alternativetive minimum tax because they had to get those bastards, right? going after 155 people was on its way to hitting 43 million. eventually some adjustments were made, the trump tax cuts actually helped people down from 3% to just one-tenth of a percent, the billionaires. so here's the thing, recently americans were asked how do they feel about a federal income taxes, and they said they're paying too much. this is what i hope people remember. when you go to the voting booth and think about a government that's raising an army of 80,000 irs agents, they are not going after jeff bezos is. finish but they are going after someone, and that someone is you. so be careful, be very, very careful. in the meantime, speaking of being careful, folk, this market's all over the place. it's trying to find direction, trying to find footing. aisle leave you in the ands of the very best, liz claman,s over to you. liz: it's almost, or charles, like this is now sort of the behavior of the final hour of

trade, right? charles: yeah. liz: it is, once again, a horse race or a bull-bear paradigm fighting it out to the death, at least til the closing bell. fox market alert, let's focus on the nasdaq for a moment. it is' treating for a fourth straight -- retreating for a fourth straight session, we do have it down about 137 points, had been down 210. the dow down in the red by 22 points. it did overcome a 187-point loss, but it hadn higher by 237. so big swings once again for the dow. the s&p has been flipping between red and green. right now it's red, down 22 points. earnings still have a command of a good chunk of the market action. witness who's at the very bottom of the dow jones heat map, travelers getting pelted with baseball-sized hail at this hour. shares of the insurer falling 7.5% after first quarter profits undershot estimates. or travelers reported catastrophe losses due to severe wind and hailstorms mostly in central and eastern u.s.

skyrocketed from $535 million a year ago to $712 million. it is the second worst performer on the s&p 500 as well. but j.b. hunt swinging an even bigger wrecking ball at the s&p than the travelers. the trucking giant cratering to a 52-week low, falling 7.75% on ugly earnings it blamed on educed transport volumes as consumer spending shifts from buying goods to spending on services. we should mention tech is the worst performing sector on the s&p. you could attribute that in great part to autodesk, falling 5.6% due to an accounting practice which will delay its annual report file being. the chipmakers collectively a acting as a very big negative. the sox index falling 2.7% at the moment in large part to asml this is on pace for its largest percent decrease since june of 2022.

we've got it down 7. this as the semiconduct orer -- this is the semiconductor equipment maker, reporting much weaker than anticipated first if quarter sales goals. let's see some green on the screen because there is some here. look at united airlines shares, moving higher by 16.75% driven by a quarterly report that sailed over lowered expectations as it overcomes boeing's jet delay woes. hey, look at a paramount. we've got some green there, showing some life here, up about 3.5%. no real news at the moment but, of course, we've got the potential pending merger with skydance. we don't know if it's going to happen. no real news on that, but we're about to make some news with mario a georgia ebellly who runs the firm that owns enough paramount if shares to make it the second largest shareholder behind national amusement's shari redstone. he want -- she wants to sell, he he does not want his clients on the losing end of any merger,

how far is he willing to go to make sure that doesn't happen? mario joins me in a fox business exclusive coming up. folks, a tug-of-war plague out on the tucker. at the moment the bears have the tightest grip, but lately this has been the final final hour game play. why and what's going on? oppenheimer chief investment strategist john stolings fuss and phil blancato. phil, april showers i wouldn't say drenching the major indices is, but month to date they don't look healthy. anywhere town from 1% to 3%. giving investors a good soaking. what do you think is at work here? >> generally, you have to understand that chairman powell came out and reiterated that that they're just not going to cut rates anytime soon, inflation is still very high, and even if we get 3% earnings growth this quarter, it's not enough to justify stock prices. stocks were expense i, second quarter's a very difficult time, generallies this is a tough quarter. you'll be seeing some cracks in the labor market, it's time for stocks to sell off which, by the

way, are totally normal. liz: okay. john, after 11 hikes we're now at 6 skips or pauses as it were. we're about to get another one because there's another meeting in may. and we know that there's no move expected at this moment, at least that's what the markets are looking at. so why does the market continue to be shocked and grasping their pearls every time we have the chair of the federal reserve repeating what he's said a million times? >> you know, liz, you got me. [laughter] you know, i've been in this business since 1983, so i came in when volcker was just beginning his second term. liz: wow. >> so i've been through a lot of changes, a lot of different periods. but invariably, the traders never believe the fed. even now with the bernanke legacy, they're highly communicative, they say what hay mean and hay mean what they say, but that's been the same for a long time. inflation remains sticky. they're not going to cut. they would like to cut.

