Deal of the Week

Jason Kelly, Bloomberg's New York bureau chief, joins Ed Hammond to discuss the news that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, one of Wall Street's best known and most outspoken personalities, has started to outline plans for his departure. As well as looking at what JPM could look like in a post-Dimon era, the two discuss the broader issues around the declining number of big-name characters on Wall Street - and what such a shift tell us about the current mood among investors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason Kelly, Bloomberg's New York bureau chief, joins Ed Hammond to talk about the booming M&A market, which passed $150 billion in the first three weeks of the year for the first time since 2000. But despite the strong start, it's not all rosy for some of the world's largest private equity funds as they hunt for takeovers amid soaring equity valuations and fierce competition. The two also look at the latest big activist investor attack on the retailer Lowe's and dig into the news that superstar hedge-funder manager Bill Ackman is laying off staff after another tough year at his Pershing Square Capital Management and will spend less time with investors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooke Sutherland joins Ed Hammond to discuss the ongoing saga at General Electric, and what a breakup for the industrial conglomerate could mean for deal makers and competitors. The two also look at how much a broken up GE might be worth vs its value today, and explore how a long history of empire building has left it ill-prepared to compete with its more nimble rivals in an era when industrial companies are increasingly focused on technology. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Hammond is joined by Matt Monks to discuss the latest merger trends in America's power and utility industry and a closer look at how local politics can dictate the terms of multi-billion dollar dealsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're about to be singing Auld Lang Syne to 2017. To welcome in the new year, deals reporter Alex Barinka is joined by deals editor Lizzie Fournier and deals reporter Matt Monks to discuss their outlook. Will 2018 see the return of the megamerger? Who's going to have to seek out takeovers to keep up with industry wide competitive changes? And what about those IPOs? All this and more in the final episode of this year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The deals world was unable to escape the cloud of uncertainty that's followed the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. The value of announced M&A transactions in the U.S. fell by almost a third this year -- the lowest since 2013. Deals reporter Alex Barinka talks to her colleague Matt Monks and U.S. deals editor Lizzie Fournier about 2017’s Trump slump and the other major factors that characterized this year in deals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Hammond is joined by senior Bloomberg healthcare reporter Robert Langreth to discuss CVS' $68 billion takeover of health insurer Aetna. How will the US regulators respond to this latest vertical merger and how much of CVS' push into the complex insurance market is driven by the threat of Amazon entering the pharmacy market?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Hammond is joined by Bloomberg Intelligence's Paul Sweeney to discuss Meredith's $2.8 billion acquisition of Time Inc and the impact the media merger will have on Time's storied roster of titles. The two also explore the role of the Koch brothers in financing the deal and the prospects for media M&A more generally. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Hammond is joined by Bloomberg’s Anousha Sakoui and Tara Lachapelle to talk about the future of Fox amid reports that the media company is discussing selling major assets. What would a break up mean for the Murdoch empire and how will the shock decision by the Department of Justice to block AT&T’s $85 billion merger with Time Warner Inc affect the prospects for a Fox deal? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Hammond talks to Bloomberg's Sara Forden and Tara Lachapelle to get the inside track of AT&T's increasingly bitter fight with the Department of Justice, the chances of the telecom giant's $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner being blocked, and what the signals from the newly managed regulator suggest for future of M&A.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.