Axios Event: Katzenberg says he's "100%" certain presidential debate will happen
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WndrCo founding partner Jeffrey Katzenberg in conversation with Dan Primack at BFD Talks in Los Angeles. Photo Credit: West Side Storytellers for Axios
LOS ANGELES – President Biden and former President Trump will definitely have a debate for the 2024 election, says Jeffrey Katzenberg, key adviser to Biden's re-election campaign and founding partner of WndrCo.
Why it matters: Katzenberg's declaration shows chances are rising that there will be a 2024 presidential debate, after the Biden campaign had declined to commit to one for months.
- Biden had told Howard Stern that he's "happy to debate" Trump during his April 24 interview for Stern's Sirius XM radio show.
Catch up quick: Last year, Former President Trump asked the Commission on Presidential Debates to move up the scheduled debates.
- Trump made this same request in 2020, but ended up not participating in 1 out 3 presidential debates.
- Most recently, he skipped all the Republican presidential debates for the 2024 election.
- The presidential debates will take place Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9. The vice presidential debate is set to take place on Sept. 25.
Axios business editor Dan Primack interviewed Katzenberg at Axios' first BFD Talks reception.
- This event was in partnership with Wheelhouse and sponsored by West Monroe.
Flashback: Katzenberg also recalled meeting a young Trump roughly 50 years ago, who was with his father at the time, and said he was a "colossal a**hole."
Separately, the former Hollywood media mogul also discussed the Paramount Global and Skydance merger that expired last Friday and said it would have been a "great win" for Paramount and the film industry.
- When it comes to Sony and Apollo's $26 billion cash offer, Katzenberg says there may be a private equity issue since Sony wouldn't be allowed to hold an FCC license for CBS because it's foreign.
AI has been a major point of contention within the film industry, but Katzenberg thinks the new technology is going to have a positive impact.
- "Generative AI is going to be the most empowering and powerful set of tools ever put in the hands of filmmakers by a factor," says Katzenberg.
- But, he thinks it'll be another 10 years before AI really interrupts the industry.
Content from sponsored segment below:
In a View from the Top conversation, West Monroe president Gil Mermelstein says technology is a trend they are seeing in the deal-making space.
- He also stressed that AI is a major innovation that many companies bring to the table.
- "We see a lot of companies with all kinds of claims. Sometimes they're real, sometimes they're not. That's part of our job to decipher," said Mermelstein on new AI tech.