they'd like to cut three times this year. i doubt they will get to do that. we have -- when the market initially expected at the beginning of the year traders were looking at 5-7 cuts, we were saying likely 2 cuts, and the fed was saying 3. liz: yeah. >> inflation is stickier than expected, but the lumpiness in earnings season, this is inevitable, it happens. last quarter, which turned out to be a really good earnings season, q4, had a lot of lumpiness at the beginning. i remember the financials came out, they were mixed, they sold off very similar to this last one with. and, you know, insurers, well, you know, with what's happening in terms of all the crazy weather that we experience, you're bound to have some losses. liz: okay. so 10-year treasury yield pulling back just a bit, down about 8 basis points. but they've been on a run. they believe what the federal reserve has been saying. we've got the 10-year at 4.589%, a little bit higher yesterday. phil, 8 out of 13 categories have been showing spending remains broad.

okay. so what do you buy, and we got a nice window. i don't know if it's nice on behalf of 1kwr6789 b -- j.b. hunt, but they said people are spending on experiences, not so much on goods. that's why their numbers haven't been wonderful. isn't this just obvious, go invest in companies that give experiences like the airlines? >> and pay a dividend. it's really that simple. you've got undervalued prices, undervalued stocks that pay a nice dave dividend in the -- dividend in the service sector, airlines especially you can do really well and some insurance companies who didn't get hurt, you want to be a place where people east really need or really want to be, and to me that's a great opportunity. is and, by the way, you mentioned the bond market, i still bet you a buck it beats the stock market this year. as soon as we get past this nonsense of the election cycle, poor earning, we really see a reduction in interest rates, there's a hint that the fed's going to cut, the bond market changes course. buying -- bonds yields at 4.5, if we end up at 3.75 this time

next year, you'll is a guy significant gantic return. liz: okay, you like a water purification company. i'm all with you on that. we all need water. water's maybe the new silver. practice not gold because gold's been doing so incredibly well. amazon, that's discretionary spending, you could argue. >> there's three names. you're having a cup of coffee, i'm going to give you coffee and a sweet nemplet e ecolab, it's a return to office for asia and europe. they're going to be in the offices, and they need clean water. sanitization, a very nice global company that has a really good, safe play. second, amazon. look at the numbers. when you pix in i. and -- mix in a.i. and their profitability on a 5-year pe, they just got an all-time high, and crowd viek the -- crowdstrike, you need that to survive through this mess of cybersecurity and not

pay a hefty fee, and they're all recurring revenue. liz: stay with tech, obviously not a good sector today, but you say go into established tech companies that everyone whether it's corporations or individuals need. arguably, that could be crowdstrike. but as you look at that particular nut, what's at the heart of it? >> you want to find those that are deeply embedded in the lives of both the consumer and business on an a everyday basis, those familiar names. i manage money, the firm doesn't want me pitching stocks, but you're looking at within that magnificent fierveg okay? you might even stretch it into magnificent six, perhaps. but my point is when you look at this, it's tech, consumer discretionary. we don't want to bet against the american consumer. we like industrials here. and we think financial stands a good chance, large cap financials, you take a look trading, m&a looking good and then as we move forward and we establish that we are, indeed, in a sustainable economic

