On January 22, 2025, Cravath partners John W. White, Kimberley S. Drexler and Michael L. Arnold and of counsel Lisa M. Kohl participated in the January meeting of the Fall and Winter Event Series of the New York Chapter of the Society for Corporate Governance, which was held at Cravath’s offices in New York. John, Michael, Kimberley and Lisa spoke on a panel entitled “Developments in Public Company Disclosure and Reporting,” which reviewed key and challenging disclosure points for the upcoming 10‑K and proxy season, including risk factors, executive security, cybersecurity policies and incidents and artificial intelligence.

On January 22, 2025, CardWorks, Inc. (“CardWorks”), a leader in credit and payments, and Ally Financial Inc. (“Ally”), a financial services company with the nation’s largest all‑digital bank and an industry‑leading auto financing business, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for CardWorks, and its wholly‑owned bank subsidiary, Merrick Bank, to acquire Ally’s credit card business, including a portfolio of $2.3 billion in credit card receivables with 1.3 million active cardholders as of December 31, 2024. Cravath is representing CardWorks in connection with the transaction.

On January 21, 2025, Cravath prepared a memo for its clients entitled “IRS Publishes Proposed Regulations to Expand Denial of Compensation Deduction Under Section 162(m).” The memo examines the Internal Revenue Service’s proposed regulations to expand the group of employees covered by Section 162(m), as required by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

On January 21, 2025, Cravath announced that Andrew C. Finch, a leading antitrust lawyer who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division from 2017 to 2019, will join the Firm as a partner.

On January 20, 2025, Cravath was recognized by Law360 as a “Firm of the Year,” a designation reserved for law firms that steered “some of the largest deals of 2024” and secured “high‑profile litigation wins” while being selected for at least five “Practice Group of the Year” awards in 2024.

In January 2025, Cravath was shortlisted for Benchmark Litigation’s 2025 U.S. Awards in the following categories: “New York Firm of the Year”; “Antitrust Firm of the Year”; “Trial Firm of the Year”; “General Commercial Firm of the Year”; and “Securities Firm of the Year”. Additionally, partner David R. Marriott was shortlisted for “Antitrust Litigator of the Year” as well as “Trial Lawyer of the Year”, and partner Kevin J. Orsini was shortlisted for “General Commercial Litigator of the Year”.

On January 13, 2025, Cravath published the fourth edition of its Cravath Data Privacy and Security Review newsletter. The Review provides an overview of U.S. state and federal legislative and regulatory developments, alongside U.S. and global enforcement trends and takeaways, in data privacy and cybersecurity for the last six months of 2024. The Review also provides an update on emerging and existing privacy and security legislation at the federal level, including the Video Privacy Protection Act, and highlights notable legislative developments at the state level, including in California, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. This edition highlights the heightened focus on cybersecurity and privacy‑related enforcement at federal agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice, and provides global enforcement updates from the European Union, Australia and China.

On January 13, 2025, Johnson & Johnson and Intra‑Cellular Therapies, Inc. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Johnson & Johnson will acquire all outstanding shares of Intra‑Cellular Therapies, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, for $132 per share in cash for a total equity value of approximately $14.6 billion. Cravath is representing Johnson & Johnson in connection with the transaction.

On January 9, 2025, Cravath partner Jennifer S. Leete participated in “Audit Committees, Special Committees and Internal Investigations 2025,” a program presented by the Practising Law Institute in New York. Jennifer spoke on a panel entitled “Regulatory and Financial Reporting Developments – What Audit Committee and Special Committee Members Need to Know,” which reviewed recent trends and developments regarding financial reporting concerns impacting audit committees and how auditing professionals should prepare for and integrate changes from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s perspective.

On January 10, 2025, Lawdragon announced the inclusion of 33 Cravath partners across the Corporate, Litigation and Tax Departments in its annual list of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America.” The list recognizes “the 500 lawyers whose recent cases, deals and other contributions captured the most important legal matters of the prior year.”

Cravath partner Benjamin G. Joseloff was featured as a guest on the January 6, 2025 episode of the “Boardroom Governance” podcast, hosted by Evan Epstein. In the interview, Ben spoke about his introduction to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and how his time as a corporate associate in Cravath’s rotational system prepared him to work on CFIUS matters at the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House. Ben also discussed how CFIUS safeguards U.S. national security by reviewing foreign investments, highlighting significant CFIUS cases, emerging trends in transaction reviews and the implications of upcoming regulations on outbound investments.

