President Donald Trump established PCAST through an executive order on Wednesday, aimed at bringing together leading figures in science and technology to advise the president and strengthen US leadership in those fields.

The new role positions Sacks to oversee a broader range of technology issues and deepen the White House’s engagement with major tech companies.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in the first year, but the President wants to keep the pedal to the metal on everything tech. That’s exactly what we will do,” Sacks told FOX Business.

The council will include up to 24 members, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

David Sacks has been appointed co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). AP

A senior adviser to the president told FOX Business that Sacks will continue serving as AI and crypto czar while taking on a broader portfolio.

“David will always be his crypto and AI czar, but to the admin more broadly, this new role will allow him to advise on a broader range of critical tech issues,” the adviser said.

As AI and crypto czar, Sacks has helped drive a series of policy shifts aimed at reshaping US artificial intelligence strategy, including rolling back prior restrictions and expanding federal oversight.

Trump established PCAST through an executive order on Wednesday. AP

In his first week in office, Trump signed an executive order revoking a Biden-era policy that took a more cautious approach to emerging technologies like AI and blockchain.

Trump later signed another executive order in December 2025 establishing a national framework for AI regulation, preempting state-level rules. The order argued that US companies must be able to innovate “without cumbersome regulation.”

In July 2025, the White House released its “Winning the AI Race” action plan, outlining more than 90 federal policy initiatives focused on accelerating innovation, building infrastructure and strengthening the nation’s position in global AI development and security.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will join the tech advisory council. AP

More recently, the White House unveiled a national AI policy framework aimed at creating a “consistent” standard for development nationwide while addressing concerns around censorship, free speech and child protection.

Sacks has also played a key role in shaping the administration’s cryptocurrency agenda.

Within days of taking office, Trump signed an executive order promoting US leadership in digital assets, banning the development of a central bank digital currency and creating a presidential working group on the issue.

Sacks at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. AP

In March 2025, Trump signed an order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile, positioning the country as a leader in government-backed digital asset strategy.

Congress followed with the passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025, the first major federal legislation on digital assets, creating a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The bill passed with bipartisan support in both chambers.

The administration has also moved to ease regulatory pressure on the crypto industry, including ending several SEC investigations and installing crypto-friendly leadership at key agencies.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was defunded — a move Sacks called his “personal favorite” — eliminating what he described as the crypto industry’s most aggressive enforcement arm.

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The 63-year-old’s pay packet is up 21% from $38 million in 2024. He was paid $31 ​million in 2023.

Solomon earned a base salary in 2025 of $2 ‌million and $45 million in annual variable compensation, Goldman said in a regulatory filing.

It means he bests JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who picked up a compensation package worth $43 million for 2025, a 10.3% increase from the previous year.

Solomon’s pay for 2025 of $47 million was released by Goldman in a regulatory filing on Friday. REUTERS

Solomon and his right-hand man, Goldman president and chief operating officer John Waldron, each agreed to $80 million stock-based retention bonuses last year to keep them at 200 West St., Goldman’s main HQ, until January 2030.

Waldron, 55, is widely tipped to take over from Solomon when he eventually decides to call it a day as the bank’s chief executive.

The announcement follows blockbuster Q4 results, boosted by a revival in M&A activity, announced at 200 West Street last week. Christopher Sadowski

A Goldman spokesperson directed The Post to statements made by the bank’s compensation committee.

Executives said they had considered several factors, but stressed that Solomon had overseen a “strong performance in support of our clients across global banking & markets and asset & wealth management.”

The Wall Street veteran also saw the price of Goldman shares increase by just over 53% in 2025.

Solomon announced financial results last week for the fourth quarter of last year that beat analysts’ expectations.

He said that he was upbeat about the prospects for M&A and IPOs this coming year, pointing to a more favorable regulatory climate under the Trump administration.

“CEOs definitely believe that ‘The Art of the Deal’ – scaled consolidation – is possible now,” the 63-year-old said on Jan. 15 in an apparent reference to President Trump’s book on business negotiations.

He joined the bank as a partner in 1999 after leaving Bear Stearns and rose through the ranks ​to eventually succeed Lloyd Blankfein, who ‍led Goldman through the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath.

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Netflix has submitted a bid valued at $28 a share – edging past a Paramount Skydance bid for the entire company valued in the $26 to $27 range, a source close to the situation told The Post. It’s unclear where the bidding for Thursday’s third-round bidding stands, but officials at Paramount Skydance are arguing that even at a higher level, Netflix’s offer must be discounted because of the uncertainty it brings.