expansion at a modest pace, this looks not so bad. liz: yeah, us -- it really doesn't. dow's now down 42 points. john, or phil, thank you very much for being here. [laughter] here's what we're waiting to see better. u.s. food inflation. so, yes, believe it or not, it has slid steadily since its high in august of 2022. so why are so many of you still paying so much at the grocery store and even more at restaurants? we're about to take it up with the celebrity chef and co-owner of major food group which operates more than 40 luxury restaurants around the world. from car bone to terisi, zz's club and more, chef mario ca bone deals in huge volumes of food and staples. he's here in studio to tell us how higher rates for longer will impact his restaurants. ground beef among the priciest foods. it gained 6.2% in march compared

to last march. bacon up 2.5%. chicken up 2%. "claman countdown" is coming right back. stay with us. ♪ it's odd how in an instant things can transform. slipping out of balance into freefall. (the stock market is now down 23%). this is happening people. where there are so few certainties... (laughing) look around you. you deserve to know. as we navigate a future unknown. i'm glad i found stability amidst it all. gold. standing the test of time. ♪ the road to opportunity. is often the road overlooked.

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liz: consumers should start getting some relief when it comes to food prices. okay, look at a the numbers. according to the latest report from the organization for economic cooperation and development which pulls data from 38 industrialized countries, global consumer food prices actually came in at 5.3% in price rises in february. that's down significantly from the 16.2% in november of 2022. of course, keep in mind back then, in november of 2022,

prices shot up when russia invaded ukraine which is known as the world's breadbasket. now, here in the u.s. food prices in march rose 2.2% year-over-year. that is the lowest rate since may of to 2021 and down dramatically from its august 2022 high of 11.4. so why are consumers sill getting hit hard -- still getting hit hard when they eat out in major food group chef and co-owner mario car bone, 45 restaurant the brands across 3 continents. mario, the march inflation report showed the dining out category, that was way higher. it soared about 4.2% year-over-year. why? explain that when overall a food inflation has slowed down markedly. >> yeah, i think, listen, i think dining out has become a form of entertainment. it's an outlet. it's a way to break away from whatever madness is happening in the world right now. and i think people willing to pay for that moment, for that

experience, to just have that outlet. and i think food is one of those areas that that people willing to spend their money, or their hard earned money despite inflation, even though we're get somewhat encounselinging numbers these days -- encouraging, it's a category. and certainly for us as we feel it in the luckettly sector for that -- luxury sector, it's somewhat elastic in that sense. liz: i know you guys like higher prices. they help your margins,, certainly. but how do you like clientele in the eye and say i'm still keeping prices this high compared to 2022? i'm assuming you really haven't lowered prices. >> no. liz: this is what i'm saying, you know? we just got the federal reserve's beige book which checks out 12 different districts across the u.s., and they marked out priens if sensitivity among consumers. are you seeing any slowdown in sales at the moment or the numbers of people who come in? because now they're saying, wait a minute, why am i still paying so much? >> we haven't. to be honest with you, sales

haven't been better than they are today. i think for us, our clientele realizes that we're uncompromising with what we're going to buy. so in a moment where it's difficult, where inflation's high and prices are expensive, we're not going to go out there and start shopping for an inferior product to try the keep the previous price where it was. we're going to continue to stay steadfast with buying the very, very best ingredients that our customers have come to know. and, unfortunately, it's going to get passed along, right? things are getting expensive. but our customers have come to know and trust us. they know what they're going to get. and the last thing i think they're going to want from us is to start compromise being on what we're buying. liz: tell me about customers in hong kong, paris, riyadh. you have restaurants in all those areas. you seeing any differential between what people are willing the spend? >> i think -- to spend? liz: what's the best, how about that? >> the best market right now? certainly, south florida is

booming for us, las vegas yet again booming. new york's record numbers. and then as we start to look towards internationally, we're, you know, we're bullish in london again. and we're opening a couple of places in london next year. and if we go far out east, hong kong has -- is coming out of a slumber, a multiyear slumber -- liz: really? >> -- that is starting to see the beginnings of the breaks there. they've had a myriad of challenges throughout the last 3-5 years, and we're starting to see the beginnings now of some sun shining over there. liz: you know, you're not just in the restaurant business where, i would imagine, you buy lots of input, you know, everything, fruits, vegetable, beef, pork in wig -- big, big numbers here, but you are also in food retail. you've9 got the carbone sauces now. >> yep. liz: tell me how that business is doing, and that's where you have to start to look at the cost of glass, steel, labor. >> absolutely. the business is doing

