all sorts of like municipal employees and police officers and firefighters who essentially have been priced out of the communities that they serve. I spoke to one teacher, Albert Platt, who talked to me about all of the benefits he sees as a result of offering the housing.
Having that workforce housing, it just creates the continuity with teachers because I know there's a lot of turnover. People stay here for a year, people leave. And having that stability helps not just the people working, but also kids like learning.
Scott, your reporting for this story focuses on California, where school districts have created about 1,000 apartment units in the past few years, and another 1,800 are in the works. Why is this happening so much in California in particular?
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Chapter 4: How are pharmaceutical companies changing the way patients buy drugs?
Today's show is produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.
Bye.