SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " WBD " 88 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
When 1 + 1 = 1: The Miserable Math Behind Many Media Mergers
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) The last few issues of this newsletter have circled two topics: September’s streaming viewership and all the Paramount/Skydance/Warner Bros./Discovery merger news. I’m happy to say on the Streaming Ratings Report front, we’ll be all caught up by early next week, then the SRR will come out on a tight weekly schedule. Then, after today, I’ll have slayed my PSWbD dragon. It’s such a big story, it demanded multiple issues. With the announcement of a name (just Skydance) and executive team, though, I think we can almost close the book on this story. In terms of topics, it becomes just another studio to cover. So today, I have one last set of takes on that merger. As I’ve sat with it, reading about who was staying and who was going, a big worry crystallized in my brain, and I gotta get that take out. Plus, I still owe you a host of “ugliness” that didn’t fit in my previous “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” takes. Let’s dive in! Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - As Paramount Shuffles Deck Chairs, Will They Build or Consolidate? On social media—I try to avoid most social media platforms, but sometimes I end up checking in—the best joke I saw about the announcement of the new name of Skydance was from fellow reporter Claire Atkinson who pointed out… Yeah, I laughed out loud at that one. Later, though, I saw another Twitter response (that later got deleted, so I can’t shout the person out) that did give me pause. The person noted that the Titanic film made the better analogy: a super expensive project everyone in the town doubted that went on to conquer the globe. So yeah: on one hand, the image of the Titanic recalls the actual ship and its infamous end, but that clip is from a movie which proved the doubters wrong. So for all the skepticism of the latest massive media merger, one could wonder which way this one goes. Does it crash like the Titanic or rise to glory like Titanic, the movie? Either way, this deal is “Titanic”, looking at the massive debt required to close the deal, which is not going well when it comes to borrowing costs for Paramount… …or borrowing costs for Oracle. But I’ve started to get worried about another outcome: the sum of this merger will be smaller and weaker and less profitable than its former parts. In other words, one plus one won’t equal three or two, but an even smaller number. Skydance paid to take a traditional studio off the board, but they won’t really capture the upside. Let me explain what I mean, but first, let’s look at the series of news that inspired this thought. Skydance Sets Its Leadership Team As soon as the Paramount-Skydance-Warner Bros.-Discovery merger closed, the new leadership team announced a new name—Skydance, which I’ll use going forward—and a new executive leadership team. You’ve probably read through all the executive shuffling, but if you haven’t, here’s a quick, incomplete summary, in rough order of importance: Mattel’s CEO Ynon Kreiz—who previously ran Maker Studios—joined as co-CEO with David Ellison. HBO/HBO Max’s Casey Bloys will stay and run streaming. Former head of streaming for Paramount-Skydance Cindy Holland—who was also at Netflix—will depart. The former heads of Warner Bros.—Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca—are out. The film studios will be run by Dana Goldstein and Josh Greenstein. George Cheeks of Paramount will run Skydance TV, controlling all the TV production units. In comic book news, the DC films will still be run by Peter Gunn and Peter Safran. Lastly, the head of CNN, Mark Thompson, will stay in place. Let’s quickly opine on the particulars before diving into the broad ramifications. We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Who I like and dislike in their next gigs… Why I think this consolidation will likely leave Skydance worse off… The math behind which mergers succeed and which don’t… A lot more ugliness in this merger… And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
Earth, Wind & Fire Member Shares Update on Health Emergency
He experienced a medical emergency just before taking the stage.
Read the memo Skydance product chief sent after Paramount-WBD merger
The product chief at Skydance said in a memo to staff after the Paramount and WBD merger that they will "move at a pace that matches our ambition.'
Paramount-WBD deal closes; here are top quant-rated entertainment stocks
The merger of Paramount Skydance (SKYD) and Warner Bros. Discovery NASDAQ:WBD marks a major shift in the entertainment industry after months of competing bids, lawsuits, and uncertainty.With the deal now closed, here are the top 20 Seeking Alpha's quant-rated stocks in the Movies and Entertainment…
Paramount-WBD deal closes; here are top quant-rated entertainment stocks
Paramount Skydance–WBD merger reshapes entertainment—see 20 top quant-rated movies & broadcasting stocks (AMC, DIS, NFLX, ROKU).
PARAMOUNT COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY, CREATING A NEW GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT LEADER, SKYDANCE
Skydance Corporation (f/k/a Paramount Skydance Corporation) (NYSE: SKYD) ("Paramount") today announced the completion of its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBD) ("WBD"), creating a combined company, named "Skydance." The company brings together two major film studios, two global streaming services, a premier television portfolio including CBS, HBO, and Paramount's and WBD's cable networks, two of the industry's most recognized news networks, CBS News and CNN, and a portfoli
CBS Sports Chief David Berson To Expand Portfolio As TNT Sports Chief Luis Silberwasser Exits
David Berson, who has led CBS Sports as president since 2024, will expand his portfolio after the close of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The exec will take responsibility for sports across Skydance, the soon-to-be-umbrella over CBS and TNT Sports and their respective parents, Paramount and WBD. The $111 billion merger is due to close …
Final Family Health Festival of the year comes to Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center Pavilion
The final Family Health Festival of the year takes place Thursday, Oct. 8.
Apple Shares Photos Shot on iPhone Duo
Apple on Instagram today shared a curated gallery of six photos shot on the iPhone Duo. The photos were shot by American photographers Jake Michaels and Jason Nocito, as part of a project commissioned by Apple.
