Latest Business News
Warner Bros. Discovery Beats Investor Suit Over Inflated Subscriber Figures
Warner Bros. Discovery and its top brass will not have to face a lawsuit from investors accusing them of hiding adverse financial information about the company’s prospects leading up to the 2022 merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia. U.S. District Judge Valierie Caproni on Monday found that WBD didn’t overstate subscriber figures and was not […]
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Disney Enlists Prof. Ludwig Von Drake to Help Fend Off Activist Investors
Disney is calling on Professor Ludwig Von Drake as its reinforcement in its board battle against Nelson Peltz and his Trian Partners. The media and entertainment giant released an animated video Monday urging shareholders to vote, but only for the company’s preferred board members. The Austrian duck, who is uncle to Donald and an expert […]
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‘Chucky,’ ‘The Act’ Producer Eat the Cat Taps Gemma Levinson to Head Development (Exclusive)
Nick Antosca’s production company Eat the Cat is bolstering its executive ranks. Gemma Levinson has joined the company as vp development. She’ll take charge of day-to-day development for the company, headed by Antosca and Alex Hedlund, and also help grow Eat the Cat’s roster of TV and film projects. “Gemma’s fantastic taste and her commitment […]
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Ben Affleck’s Dunkin’ Ad Riffs Off Sad Grammys Meme
Ben Affleck’s brand ambassadorship for Dunkin’ leveled up during Sunday’s 2024 Grammys with the debut of the star’s latest spot for the coffee and donut shop chain launching an apparent campaign in which the actor follows in his wife’s footsteps to become a pop star. The ad, which also features social media star Charli D’Amelio, comes […]
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Sphere Entertainment Posts Revenue of $314M in First Full Quarter as a Public Company
The Sphere is finally bringing in serious cash. Sphere Entertainment Corp., the parent company of the already-infamous Las Vegas attraction, as well as the MSG Networks RSN business, reported its first full quarterly earnings report Monday, its fiscal 2024 Q2. The company reported earnings of $314.2 million, with Sphere $167.8 million) overtaking MSG Networks ($146.4 […]
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How Amazon, Netflix and Disney+ Stack Up in Japan
The Japanese streaming video space remains competitive, with Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ and local competitors reaching more than 100 billion viewing minutes in 2023 in the “premium VOD” space that generated $4.5 billion in subscription revenue. Those are some of the findings of a new study by MediaPartners Asia’s data analytics arm ampd, which […]
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Former MoviePass Executive Convicted of Embezzlement to Pay Off Coachella Party Debt
A former MoviePass executive has been convicted of embezzling at least $260,000 from the subscription movie service to repay money he borrowed to fund a party at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2018. Khalid Itum was found guilty on Thursday on two counts of wire fraud, though he was acquitted of money laundering […]
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Spotify Strikes New Deal With Joe Rogan That Will See the Podcast Broadly Distributed
Joe Rogan has struck a new multiyear deal with Spotify, but will no longer see his podcast distributed exclusively by the platform. As part of the deal for The Joe Rogan Experience, which had been the top podcast of the year globally at Spotify for the past four years, the show will soon be distributed […]
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Charter Loses 257K Video Subs in Q4, “Partly Driven” by Disney Dispute, but Now Tops Comcast
Cable giant Charter Communications, in which John Malone’s Liberty Broadband owns a major stake, on Friday reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results, including latest subscriber trends. The company, led by CEO Chris Winfrey, revealed that it lost 257,000 pay TV subscribers in its latest quarter, “partly driven by video disconnects related to the temporary loss of Disney programming in […]
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The Messenger Sued by Ex-Workers Over Mass Layoffs Without Notice
Just a day after folding, embattled startup The Messenger has been sued by former employees. The proposed class action, filed in New York federal court Thursday, alleges that the Jimmy Finkelstein-led news outlet failed to give more than 300 employees proper notice of their terminations in violation of the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification […]
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Disney’s Activist Investor Showdown Set for April 3 Shareholder Meeting
The Walt Disney Co.’s board battle with Nelson Peltz and his Trian Partners now has an end date: April 3, 2024. That’s the day that Disney has scheduled its annual shareholder meeting, in which Peltz’s Trian and another activist Blackwells Capital have submitted their own names to join Disney’s board. Trian is targeting Disney directors […]
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Apple Music, TV Segment Sees Record Revenue, Helped by Price Increases
Apple hit an all-time revenue record in its services sector, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and more, during its first quarter ended Dec. 30. Net sales in the services quarter hit $23.1 billion, up from $20.8 billion a year earlier. Overall, the company posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2 percent year […]
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Jackoway Austen Promotes 5 to Name Partners (Exclusive)
Jackoway Austen, one of the most prominent Hollywood entertainment law firms that represents such bold-faced names as J.J. Abrams and Margot Robbie, has promoted five partners to the door. Effective immediately, Michael Auerbach, Jeff Hynick, Kimberly Jaime, Ryan LeVine and Peter Sample are named partners in the 47-year-old firm. The quintet joining existing partners Jim […]
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Disney Appeals Loss In Lawsuit Against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Over Special Tax District
Disney is appealing its loss in a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who allegedly violated the entertainment giant’s First Amendment rights by taking over a special tax district with the authority to control development around its theme park. In a notice filed on Thursday, Disney challenged a ruling dismissing the suit to a federal […]
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How the Hollywood Strikes Hit U.K. Film, TV Production Spend in 2023
The film and TV production boom in the U.K. came to a grinding halt in 2023 amid the Hollywood writers and actors strikes. According to the British Film Institute, the total spend on film and high-end TV production last year reached £4.23 billion ($5.37 billion) from 394 productions, down 35 percent from £6.27 billion ($7.72 […]
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Disney Activist Investor Reveals Which Board Members He’s Targeting to Oust
Nelson Peltz’s battle to join the Disney board has crossed another crucial step. Peltz’s Trian Partners on Wednesday released its preliminary proxy statement, in which it said it would ask shareholders to withhold their votes for current Disney board members Michael B.G. Froman and Maria Elena Lagomasino, and instead vote for Peltz and former Disney […]
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