incredibly. we're doubling year over year right now. we're on record pace for our got choir -- category. to your point, we have to watch these margins to the penny. so that we don't price ourselves out of the category. liz: can i just say? somebody told me one of those jars, i don't know which one, is $34 -- >> no. liz: no way, right? the pice key rigatoni in new york city, carbone. >> no, we retail around $11-12 in new york. liz: i see, the actual entree, i am told. >> dish at the restaurant. i would not be doing very well if that was $34. liz: i was going to say -- [laughter] that's even more than mario's. all right. so your biggest challenge going forward, is it paying your workers higher wages? are they demanding that? >> no, they should have that. they should absolutely have that. we're doing well, and that absolutely needs to be passed down to our people. that's how we keep and retain talent and how we get new

talent. so retention is number one, make sure we don't lose our people, and then beginning to find ways in which we can diversify what hospitality means. like, it means hotels, it means consumer packaged goods. that's where we're going to start to see really interesting businesses laterally for us. liz: good luck to you. >> thank you. liz: you started with one restaurant in little italy. look at you now, all over the world. congratulations. >> thank you so much. liz: mario carbone. inflation, of course, one of the hot e topics for investors. robert herz covick is going to join us tomorrow to share his views on how to invest, how he's investing around that and so much more. that's right here on "the claman countdown," 3 p.m. eastern tomorrow. up next, part two of the mario brothers' show, mario gabelli on deck in a fox business exclusive. his investment firm is paramount if's second largest shareholder

behind shari redstone, the woman who is angling for a merger. she wants to sell her shares. he is about to join us on why he is not angling for that and what he thinks needs to happen to nearly triple the stock from where it is right now. so where is it right now? paramount at the moment at $10.76. it's gaining 3%. and president joe biden calling for a tripling of tariffs on chinese steel products, this as he reiterates support for u.s. steel to remain under american, not japanese, ownership. we've got the details on his trip to steel city. that's coming right up. stay tuned the. dow is down 57 points. ♪ ♪ do you charge forward? freeze in your tracks? (♪) or, let curiosity light the way. at t. rowe price, we're asking smart questions

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liz: breaking news, we want to put steel stocks up on the screen here as president joe biden holds a campaign stop in steel city in the last hour. the president meeting with steel workers in pittsburgh as he announced new actions to protect u.s. steel and shipbuilding from unfair if trade practices by china. the president calling to triple the tariff rate on chinese steel and aluminum imports and is asking the u.s. trade representative to investigate china's ship-building practices. fox business' edward lawrence has been following the president's 2-day trip to the keystone state, he's got the details on today's focus on steel including, i guess, edward, comments on the

potential sale of u.s. steel to japan's nippon steel. >> reporter: yeah, exactly. and as everybody knows, the u.s. steel the shareholders approved that sale. but the president just now telling the steel workers that he guarantees, he says i promise i will keep u.s. steel an american company. you know, there is a review coming on -- going on of this deal in the building behind the white house, the treasury department looking into that. no decision as of yet. but the president saying i promise this will stay an american company. now, the president in pennsylvania, in pittsburgh saying that he wants to triple the tariffs on china dumping steel and aluminum on the global market. the president also announcing he's opening an investigation into with china's practices related to maritime logistics and ship-building sectors. public comment will be accepted on that from now jillion june -- until june 5th. any action on these or the steel and aluminum tariffs would come at the earliest mid summer.