The DC visit comes amid mounting pessimism from Paramount Skydance about its bid; senior executives believe the WBD is inclined to nix its offer in favor of Netflix despite the latter’s regulatory hurdles, as first reported by the Post. As reported, Paramount Skydance signaled in multiple letters this week that it could go hostile with its offer for WBD – arguing that the Netflix deal poses unacceptable risks for WBD shareholders.

In addition to the DC lobbying, Paranmount boss David Ellison has sent at least two letters to the WBD board AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Ellison was in Washington with his legal team headed by Makan Delrahim, Trump’s former DOJ antitrust chief, sources said. They underscored in conversations with Trump officials and lawmakers in Congress why Netflix’s proposed deal to acquire its Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max streaming service should be throttled on antitrust grounds, sources said. 

The combination would combine the nation’s largest streaming service, Netflix, with the third largest in HBO Max as well as a leading studio. 

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Ellison’s meetings in Washington capped a frenzied day of dealmaking and political gamesmanship for the one-time independent movie producer who along with his father, mega billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, are attempting to build a media empire by purchasing all of WBD assets, a deal that could cost between $60 billion and $70 billion. 

Worrying the Ellisons is the word from WBD that the board may well take a chance and pick Netflix as a winner, despite opposition from the Trump administration where officails are worried about Netflix’s alleged monopolistic power in the streaming space. Combined with HBO Max, Netflix would control 400 million streaming subs and a major studio.

Paramount official told Trump regulatory officials and lawmakers in Congress that Netflix’s proposed deal to acquire its Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max streaming service should be throttled on antitrust grounds Getty Images

But, as The Post was first to report, Zaslav is warming up to Netflix’s bid for two of the largest chunks of the company, its streaming service and studio, and looks willing to fight in court any rejection from Trumps DOJ antitrust. 

All of which would upend the Ellisons’ grand ambitions, which began with their unsolicited offer to buy the company known as WBD in September for $23.50 a share. 

Netflix, meanwhile, has hired veteran telecom lawyer Steve Sunshine to make the case that the streaming king wouldn’t obtain monopoly pricing power in the streaming space with the WBD purchase because of the rise of programming alternatives to live YouTube and various forms of social media.

A spokeswoman for Paramount Skydance declined to comment. Reps for Zaslav and Netflix didn’t return requests for comment.

Netflix has submitted a bid valued at $28 a share that was higher than Paramount’s/ Getty Images

The DC lobbying by Ellison and his team is seen as further proof that what was once seen as a near done deal to purchase WBD, based on its access to cash through Larry Ellison’s fortune and ties to the Trump administration could be slipping away. Paramount Skydance is making an all-cash bid for the entire company, including cable channels CNN and HBO and promising Zaslav and the WBD board a glide path through US regulators.

Netflix is offering mostly cash in its bid and obvious resistance from the Trump administration, and as reported, its Department of Justice’s antitrust division. But Zaslav and Sarandos are close, and the WBD chief may be willing to fight the government’s attempt to block a Netflix deal in federal court, people close to the matter say.

Media giant Comcast is also bidding on the WBDs studio and streaming service but its offer appears the weakest since it’s a combination of cash and stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Zaslav is warming up to Netflix’s bid for two of the largest chunks of the company, its streaming service and studio. Getty Images

In addition to the DC lobbying, David Ellison has sent at least two letters to the WBD board, one which warned the company that it has no chance to gain Trump regulatory approval and uncertainty in the federal courts that could depreciate its assets. A second more strident letter came Thursday, just as WBD was asking for another round of bids.

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In that Paramount Skydance wrote that WBD “embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder.” It accused top officials involved in weighing the bids of conflict of interests since they might be offered jobs at the combined entity if Netflix wins.

Reps for Paramount Skydance say the letter is a warning shot to WBD that it might take its offer above to board an appeal for its shareholders because of the low likelihood of regulatory approval of the Netflix offer.

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Today, at a ceremony in London, David Szalay was awarded the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel, Flesh. The judges called it “a disquisition on the art of being alive, and all the affliction that comes along with it, but it is also an absolute page-turner. It’s nearly impossible to put down. The emotional detachment of the main character, István, is sustained by the tremendous movement of the plot. The pace of this novel speaks to one of the greater themes; the detachment of our bodies from our decisions.”

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well,” said Chair of Judges Roddy Doyle. “It’s as if the author, David Szalay, is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe—almost to create—the character with him. The writing is spare and that is its great strength. Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter. The book is about living, and the strangeness of living and, as we read, as we turn the pages, we’re glad we’re alive and reading—experiencing—this extraordinary, singular novel.”

