A favorite and feverish game from Wall Street to Hollywood heading into 2024 is pairing up media companies, or pieces of them, to see what fits where in a high-stakes jigsaw puzzle that will shape the future of the industry.
Ongoing streaming losses, anticipated interest rate cuts (that could lower financing costs), more robust stock prices and the end of WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — as well as actual, high-level conversations — have many believing that sluggish media M&a of all sizes could pick up dramatically in the new year. Just in this last week of 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery acquired Turkish streaming service BlueTV, Altice USA sold financial news streamer Cheddar and Lionsgate closed its acquisition of eOne.
There’s a logic to bigger deals as well. With Disney being “the only scaled legacy media company,” wrote Vijay Jayant of Evercore Isi, “a merger of some combination of NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros Discovery has strong economic rationale.
Ongoing streaming losses, anticipated interest rate cuts (that could lower financing costs), more robust stock prices and the end of WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — as well as actual, high-level conversations — have many believing that sluggish media M&a of all sizes could pick up dramatically in the new year. Just in this last week of 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery acquired Turkish streaming service BlueTV, Altice USA sold financial news streamer Cheddar and Lionsgate closed its acquisition of eOne.
There’s a logic to bigger deals as well. With Disney being “the only scaled legacy media company,” wrote Vijay Jayant of Evercore Isi, “a merger of some combination of NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros Discovery has strong economic rationale.
- 12/29/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Wednesday will mark a media earnings double-header as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Disney CEO Bob Iger present Wall Street with their latest quarterly financials. And the pressure is on to see if the legacy media giants can continue this earnings season’s trend of narrower direct-to-consumer losses and upbeat guidance.
“Based on the success of Netflix, Peacock and Paramount’s earnings, I expect promising results from both Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney,” Omdia media analyst Sarah Henschel told TheWrap. “Entertainment typically also does well during the holiday timeframe so it’s likely that these services will post continued subscriber and/or revenue momentum through the end of the year.”
Both companies face a multitude of challenges, including unprofitable streaming platforms, declining linear businesses, a box office slump and mountains of debt. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery each have roughly $47 billion in debt. Disney has the added challenges...
“Based on the success of Netflix, Peacock and Paramount’s earnings, I expect promising results from both Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney,” Omdia media analyst Sarah Henschel told TheWrap. “Entertainment typically also does well during the holiday timeframe so it’s likely that these services will post continued subscriber and/or revenue momentum through the end of the year.”
Both companies face a multitude of challenges, including unprofitable streaming platforms, declining linear businesses, a box office slump and mountains of debt. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery each have roughly $47 billion in debt. Disney has the added challenges...
- 11/7/2023
- by Lucas Manfredi
- The Wrap
Shares in satellite radio company SiriusXM have fallen back to Earth after a short squeeze forced a staggering jump of 42 percent to $7.75 in value at one point Thursday.
“We believe this move is related to a short squeeze in a stock with a small float, rather than any fundamental change in the business,” Evercore Isi analyst Vijay Jayant wrote in a July 21 investment note that downgraded SiriusXM to underperform, while reiterating a $4.50 price target.
Stock in SiriusXM on the Nasdaq Exchange fell by $1.13, or 14.5 percent, to $6.67 during late morning trading Friday as investors proved shy about continuing to stampede into a short squeezed stock.
AMC Theatres and GameStop were earlier popular targets for retail traders pulling off a similar so-called short squeeze, which forces hedge funds and other institutional traders that are shorting a company to buy new shares to cover their positions and minimize losses, which potentially boosts the stock price even higher.
“We believe this move is related to a short squeeze in a stock with a small float, rather than any fundamental change in the business,” Evercore Isi analyst Vijay Jayant wrote in a July 21 investment note that downgraded SiriusXM to underperform, while reiterating a $4.50 price target.
Stock in SiriusXM on the Nasdaq Exchange fell by $1.13, or 14.5 percent, to $6.67 during late morning trading Friday as investors proved shy about continuing to stampede into a short squeezed stock.
AMC Theatres and GameStop were earlier popular targets for retail traders pulling off a similar so-called short squeeze, which forces hedge funds and other institutional traders that are shorting a company to buy new shares to cover their positions and minimize losses, which potentially boosts the stock price even higher.
- 7/21/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix’s second-quarter earnings results on Wednesday were mixed, and so was Wall Street’s reaction to them.
On one hand, in early evidence to paid-sharing’s success, subscriber growth at the streaming leader was great; six million new users signed up from April to June. Another highlight from the positive side of the ledger was Netflix’s earnings per share, which easily surpassed analyst expectations. On the other, revenue was below what analysts were projecting, $8.187 billion vs. the Wall Street consensus of $8.3 billion.
You win some, you lose some — right? The problem is, as the media analysts at research firm MoffettNathanson astutely pointed out on Thursday, it is Netflix’s executives (and accountants) who have worked so hard recently to retrain us to think of revenue as being more important than subscribers.
