Television

Capital Calls: Pandora, Facebook files pack punch

4 October 2021

Concise views on global finance: A leak with rich people’s offshore activities and a Facebook exposé reinforce perceptions with facts; GitLab’s float shows Microsoft’s wise 2018 buy; Volvo IPO aims to supercharge EV plans; BT’s bid to rule UK broadband may face U.S. competition.

Hollywood talent wars call for a new currency

12 August 2021

Scarlett Johansson’s fight with Disney shows the old model of paying stars based on the box office doesn’t work in an age of streaming. Netflix has its own radical alternative, but there’s another way, too: Align stars’ pay more closely with numbers shareholders care about.

Capital Calls: Olympics on TV, Abrdn

10 August 2021

Concise views on global finance: NBC Universal's prime-time viewers for the Tokyo games were only half as many as for London 2012, boding ill for traditional U.S. TV; the British asset manager formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen may be turning the corner.

Reheated CVC soccer plan faces better Spanish odds

5 August 2021

The sporty buyout fund wants to invest 2.7 bln euros in La Liga, mirroring a proposal that flopped in Italy’s Serie A. At just over 10 times commercial revenue, the higher-flying Spanish league’s valuation is lower. Yet the latest deal’s chances of finding the net look safer.

Capital Calls: Moderna, Qualcomm, US tax, ViacomCBS

5 August 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Covid-19 vaccine maker is looking past the pandemic; the telecoms group is offering $4.6 bln for Veoneer; U.S. Democrats are trying to close the carried-interest loophole; ViacomCBS is betting "South Park" can boost its streaming service.

Disney has enough magic without Hulu

15 June 2021

The Mouse House is rocketing ahead with its video service, Disney+. So it’s odd that it still owns two-thirds of the less successful Hulu. While Disney can buy the rest of Hulu from rival Comcast from 2024, it might make more sense to sell, and spend the money closer to home.

AT&T augurs a renaissance in corporate breakups

2 June 2021

After going gaga for carveouts and spinoffs a few years ago, U.S. companies unleashed just $200 bln of them last year. Investors reward corporations that ditch sprawl for specialization. Ma Bell’s neatly structured Time Warner deal provides a catalyst to break more things up.

Amazon pays to take MGM chess piece off the board

25 May 2021

Jeff Bezos’s $9 bln potential movie studio deal puts a huge premium on MGM. And it could get caught in regulatory purgatory. But Amazon would take a coveted asset off the streaming market. Meanwhile, the $1.6 trln e-commerce giant has time to catch up to media rivals.

Capital Calls: “Friends” reunion, SPACs in D.C.

24 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: AT&T's HBO Max is streaming a delayed 25-year reunion of the popular sitcom cast just as the company ditches its media assets; busybody U.S. Congress is taking a hands-off approach to blank-check firms.

WarnerMedia’s leading man springs a pay trap

20 May 2021

AT&T paid Jason Kilar too handsomely to run its media division a year ago. Now that the telecom company is merging WarnerMedia with Discovery, he may want even more to stick around. Whether he walks or stays, the new company to be led by Discovery's CEO could face a pay showdown.

Viewsroom: AT&T’s second breakup, Asian super-apps

20 May 2021

The telephone company’s deal with Discovery, the reversal of a failed strategy to become a media juggernaut, opens a window into streaming warfare; and the creation of Southeast Asia do-everything internet group GoTo is a prelude of more to come. Plus, no Davos in Singapore.

AT&T’s value gap

19 May 2021

The telecom giant ditched its content ambitions, merging assets with Discovery. That has crystalized the amount of value that the new company has to increase before AT&T shareholders can get their money back.

AT&T shareholders need Discovery deal to shine

19 May 2021

Ex-CEO Randall Stephenson in 2016 agreed to spend over $100 bln on Time Warner. Monday’s deal to offload the assets and merge them with Discovery recoups most of that, on paper. But the S&P 500 has doubled since. Owners will be hoping the new group can add as much value again.

John Malone is a flawed ambassador for Discovery

18 May 2021

The cable cowboy is giving up supervoting shares so the Food Network owner can merge with AT&T’s WarnerMedia. It’s a vote of confidence from a shrewd investor. Yet Malone and other insiders stand to get extra benefits that might leave other shareholders feeling less than loved.

Capital Calls: JPMorgan, FirstGroup, Break fees

18 May 2021

Concise insights on global finance: Jamie Dimon is shuffling his deputies; the UK bus-to-rail group’s sale of its U.S. businesses to EQT has hit an investor revolt; deals involving AT&T and Canadian National Railway highlight the fees due for walking away.

French TV deal pits nationalism against antitrust

18 May 2021

The 4.1 bln euro merger of TF1 and M6 creates a domestic broadcasting giant. Owners Bouygues and RTL have crafted a complex structure to get around competition rules but will still dominate TV advertising. The threat from U.S. behemoths like Netflix gives the union a chance.

AT&T hits on smart strategy: be kind, unwind

16 May 2021

Merging its media assets with Discovery, in a reversal of AT&T’s looney-tunes merger with Time Warner, could give the U.S. telecom the cash and focus it needs to build a 5G network. Meanwhile, AT&T boss John Stankey can right his predecessor’s wrongs, which are partly his too.

Bolloré makes tactical retreat in Italian foray

4 May 2021

The French billionaire has buried the hatchet with Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset, ending a wasteful five-year row. Bolloré’s Vivendi may not fully recoup its 1.2 bln euro investment in the broadcaster. At least the tycoon now has a freer hand to pursue his Italian telecom bet.

Capital Calls: Robinhood vs. Munger, Meredith deal

3 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: Warren Buffett and his investing sidekick takes on Robinhood, and vice versa; and the U.S. media company is selling its local TV stations to Gray Television for $2.7 bln.

BT keeps eye on the ball by giving soccer the boot

29 April 2021

The UK telecom group may sell some or all of its sports broadcast unit. Where live matches once helped lure broadband customers, the battleground has switched to super-fast fibre connections. Falling subscribers and dubious profitability make TV sport an unnecessary distraction.