Read an excerpt from the novel here.

Flesh was selected from a shortlist of 6, ultimately whittled down from a starting pool of 153 books, all written in English and published between October 2024 and September 2025.

This year’s judges were Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Chris Power, Kiley Reid, Roddy Doyle (Chair) and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Szalay will be awarded £50,000, on top of the resultant sales and bragging rights.

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Major US stock indexes have notched record high after record high this year on the promise of artificial intelligence, but there’s a good chance that not all of those investments will deliver big returns, Solomon said during Italian Tech Week in Turin, Italy, on Friday.

He noted that the internet craze of the late 1990s and early 2000s drew a frenzy of investment in tech companies. But it was followed by a dramatic collapse in the shares of many of those firms – known as the “dot-com bubble”.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon warned stock markets are due a “drawdown” in the next year or two. AP

“You’re going to see a similar phenomenon here,” Solomon said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next 12 to 24 months, we see a drawdown with respect to equity markets.”

“I think that there will be a lot of capital that’s deployed that will turn out to not deliver returns, and when that happens, people won’t feel good.”

President Trump earlier this year unveiled a collaboration between top tech firms like SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle that intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years into building new AI infrastructure across the country.

AI optimism has helped push Wall Street indexes higher and higher, even after fears around Trump’s tariffs tanked stocks earlier this year.

That’s led some leaders in the financial and tech industries to warn of a potential “bubble burst” down the line.

“I’m not going to use the word bubble, because I don’t know, I don’t know what the path will be, but I do know people are out on the risk curve because they’re excited,” Solomon said.

“And when [investors are] excited, they tend to think about the good things that can go right, and they diminish the things you should be skeptical about that can go wrong.”

Pricey data center deals have taken center stage as companies try to build out the energy infrastructure needed to power this new tech. AFP via Getty Images

Investors have poured capital into stocks like Microsoft, Alphabet, Palantir and Nvidia, as tech firms announce multi-billion dollar investments in AI.

Pricey data center deals have taken center stage as companies try to build out the energy infrastructure needed to power this new tech.

“There will be a reset, there will be a check at some point, there will be a drawdown. The extent of that will depend on how long this [bull run] goes,” he added.

“Markets run in cycles, and whenever we’ve historically had a significant acceleration in a new technology that creates a lot of capital formation, and therefore lots of interesting new companies around it, you generally see the market run ahead of the potential,” Solomon aded.

AI optimism has helped push Wall Street indexes higher and higher. Getty Images

“There are going to be winners and losers.”

Solomon isn’t the only one pointing to red flags when it comes to massive AI investments.

At the same event on Friday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said AI is currently in an “industrial bubble.”

However, Solomon also expressed excitement about the future of artificial intelligence.

“I sleep very well. I’m not going to bed every night worried about what will happen next,” Solomon said. 

“Generally speaking, I think what’s super exciting is the technology is expanding, new companies are being formed, and the potential of this technology deployed into the enterprise can be very, very powerful. So, it’s an exciting time.”

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Trump fumed over a revised analysis released Monday by Goldman’s chief economist Jan Hatzius forecasting that households will soon cover 64% of tariff costs — after absorbing 22% through June.

“I think David should go out and get himself a new economist, or maybe he ought to just focus on being a DJ, and not running a financial institution,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon performs as DJ D-Sol at a music event. David Solomon/Instagram

The slap at Solomon referred to the Wall Street titan’s side gig as DJ D-Sol, which landed him in hot water with insiders at the bank as profits and morale declined after the pandemic.

Trump went on to blast Goldman for being wrong about its predictions earlier this year that the economy could fall into a recession because of tariffs.

Last month, the bank lowered the risk level of a recession to 30% from the 60% it had forecast following the “Liberation Day” rollout in April.

“David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due,” Trump wrote.

“They made a bad prediction a long time ago on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves, and they were wrong, just like they are wrong about so much else.”

Goldman declined to comment.

Trump accused Solomon of refusing to acknowledge the benefits of his tariffs during a Truth Social post.

Trump claimed the duties have poured “trillions of dollars” into US coffers — a figure contradicted by Treasury Department data released last month that showed customs duties generated from April to June were $64 billion.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has projected the tariffs will bring in about $300 billion by the end of the year.

Solomon had built a high-profile career while moonlighting as a DJ, performing at major festivals and releasing Billboard-charting tracks.

