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Trumped-down deal market

Photo illustration of an old television featuring an scrambled image of President Trump 

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Annabelle Gordon/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Podqi raises $3.2M seed round

Illustration of a confused-looking robot with copyright symbols for eyes

Deal flow

Movin' on up (or out)

Channel surfing

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Despite hope that a Trump administration would grease the skids on dealmaking, media companies are instead finding themselves in the president's crosshairs.

Why it matters: Execs expected deal activity to ramp up once he took office. That hasn't happened yet.

State of play: President Trump's regulators — and even Trump himself — are making life difficult for media giants trying to close two of last year's biggest deals.

Paramount and Skydance's deal is being held up amid Trump's lawsuit against "60 Minutes" over its editing of a 2024 Kamala Harris interview. (CBS last week moved to dismiss the lawsuit following earlier reports of a potential settlement.)

Under new chair Brendan Carr, the FCC is investigating Comcast over its DEI practices as part of a broader push to scrutinize broadcasters' diversity efforts. The FCC is also investigating CBS over "60 Minutes."

Comcast plans to spin out its cable networks into a separate company later this year.

Trump's Justice Department still wants to break up Google, continuing a push that started under President Biden.

Yes, but: Even with those regulatory hurdles, both deals are expected to close this year.

Zoom out: The economic uncertainty caused by Trump's tariff flip-flops and trade war threats with Canada and Mexico is forcing media companies to reevaluate deal plans.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who spoke about the potential for deals the day after the election last fall, appeared to be less enthusiastic about the deal market on the company's earnings call last month.

WBD restructured this year to separate its cable assets from the streaming and studio parts, potentially setting up a Comcast-esque spinoff.

U.K.-based research giant Kantar, majority owned by Bain Capital, is considering breaking up the company rather than going public, the FT reported.

What to watch: The IPO market may finally get a jolt this year as both SeatGeek and the chat service Discord eye public debuts.

SeatGeek has been in talks since last year, working with Wells Fargo and Citigroup. StubHub is also said to be weighing an IPO.

Discord has recently met with investment bankers to gauge its own IPO later this year, the NY Times reported.

1 big thing: Trumped-down deal market

Podqi, an AI-powered IP protection platform, raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst, CEO Trevor West exclusively tells Axios.

Why it's the BFD: Safeguarding copyrights from infringement has only become more difficult in the AI era.

How it works: Podqi's software can identify millions of potential copyright infringements daily, including counterfeit merchandise. 

Most brands and IP holders are drowning in fighting copycats, West says. 

"Legal firms or brands are only able to act on maybe the top 1% of these infringements. And we're able to do this at scale, where we can use AI to  gather all these infringements."

Podqi also weighs whether some infringements could be turned into legal licenses, West adds. "Do we need to take them down? Is there opportunity for revenue here? Could they be a legal licensee because they're not actually a bad actor?"

Podqi's clients include streetwear company Hellstar and CMG Worldwide, an agency that manages the likeness and IP for many celebrities and family estates. 

Stunning stat: In just two months of partnership with Hellstar, Podqi says, it removed 7,000 counterfeit listings and over 100 fake websites, which eliminated an estimated $4.5 million in infringer revenue.

Zoom in: Soma Capital, Afore Capital and other angel investors also participated in the round.

West says the money will be used for hiring, to increase marketing and to continue building out the company's technology.

"We're actively hiring a founding engineer right now," he says.

2. The BFD: Podqi raises $3.2M seed round

Go deeper in our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Reflection AI, a superintelligence startup led by a pair of ex-DeepMind researchers, raised $105m in Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners and CRV co-led and were joined by seed backer Sequoia Capital. Go deeper

• Peer Global, a Newport Beach, Calif., metaverse game engine, raised $10.5m from Tommy Mai's family office. Go deeper 

• Bully Pulpit International, a Washington, D.C.-based comms agency owned by Broad Sky Partners, acquired Propper Daley, a social impact-focused marketing agency. Go deeper 

• Chartbeat, a digital publishing software company, has acquired FatTail, an advertising software platform. Go deeper

🎵 Rimas Entertainment, a Puerto Rican record label whose roster includes Bad Bunny, acquired a stake in Dale Play Records, which focuses on Argentina and Uruguay. Go deeper

• Kantar, a London-based market research firm owned by Bain Capital and WPP, reportedly is exploring a breakup that could include a $6.5b sale of its Worldpanel unit. Go deeper

3. Deal flow

• Jon Slade was named the new chief executive at The Financial Times. Go deeper

• Lauren Benedict is joining Roku as head of ad sales. Go deeper

• Averi Harper was named political director for ABC News. Go deeper

4. Movin' on up (or out)

🗞️ Washington Post to overhaul newsroom structure (Axios)

"As part of the newsroom overhaul, the Post will divide its national desk into two sections that focus on national reporting, and politics and government coverage, respectively," Sara Fischer writes.

📺 Hollywood pivots to programming for Trump's America (WSJ)

"Whether it is a show featuring Tim Allen, who has made no secret of his admiration for the president, Bill Maher interviewing Trump backer Kid Rock on his HBO show 'Real Time,' or A&E bringing back 'Duck Dynasty,' Hollywood is serving some red meat to the red states," Joe Flint writes.

🏀 The age of consuming sports in bite-sized moments (The Ringer)

"In sports, as in most areas of culture, we're living in the age of moments. Being a sports fan used to mean caring primarily about games and their outcomes: Two teams would meet, and you'd watch them play to find out who would win. Highlights, when they happened, were an added bonus, but they weren't the main thing," Brian Phillips writes.

March 11, 2025

1 big thing: Trumped-down deal market