>> committee these -- chinese steel ends up dumping extra steel onto the global markets at unfairly low prices, and the prices are unfairly low because china's steel companies don't need to worry about making a profit because the chinese government subsidizes them so heavily. they're not competing, they're cheating. and we've seen the damage here in america. >> reporter: the chinese embassy in the u.s. responding saying the u.s. is making the same mistake again and again with tariffs and investigations into unfair if practices. now treasury sec today yellen yesterday pushing this issue at a chinese economic working meeting group. you see it right there. still, the u.s. senate today, senator mike crapo yesterday why it took so long to make -- yesterday why it took so long -- questioned why it took so long to make this move. >> can the ustr has yet to -- period whether the wto or under section 301 or under the phase i one deal, nothing. today's announcement accepting

section 301 ship-building petition which could take a full year to complete does not make up for over 3 here toes -- years of inaction on china. >> reporter: the president also directed the commerce department to continue its investigation into specific products being dumped on the market. again, liz, the president saying i promise that this will be an american company. he does have the authority after the review to make sure this stays an american company. back to you. liz: thank you very much, edward lawrence. fox business alert, could the federal trade commission be about to commit a fax faux pas? if investors seem to think so is. shares of fashion holding company capris and tapestry are both down anywhere from 2.33% to tapestry's just under 1% following a report from if new york times' deal book that the federal trade commission is preparing to block tapestry's $8.5 billion acquisition of capris. tapestry's three major brands, coach, kate spade and stuart weitzman while capris is the

parent company of michael kors, versace and jimmy choo. meanwhile, keeping with the fashion theme or, urban outfitter s is going out of fashion on the wall street catwalk, shares dropping 3% after a jeffreys cut from the a hold to underperform. jeffreys notes a deceleration in rolling 3-month traffic to urban's brands which include urban outfitters and while competitors like abercrombie have seen an uptick in foot tracker, also cutting the price target from $42 to 32. shares at $36.9 right now. let's flip it over to eli lilly. those shares are on the move to the upside by just under half a percent. earlier they spiked to about $771 a share, we're at $749 now. this happened earlier in the session after after positive results from its sleep apnea trial came out. the company's weight loss drug, zep bound, showed significant promise in reducing nighttime sleep ap my ya events in people

with obesity. resmed, which makes medical devices that also treats sleep and breathing disorders, that is moving in the opposite direction. kind of makes sense here. down about 6% at the moment p. a major group of paramount if global's common share hold hers are steaming mad. they know that as the entertainment company is deep in exclusive merger talks with david ellison's skydance media, they know that if this happens, they would not get a buyout premium like the largest shareholder, shari redstone, will. what's the possibility of no sale at all? that's what paramount's second biggest voting shareholder is pushing for. mega investor and chair and ceo mario gabelli live in studio next on why he thinks paramount ceo bob bakish is doing a bang-up job at the firm whose stock is down 52% over the past year and what he thinks could be done better with than a merger. it's a fox business exclusive. you've got to watch this. we're coming right back. ♪

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liz: as we were showing you earlier, shares of paramount are up today, now up 3.7%. but with the stock just under about a $11 a share, it's been kind of a dismal picture, down nearly 73% over the last three years. according to seeking alpha, paramount, albemarle and etsy were the most shorted companies in the s&p 500 in march with paramount seeing the most short interest at 4.7%. clearly -- sorry, 14.7%. clearly, investors are betting hat stock is going to go down as the company light now is embroiled in -- right now is embroiled in a merger battle. the president of national amusements, sharry redstone, is reportedly looking to merge the company with david el soften's skydance media, something many shareholders are vocally

against. paramount is composed of 40 million voting shells. redstone owns about 30 million of those, super majority here, leaving 10 million many common shared holders' hands. half of that 10 is million is own by investment firm gamco investors, and chairman and ceo mario gabelli has a lot to say about the deal and protecting his clients' interests. mario gabelli joins me now in a fox business exclusive. if you can help it, will this deal with shari redstone and skydance and the paramount shares happen? >> well, i'd like it to happen but in a certain different way. look, we love mergers and acquisitions. financial engineering is 101. you just saw what ge was able to do with their spin-off. a great company, crane. the stock's tripled. so the notion of what is needed, national amusements, nai, seems to have some financial challenges -- liz: that's sherry redstone's --