President Donald Trump (left) criticized Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon over the bank’s warning that US consumers will bear more tariff costs. Will Oliver – Pool via CNP / MEGA

He put away the turntables, at least in public, in 2023 to focus on his Wall Street role, though he continues to DJ privately at personal events.

Inflation held steady in July, with the annual consumer price index at 2.7%, according to data released Tuesday.

Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, climbed to 3.1% in July, from 2.9% the previous month.

Food prices rose 2.9% year-over-year, used car prices jumped 4.8% and gasoline fell 9.5%, as tariffs earlier this year added some upward pressure on core prices.

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The budding movie mogul’s quiet confidence to media insiders in recent days may seem a bit odd for regular readers of On The Money. We’ve been chronicling how the $8 billion deal faces significant headwinds from the Trump administration’s regulatory apparatus, and the president’s own legal team.

Not according to Ellison, however. In fact, the son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison has been telling people in TV and movie circles out in Los Angeles that he believes the deal will go through before the end of summer – well before its drop-dead date in October when both sides need to walk away if the deal isn’t completed, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has been telling people in TV and movie circles out in Los Angeles that he believes the deal will go through before the end of summer. AFP via Getty Images

It’s unclear exactly why Ellison – whose independent studio has produced hits like “Top Gun: Maverick” and the latest “Mission: Impossible” sequels – is so optimistic because much of the news surrounding the transaction has been anything but encouraging.

Trump’s regulators are stalling their mandatory approval as they investigate if Paramount’s CBS News subsidiary violated Federal Communications Commission guidelines that its content must be free of political bias; conservatives have complained about CBS’s left-wing bias for years – a charge the network has vehemently denied.

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Trump has also filed a $20 billion lawsuit against CBS in Texas federal court, charging the network’s “60 Minutes” with violating an obscure state business law in a case involving its controversial interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. Trump claims the sit-down with his Democratic opponent was deceptively edited. Paramount believes the deal’s regulatory approval is contingent on a settlement.

Yet, as On The Money previously reported, Redstone’s management team and board are worried about being on the hook for bribery charges if the payment is seen as a quid-pro-quo to get the deal done. That’s because their boss, Redstone, would receive a $2 billion payout once the merger is complete.

Trump’s regulators are stalling their mandatory approval as they investigate if Paramount’s CBS News subsidiary violated Federal Communications Commission guidelines that its content must be free of political bias. Al Drago/UPI/Shutterstock

But maybe Ellison knows something we don’t know. Both sides in the lawsuit have recently held settlement discussions, On The Money has learned. They’ve discussed a payment of $35 million to end the lawsuit, a far cry from the $20 billion headline number and lower than the $50 million Team Trump originally sought.

As On The Money has reported, a potential settlement has been discussed where CBS runs millions of dollars in public service ads for causes of the president’s liking, such as combating antisemitism, as well as making a lower cash payment.

Sources say the mediator has warmed up to the idea of PSAs and a smaller monetary payment than what Trump has sought. But it’s unclear if Trump will agree to those terms.

Shari Redstone would receive a $2 billion payout once the merger is complete. REUTERS

“President Trump is committed to holding those who traffic in fake news, hoaxes, and lies to account,” Trump lawyer Ed Paltzik told On The Money on Wednesday.

“CBS and Paramount targeted the president in an attempt to harm his reputation while committing the worst kind of election interference and fraud in the closing days of the most important presidential election in history. President Trump will pursue this vital matter to its just and rightful conclusion.”

A Paramount spokesman had no comment. A spokeswoman for David Ellison declined comment.

Trump recently praised the Oracle scion as someone who will be great running Paramount, and would change the culture at CBS, or as Trump put it (in his usual understated way): “They are all getting fired” when ownership changes.

Trump recently praised the Oracle scion as someone who will be great running Paramount, and would change the culture at CBS. Christopher Sadowski

David Ellison’s dad, Larry Ellison is supplying the money (some of his $250 billion in net worth) for the Paramount merger, and as reported, he has an open line to the White House given his relationship with the president.

Media industry insiders say there could also be a scenario where the deal is approved before the lawsuit is settled. Ellison then could write Trump the check after he takes over at Paramount.

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Or maybe Paramount is ready to just bite the bullet and pay Trump close to what he wants. Legal experts say any bribery case would be a stretch in court. Trump has been wringing settlements out of other companies over similar squabbles, and Paramount could make the case that even paying Trump $50 million is less than the cost of litigation.

So, there might be good reasons for David Ellison’s optimism that he will bag both a major movie studio and the Tiffany Network.

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