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Jeffrey Epstein plot thickens

Moving the Market: Jeffrey Epstein "sustained multiple breaks in his neck bones... deepening the mystery about the circumstances around his death," two sources familiar with the autopsy told The Washington Post last night.

• "Among the bones broken in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone," WaPo reports. "Such breaks can occur in those who hang themselves... But they are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation."

• "The revelation of Epstein’s neck injuries follows reports that officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center broke protocol and failed to properly monitor him."

• "The details add to the bizarre circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, which have launched a wave of questions and conspiracy theories about how he could have died in federal custody."

The conspiracy theorists posit that Epstein was killed in order to stop him from disclosing secrets about his powerful acquaintances. Though the theories lack evidence, many serious journalists are calling for further investigation.

• Ross Douthat: "Serious truth-seekers are predisposed to disbelieve conspiracy theories on principle.... [but] we clearly haven’t gotten to the bottom of what was going on with Epstein."

• John Cassidy: "Could someone working for Epstein have got to the warden, or whoever made the suicide-watch decision, and to the guards? ... Such a possibility, outlandish as it sounds, needs to be investigated."

• Walter Kirn: To take the death in stride "would be a bit irrational. ... Epstein died in a locked room guarded by agents of the same establishment, the same power structure that he so broadly and horribly corrupted."

The big picture: Many rich, famous and powerful people would likely benefit from Epstein's inability to disclose his secrets. He was, as Kirn writes, an alleged "pimp to the elite."

• "By all means, resist the tendency toward unfounded speculation and cynical partisan manipulation," Douthat writes. "But also recognize that in the case of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle, the conspiracy was real."

Top talker, via The Daily Mail: "Jeffrey Epstein had a painting of Bill Clinton wearing a blue DRESS and red heels and lounging in the Oval Office inside his Manhattan mansion."

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Ren Zhengfei faces spy charge

Big in the Beltway, big in Beijing: "Huawei employees have... personally helped African governments spy on their political opponents, including intercepting their encrypted communications and social media, and using cell data to track their whereabouts," per a new WSJ investigation.

• "[One] incident in Uganda and another in Zambia... show how Huawei employees have used the company’s technology and other companies’ products to support the domestic spying of those governments."

The big picture: "Since 2012 the U.S. government has accused Huawei... of being a potential tool for the Chinese government to spy abroad, after decades of alleged corporate espionage by state-backed Chinese actors. Huawei has forcefully denied those charges."

🇺🇸 Talk of the Trail 🇺🇸

Perils of inheritance: A New York Times investigation has traced the Trump anti-immigration agenda to Cordelia Scaife May, "an heiress to the Mellon banking and industrial fortune" who "bankrolled the founding and operation of the nation’s three largest restrictionist groups."

• "In many ways, the Trump presidency is the culmination of Mrs. May’s vision for strictly limiting immigration," the Times reports.

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Adam Neumann's messy S-1

Street talk: WeWork chief Adam Neumann has filed a financial prospectus for his planned IPO that raises more questions than answers about the company's business model, its long-term growth plan and the extent of Neumann's control over the company.

• What's next: The WeWork IPO will test investor tolerance for buzzy, fast-growing start-ups that have lofty valuations — in this case, roughly $47 billion — but don't actually make money.

Red flags for investors:

• "For every dollar WeWork generated in revenue last year, it bled $1.22 in cash." (The Information)

• "WeWork’s revenue from operational office locations is scarcely higher than expenses for those locations." (Bloomberg)

• The company has at least $47 billion in long-term lease obligations, with average leases in the U.S. running 15 years. (CNBC)

• "Neumann has made millions of dollars by leasing multiple properties in which he has an ownership stake back to WeWork." (WSJ)

• Neumann has already "cashed out more than $700 million from the company" by selling stock and taking out loans. (WSJ)

• "The business is... a family affair." Neumann's wife, brother-in-law and others have jobs and receive salaries. (Bloomberg)

The big picture, via Bloomberg's Shira Ovide: "WeWork may be the most magical creature in the last decade of richly valued 'unicorn' startups. ... Its ambition is ambitious even by unicorn standards. So are its growth, losses, potential conflicts of interest and financial gymnastics."

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Bill Ackman bets on Berkshire

New stakes: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has bought 3.5 million Class B shares in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for about $685 million, its first new investment in a year that has yielded 47% growth so far.

• Meanwhile, Berkshire has upped its stake in Amazon by 11% to a value of nearly $1 billion. Though, by way of context, it's investment in Apple is $49 billion.

Market Links

• Ajit Pai formally backs the T-Mobile-Sprint deal (TC)

• Sheryl Sandberg opens Tel Aviv 'Playground' (ToI)

• Dawn Ostroff unveils Spotify for podcasters (Verge)

• Jim Watkins is subpoenaed by Congress (NBC)

• A$AP Rocky won't face prison time in Sweden (NYT)

Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty

Bob Iger strikes Charter deal

Talk of Tinseltown: Disney and Charter have "reached a new agreement for the second-largest U.S. cable TV provider to carry channels such as ESPN and ABC, along with streaming services like the upcoming Disney+," Bloomberg reports.

• The big picture, via Variety: "The agreement sets a blueprint for Disney to provide incentives to Charter to market Disney+ and ESPN+ as stand-alone broadband offerings."

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Joe Tsai to buy out Nets

Big in Brooklyn: "Joe Tsai, the billionaire co-founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, is close to signing a deal to buy the 51% of the Brooklyn Nets he does not already own from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov," the New York Post reports.

• The bet: "The $2.35 billion transaction would mark the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise." But Brooklyn signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving over the summer and projects revenue in the upcoming season to grow by 10 to 15 percent.

• The bonus: The NBA "is seeking to grow its presence in China [and] Tsai is a member of NBA China, which conducts league business in that country."

How it's playing: "The Nets are set to become a global brand and that is a huge win for the NBA," Forbes' Joe Barnathan writes. "Mr. Tsai projects stability. With deep pockets and a vision towards the future, there is little reason to worry about any fundamental upheaval within the organization."

🏀 What's next: The Ringer's Dan Devine previews the 14 most highly anticipated games of the 2019-2020 NBA season, which kicks off in less than nine weeks.

See you tomorrow.