This Financial Times news briefing from May 5th covers three major developing stories with host Mark Filipino. The episode features Ryan McMurrow, FT's West Coast Finance Correspondent reporting from San Francisco on Anthropic's Wall Street partnerships, and Ana Nicolau, FT's U.S. Media Editor in New York discussing Disney's regulatory challenges.

The briefing examines escalating U.S.-Iran tensions affecting global oil markets, the AI industry's push into traditional finance through major partnerships, and Disney's navigation of political pressure under new CEO Josh DeMaro. Additional coverage includes commodity shortages in Asia and their impact on plastic production.

U.S.-Iran Military Confrontation Disrupts Global Oil Markets

U.S. military traded fire with Tehran near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil normally flows but has been effectively shut since the war started in February.

Iran launched missiles and drones at U.S. Navy vessels after President Trump announced a plan to guide tankers out of the strait, with Iran threatening to attack any naval vessels attempting passage.

UAE intercepted several Iranian missiles and drones, with one sparking a fire at a major petrochemical site, sending Brent crude to $115 per barrel.

Anthropic Forms $1.5 Billion Wall Street AI Partnership

Anthropic announced joint venture with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs to deploy AI tools across investment portfolios, with $1.5 billion in total funding to send engineers into mid-sized businesses.

"For the PE companies, there's this fear that all their portfolio companies are going to lose out as AI kind of disrupts the industry" - Ryan McMurrow, explaining private equity motivation.

OpenAI formed rival partnership with different private equity firms, creating competing AI deployment strategies across Wall Street portfolios.

Anthropic's earlier Claude Code platform release triggered major stock market sell-off, raising expectations for broader market impacts from this partnership.

Disney CEO Faces Federal Probe Over Trump-Kimmel Controversy

Josh DeMaro, Disney CEO for less than two months, confronts FCC investigation into broadcast licenses following Jimmy Kimmel's joke calling Melania Trump an "expectant widow."

White House correspondence dinner shooting incident intensified political pressure, with Trump allies demanding Kimmel's firing from ABC's late-night show.

"The last time the FCC has actually revoked a broadcast license like this was in 1960s" - Ana Nicolau, noting the unprecedented nature of the probe.

"A lot of people say he's actually quite similar to Bob Iger" - Ana Nicolau on DeMaro's leadership style, though even Iger struggled with Trump-related political issues.

Disney temporarily suspended Kimmel's show for five days in fall but faced enormous pushback, learning they cannot easily back down from talent relationships.

Iran War Creates Asian Plastic Production Crisis

War constrained supplies of petroleum product Naphta, essential for plastic manufacturing, with prices doubling since conflict began.

Indonesian suppliers, serving one of world's largest plastic-consuming markets, warn they could be forced to cease production entirely due to material shortages.

Plastic bags, cups, utensils, and containers all became significantly more expensive across Asia due to supply chain disruptions.