On January 6, 2025, The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) and FuboTV Inc. (“Fubo) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Disney to combine its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo, forming a combined virtual MVPD company of which Disney will become the majority owner.

Cravath represented iBanFirst, a portfolio company of Marlin Equity Partners, in connection with the amendment and restatement of its senior facilities agreement to implement a new term loan facility. Marlin Equity Partners is a leading global investment firm. The transaction closed on December 19, 2024.

Cravath represented the administrative agent, joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, in connection with $2.5 billion of credit facilities made available to Ovintiv Inc., as part of the financing transactions undertaken in connection with their pending acquisition of certain assets from Paramount Resources Ltd. Ovintiv Inc. is a leading North American oil and natural gas exploration and production company. The facilities consisted of a $1.5 billion asset-sale term loan facility and a $1 billion two-year term loan facility. The facilities closed on December 10, 2024.

Cravath represented the underwriters in connection with the $1.8 billion registered senior notes offering of Cencora, Inc., a leading global pharmaceutical solutions organization centered on improving the lives of people and animals around the world. The transaction closed on December 9, 2024.

On December 18, 2024, Intellectual Asset Management and World Trademark Review published an article co‑authored by Cravath partners David J. Kappos and Sharonmoyee Goswami, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore senior legal counsel Teh Joo Lin and Singapore International Arbitration Centre director and head of Americas Adriana Uson. The article, entitled “Making the Case for Arbitration in Global AI IP Disputes” in IAM and “Why Arbitration May Be Best Route to Resolve Global AI IP Disputes” in WTR, discusses the unique challenges posed by AI‑related disputes and explores why alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) avenues like arbitration are particularly well‑suited to resolving such disputes. The article outlines the various factors that favor ADR for AI‑related disputes, including the novelty of the issues raised in these disputes; cost considerations; confidentiality and privacy; and time sensitivity due to the rapid pace of AI development.

On October 28, 2024, at the Lawyers Alliance for New York’s 2024 Cornerstone Awards, which were held at Paramount Global’s offices in New York to recognize “superior pro bono service to nonprofit organizations,” Cravath partner Ron Creamer was honored as a member of the organization’s “25 Year Circle” for his longstanding commitment among its “repeated and continuing volunteers” for pro bono service. Ron received the inaugural Cornerstone Award in 1997.

On December 20, 2024, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC (“Bendix”), a North American subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse, announced the company finalized the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary, R.H. Sheppard Co., Inc. (“R.H. Sheppard”), to an affiliate of Balmoral Funds LLC (“Balmoral”), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm. The transaction encompasses the entire Sheppard business, including Sheppard’s branded products, production equipment, sales and service companies, and interests in joint ventures relating to sales and production. Cravath is representing Bendix in connection with the transaction.

On December 20, 2024, Cable One, Inc. (“Cable One”) announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to amend its strategic partnership with Mega Broadband Investments (“MBI”). The strategic partnership provides Cable One with a path for a potential acquisition of all the MBI equity it does not already own pursuant to put option and call option arrangements between Cable One and the other MBI equity holders. The purchase price payable by Cable One upon any exercise of the put option or call option will be determined based on MBI’s future performance and other factors. The transaction is valued at approximately $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion, inclusive of upfront payments made by Cable One and initial estimates of option exercise closing payments and related debt assumption, based on an assumed October 1, 2026 option exercise closing. Cable One is a leading broadband communications provider serving more than 1 million residential and business customers across 24 states. MBI is a leading provider of broadband services across the Southeast, Northwest and Mid‑South United States and offers an extensive range of broadband, fiber connectivity, cable television and voice services for commercial and residential customers. Cravath is representing Cable One in connection with this transaction.

Cravath partner Michael L. Arnold was featured as a guest on the December 12, 2024 episode of Slaughter and May’s podcast, “Part 2: ESG in the Year of the Election.” In the interview, Michael discussed the evolving ESG landscape following recent elections in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union, including whether ESG policy has become clearer or more opaque and the transatlantic divergence in ESG priorities.