The company’s October (Q3 ’22) shareholder letter reads, in part: “We are increasingly focused on revenue as our primary top line metric.
On one hand, in early evidence to paid-sharing’s success, subscriber growth at the streaming leader was great; six million new users signed up from April to June. Another highlight from the positive side of the ledger was Netflix’s earnings per share, which easily surpassed analyst expectations. On the other, revenue was below what analysts were projecting, $8.187 billion vs. the Wall Street consensus of $8.3 billion.
You win some, you lose some — right? The problem is, as the media analysts at research firm MoffettNathanson astutely pointed out on Thursday, it is Netflix’s executives (and accountants) who have worked so hard recently to retrain us to think of revenue as being more important than subscribers.
The company’s October (Q3 ’22) shareholder letter reads, in part: “We are increasingly focused on revenue as our primary top line metric.
- 7/20/2023
- by Tony Maglio and Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Updated with closing price: Warner Bros. Discovery shares had a volatile debut, rising early in the session, heading lower then ending the session higher as financial analysts dissected the newly combined entity following the deal’s close on Friday. Reports out today – and more will follow – range from a thumbs-up on Wbd’s streaming, content and planned cost savings, to caution on its debt and its big portfolio of linear cable networks.
The stock opened at 24.08 and rose to 26.26, dipped, spending some hours in the red but winding up the session higher at 24.78.
The broader market was down too and it’s possible that merger mechanics may weigh on Wbd shares in the near term. Specifically, the deal had AT&T distribute shares of the new Wbd to AT&T stockholders, many of whom were expected to turn right around and sell them. That’s because AT&T holders, who ended up with 71 of Wbd shares,...
The stock opened at 24.08 and rose to 26.26, dipped, spending some hours in the red but winding up the session higher at 24.78.
The broader market was down too and it’s possible that merger mechanics may weigh on Wbd shares in the near term. Specifically, the deal had AT&T distribute shares of the new Wbd to AT&T stockholders, many of whom were expected to turn right around and sell them. That’s because AT&T holders, who ended up with 71 of Wbd shares,...
- 4/11/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Paramount+ will have two subscription tiers: a basic one costing $5 a month and a higher level at $10 a month.
The $10 plan will be ad-free and will have some programming not available on the basic, ad-supported tier. Ingredients in the higher-end plan include the live CBS signal, which has been a key element of CBS All Access, the predecessor of Paramount+.
Tom Ryan, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming, announced the pricing and plan details during the company’s online investor day presentation today, saying it will take effect in June. “To quote a line from a CBS classic, the price is right,” Ryan declared.
The base tier, he said, will include “the full spectrum of the Paramount+ experience” at “an incredible value.” Subscribers will get live sports like the NFL and Uaifa soccer; news from Cbsn and on-demand CBS News segments; Paramount+ originals; Paramount movies; and “a massive portion” of...
The $10 plan will be ad-free and will have some programming not available on the basic, ad-supported tier. Ingredients in the higher-end plan include the live CBS signal, which has been a key element of CBS All Access, the predecessor of Paramount+.
Tom Ryan, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming, announced the pricing and plan details during the company’s online investor day presentation today, saying it will take effect in June. “To quote a line from a CBS classic, the price is right,” Ryan declared.
The base tier, he said, will include “the full spectrum of the Paramount+ experience” at “an incredible value.” Subscribers will get live sports like the NFL and Uaifa soccer; news from Cbsn and on-demand CBS News segments; Paramount+ originals; Paramount movies; and “a massive portion” of...
- 2/25/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
At Allen & Co.’s sun-streaked mogulfest in Sun Valley, Idaho, last week, Discovery chief David Zaslav summed up the quandary for traditional media conglomerates in the face of binge-spending internet disruptors.
“Rupert Murdoch can’t just add $2 billion to $3 billion to what he’s going to spend on content,” Zaslav observed in a sideline chat with reporters.
Of course, Zaslav can’t either. Discovery and the rest of Hollywood’s established players have been scrambling to adapt to the new media order — driven by the steady incursion onto their turf by the likes of Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Apple and Facebook. Old media’s response: Get bigger with M&A, aiming to build sustainable platforms of the future.
As the media biz heads into the second-quarter 2018 earnings season, the biggest story has been consolidation, led by At&T’s swallowing of Time Warner in June. The big questions concern who’s next.
“Rupert Murdoch can’t just add $2 billion to $3 billion to what he’s going to spend on content,” Zaslav observed in a sideline chat with reporters.
Of course, Zaslav can’t either. Discovery and the rest of Hollywood’s established players have been scrambling to adapt to the new media order — driven by the steady incursion onto their turf by the likes of Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Apple and Facebook. Old media’s response: Get bigger with M&A, aiming to build sustainable platforms of the future.
As the media biz heads into the second-quarter 2018 earnings season, the biggest story has been consolidation, led by At&T’s swallowing of Time Warner in June. The big questions concern who’s next.
- 7/19/2018
- by Todd Spangler
- Variety Film + TV
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