>> she runs national amuse ifments. their company's had problems with can covid, with the screen actors guilt strike, so on. they -- guild strike. they own 30 million of the common and 30 million of the voting. they own 9 -- let's call it 10% of the economics of paramount, but they have 75% of the vote. so the question then is what is she doing to the help all of the shareholders and help the company. so skydance is basically a great company with regards to content capabilities. and the management at paramount is very good at managing the business of what they do with pluto, other company, but they need to have extra juice on content. you step back, liz, the content spend in 2024 by comcast, by disney is $25 billion. then there's companies like clustered around $16, 17, 18. pararah a mount's one of them, netflix is one of them, and they're coming out with results tomorrow, today, whatever, and

you have zaslav at a warner's there. and if then apple. $1 billion. so the question is -- 11 billion. how do we energize the contentful i'm not going to say it's mission impossible. but mission impossible is, by the way, what skydance came up with. [laughter] you know, is paramount a mission impossible to do a financial -- on the other side, the way i look at it is the following: the debt has been reduced at paramount. t down to $11.5 billion. i don't know the debt at national amuse ifment's, but they also will have the benefit of a strong tailwind in broadcasting today. every one of our viewers should give money to their favorite politician. why? because if they're going to advertise. and they're going to advertise on linear television. liz: but, on sherry, you said she should be thinking about everybody. whined she have a fiduciary duty to common if shareholders? she has a fiduciary duty to herself x this has been public that she always had an outsized

voice. that outsized voice, because of her holdings, enables her to change the whole board. everybody knew that. that's been -- >> the no, no, no, come on. he who has gold rules. come on, we've always known the golden rule forever. that's 101 of the investment business for the last 120 years. basically, she has three-quarters of the vote and, therefore, you know that she can rule. independent of that, she's entitled to a premium for that. all i want is that everyone that owns voting stock, it's traded the same way. and basically we have no -- liz: but hay entered their deal when they bought their shares knowing that they didn't get that premium. >> most investors, including -- i have a thousand clients that own the voting stock. i have a few that own the nonvoting because of historical reasons. we've been in it since viacom was spun off from from the paramount -- from cbs. we were there when sumner bought

viacom. controlled it in a proxy fight. we were there when cbs-viacom merger on and off, so we would like to be there in the future. content is very good, and they've got to figure out a way to do what netflix did which is get distribution, and that's a work in progress. liz: and david ellison and skydance, let's say this is ready to go through. right now they are in exclusive talks -- >> up until may 3rd. liz: up until may 3rd. how hard are you willing to fight to stymy this? >> none. liz: you're not going to sue? i thought you said -- >> no, no, no, no, no. we make love. we would basically wait to see what's on the table. as an example, as an example of m&a, you take what a company called lionsgate was able to do. they have stardis, which is a small -- starz and then they have content. they're raising financing through a spac being merged into their content company. so lionsgate is a holding

company. there's a lot of financial engineering that could work. we're waiting to see the cards on the table face up. liz: what would look good to you? what would be palatable to you? >> brian allen -- liz: byron. >> byron allen, sorry, and that is a certain amount for the voting stock, a certain appointment -- amount for the nonvoting and a deal to the entire company. i don't think that's a mission impossible transaction. however, they do bring an understanding and the culture of understanding content. and content over a long period of time is going to work. so we'll see when the cards are up. and if the cards are unfair, have to do what's right, and that is protect our clients' interest and all the other voting shareholders' interest and do whatever's right in a legal way. are. liz: have you consulted subtled -- consulted lawyers ahead of it? >> we talk to a lot of people. i do research. i've probably gotten 200 profit in the last 10 days, and we read that, and our analysts read it, and we do understand options in terms of the dynamics.

liz: okay. >> until, noah once said this, your cousin, years and years -- [laughter] liz: my ancient cousin -- >> you don't start building a ship when it rains. you plan in advance. liz: well, it's too late now. >> no, it's not. liz: you sure? bob bakish is running the company at the moment. what's his big requested that you have felt will work considering the stock has not performed well? >> well, a lot of stocks don't perform well and some do well, okay? some are in transition. we've owned john deere now for probably 45 years. some years it goes down. berkshire hathaway in 1999 -- liz: okay. you're a long-term investor. >> i'm a marathon runner. liz: why not in the shoreshot -- short term allow some dilution if she sells to skydance can and then they've got great ideas -- like you said, he's no idiot over at skydance. i'm just playing devil's advocate -- >> no, you're not, you're being

fair. she has to take what he wants to do for national amusements. i just want the same pice for my voting shareholders as she's getting for her voting shareholders. all were created equal. liz: what are your favorite opportunities right now of companies that you feel are well managed? >> well, our ideal world is a well managed, a good business by a well-managed company and, liz, a reasonable price. some of the ones that we've looked at in the past, gatx out of chicago, the rail business. we've owned that for 45 years. they know how to buy equipment, they know how to rent it, heavy gone to be india, they've gone to europe. they're now dealing with engines that are in short supply, and they are making money. the stock is, symbol is gat, an- liz: yep, it's under there. $127 right now. >> and they basically will earn $8 next year, and they have 35 million shares out. well run, they're doing a good job. second is at&t -- itt, i invested when i was 13 years ol-

liz: yeah, it's an old company. >> the name is old. the companies are constant hi changing. liz: sure, sure. >> at one time they actually owned madison square garden. so that's an extraordinarily well run company with no debt and, again, 80 -- 92 million shares and -- i may have to connect that to 82 million. basically, that's a good one. another one, crane, e mentioned. techstron. scott is doing a great job there. there's 99 2 million shares, that one -- 92. and basically i think they'll earn 6.50. the other one you should not ignore this time of year -- liz: oh, you always bring this up, the atlanta braves. >> well, good. great memory. the stock is 40. john malone is going to think about it. but it's more a subset of subset of entertainment. think of what katie canlin -- liz: caitlin clark. >> yeah. clark. and think about what do you call that thing, soccer and think about basketball with.

look at the fact that the president's cup was given to the rangers. think about the fact that the knicks are in the playoffs -- liz: yeah. and the rangers. >> yeah. the rangers will do extremely well. so now jimmy dolan, who used to be beat up by everyone, has the sphere working in his favor, the knicks, the rangers -- and we'll know tonight are they going to may the team from philadelphia whose name i can't remember and the team -- [laughter] liz: philliess. >> no, the 76ers. liz: oh, basketball. you're thinking too too fast. >> no, i'm not if. i'm basically ignoring what i want to talk about, which is m&a and deals and what we see happening in the next year. and one of them that you talked about earlier was capris. why would the federal trade commission worry about ladies' bags? i mean, it's crazy. liz: are you saying -- >> and you had a source guy -- liz: yeah. we had the red sauce guy, mario car bone. >> no, and the ftc was make

inquiries into campbell's soup which we are buying, rao's. kwr06r i don't have a problem with everybody making increase, but they have to understand the impact on the ecosystem. liz: let corporate love making happen, is what you like to say. >> you know, as long as they don't cost me more money. liz: i tell ya -- >> look, adam smith and ricardo had this 200 years ago. [laughter] just have a policeman that does their job. but everybody should know the rule of engagement in advance. and that is the regulators are doing a great job. gary gensler, lina khan, but they have to be a little more practical in the world. we want to compete against the chinese, and we've got to go fast forward. sometimes we need scale. liz: we are not at the end of this paramount if drama yet -- >> no, come on. you love the movies. you want to never see the ending. you want to go and then have the sequel. the sequel will be when skydance is involved in the content part. liz: okay. all right, that's your

prediction. mario, great to see you. thank you very much is. while mario was talking, the dow turned positive, how about that? up about 4 points. we shall watching every tick of it for you. charlie gasparino coming up next to react to mario gabelli's view on paramount and what he is hearing on the inside. "the claman if countdown"'s coming right back. you can stay around. ♪ ♪ if. ♪

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golo is real and when you take release and follow the plan, it works. ♪. liz: well, major paramount shareholder mario gabelli just making news in an exclusive interview right here on "the claman countdown," he wants sky dan's paramount merger to happen but not in the form that is being discussed at the moment. charlie gasparino is here right now. he wants the content to move to them. he is fine with byron allen getting television stations. >> he doesn't want the deal? he doesn't want the deal? liz: he want his gamco shareholders get same as shari redstone. >> he doesn't want the deal. i love mario. known him forever. he is such a brilliant investor. he sticks up for his clients, for himself. he will fight for every penny

and that's what he is doing here. he knows that, you know, for a common shareholder there's not, i don't think there's a lot of you know alternatives here, you know. okay, does byron allen have the money? we don't know. he says he does, just so you know. i'm not saying he doesn't but a lot of questions about that. is this, there is a case to be made here that the redbird, skydance, redbird, i guess kkr conglomerate, consortium, better word, will be, you know, will be common shareholders when it's over. be with him and they will be all working together to make this thing happen if it can with a new generation of leader, meaning david ellison and a different business model and more capitalization. that's, they will make that case at some point to investors. here's the thing i will say as all the smoke clears on this thing, people will start saying

les moonves was right. liz: former head of cbs. >> if you remember, i've been covering this for so long, this is when it was viacom and cbs. shari, her own man, sumner, put this together, bear live but still alive. she wanted to combine this together. les tried to turn around to launch incredible proxy fight and hired litell lipton, went to war to basically separate out cbs and sell it. that was his ultimate plan. he would have gotten taupe dollar for that then. les was king of all media. he was a juggernaut. les moonves got blown out eventually. left in various scandals and this deal was shut down by shari because she is the controlling shareholder but he tried. he tried a way to dilute here.

it was like wild stuff. when i talk to people who are into paramount, cbs, viacom orbit, they all say les was right about this, when it comes down to it. the most value for shareholders would have been that, maybe selling this. she still would have made money. we're stuck with a company that has a bunch of melting ice cubes, weird ownership structure and status quo and byron allen are not probably going to make it. mario, he is a brilliant guy. he can read a balance sheet better than me. i don't know, man. there is not a lot of options left here. liz: by the way he said he won't sue ahead of it, but if he doesn't like the terms that come through he will sue, make mo necessary take. >> mario is from the bronx. he will not get screwed on this. liz: we have to run. we should look at tesla right now. right now tesla shareholders are asking to vote in favor of ceo

elon musk's 56 billion-dollar compensation package at the company's annual meeting set for june 13th. that package was voided by a judge earlier this year. let's get to today's "countdown closer" who says you know what? corporate cronyism which is at the heart of this issue is a factor and important one in investment philosophy. he has list of companies he likes the good corporate governance. ed, what names fall under that category if not tesla? >> we like teradyne. we like dbg and we like waste management. corporate governance has become a very big thing for us in international assets. we're sick and tired of board cronyism, capital, we're capitalists but crony capitalism is almost as bad as socialism. we need pure capitalism. i like mario gabelli. i haven't looked into this particular deal, paramount, charlie is talking about so much but i do know mario fights for

the shareholder, the real shareholders. it is not like what happened -- look what happened at disney just a week or two ago. i mean blackrock, vanguard voted with disney. hey, you know, iger appointed, he had his hand-picked successor fail miserably. now he gets paid millions upon millions of dollars to come back. all he managed to do coming back is get his butt kicked by ron desantis. maybe he should go back to making movies families take their children to see, i don't know. we're looking at companies with solid boards with lots of experience. liz: that includes waste management,ppg and teradyne. ed, come back again. we had a lot of breaking news. [closing bell rings] ed cofrances co, international assets advise sy ceo. tomorrow "shark tank"'