Looking at the Ugly Side of the Paramount-Skydance Merger...And How I’d Fix It
A Message from Our Sponsor Certified Fresh with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, FX’s Adults is an ensemble comedy series about a group of twenty-somethings in New York leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship and family. Don’t sleep on “The Sitcom of the Moment” - Awards Buzz All Episodes now streaming on Hulu on Disney+. Watch The Teaser Trailer... (Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industr(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Before we dive in, I wanted to congratulate Broadcast Now for being the first to report that Netflix’s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast has been cancelled. (I saw this in a write-up by Kasey Moore of Whats-On-Netflix.) More importantly, I wanted to note that, as of yesterday, none of the other trades had reported the news yet. I have half a guess that eventually one of them will report this. Anyways, it’s time to take a break from my deluge of streaming ratings reports to continue my analysis of the Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery (PSWbD) saga. As I noted last week, a lot of times when folks use the (sometimes cliched) “the good, the bad and the ugly” framing for an article, “the ugly” section is just more bad. Or very, very bad. In this case, yeah, I do think it’s ugly. In more than one way. Unfortunately, we’re only going to have time to tackle one of those ways today: the ugly pile of debt to finance this deal. (In a future article, I may cover the entire process for how it went down, which was very, very ugly.) Last issue, I explained why I liked this deal in a vacuum. Unfortunately, “vacuums” don’t exist outside of space. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - The Ugliness of the Paramount/Warner Bros. Merger More than one person sent me a note speculating that the big problem with Paramount Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery is the “Warner Bros.” portion of the deal. In fact, that’s a take I read a lot about Warner Bros., ever since they caught Netflix’s, and then Paramount-Skydance’s, eye. In short, multiple companies (Time, AOL, AT&T, Discovery) have bought and then regretted buying Warner Bros. Since it’s nearing Halloween, you could almost say it’s like the folks think WB is cursed! It’s a haunted studio—like the town of Derry in movie studio form—and whoever takes possession of it will fall into misery! Yet...I just don’t like that story, because it doesn’t explain the “why” behind why those deals fell through. Especially when Warner Bros. has continued to succeed as a TV and film studio in the intervening two decades. Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? Everything HBO? Considering it never fully owned a broadcast TV channel, this media company has done pretty well. So what went wrong? Well, in recent years, companies bought Warner Bros. instead of the other, smarter option. Explaining POCD (And Applying It to Mergers & Acquisitions) As I explained last issue, one of my favorite frameworks is the POCD tool for evaluating venture capital investments: People Opportunity Context Deal The bar to invest as a VC is high. (Or I might say “was” since cheap interest rates made life easier last decade.) You review a thousand prospectuses, get pitched by a hundred, and invest in the ten best, with the hopes that one of those ten would pay for the rest. That means every element of a deal needed to pay off: you needed the right people running the companies, who could capitalize on the right opportunity, in the context of an industry that was ripe for disruption. If you could then not overpay, you could make some money in a smart deal. The analogy isn’t perfect here, but close enough. For a merger or acquisition to work, you need the combined company (which is the opportunity) to make more than the price you need to pay (which is the deal). Note: the people and context still matter, but with M&A, it’s a little more straightforward: does the opportunity exceed the cost? And usually with Warner Bros., it hasn’t. If you want to find out the single biggest mistake made by the Warner Bros. suitors over the last few years (and my simple fix) become a paid subscriber. I’ll also touch on who I think Paramount-Skydance could (shockingly) consider buying next, TBD, and more. Sign up here.
Paramount streaming chief exits ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery merger
Paramount Skydance's streaming head exits ahead of the WBD merger. She told staff CEO David Ellison was "optimizing for HBO stability."
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services prepares to launch TANF pilot program in October
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will launch a redesigned Employment First Program on Oct. 1 as part of a federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families pilot.
GSA Issues Notice of “Glitch” and Recommends Contractors Validate Small Business Status Representations on SAM.gov
The General Services Administration (GSA) has begun sending out email notifications of a “known glitch” affecting certain System for Award Management
Read Paramount CEO David Ellison's memo after settling WBD lawsuit
Paramount Skydance's CEO confirmed to employees that the company had settled the lawsuits that were holding up its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
NSF Over Billion Behind on Grants; IES Says Will Give Funds
As the fiscal year’s end looms Sept. 30, the National Science Foundation has awarded significantly fewer grants than usual, and a judge has ordered an update from the Institute of Education Sciences on its research funding progress.
5 gas-guzzling cartoons about high fuel prices
Artists take on a Middle East mess, gaslighting drivers, and more
Warner Bros. Discovery to Showcase Entertainment Portfolio at BLE
Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products highlights franchises including Harry Potter, DC and animation properties at the London trade show.
Streaming, Studio Entertainment Stock Prices Surged in August
It was a good month for entertainment stocks in August, led by Paramount, which saw its share price surge nearly 39% as Wall Street processed the long-term potential of its upcoming merger integration with Warner Bros. Discovery, despite some grinding regulatory reviews. At the same time, WBD saw its once-morbid (pre-asset sale) stock price increase … Continue reading "Streaming, Studio Entertainment Stock Prices Surged in August"
Explosion at THC extraction facility kills 2
The blast damaged at least 25 nearby businesses.
Explosion at THC extraction facility kills 2
The blast damaged at least 25 nearby businesses.
President Donald Trump announces plan to lower beef prices, but some Republicans are already balking
President Donald Trump has announced his administration will temporarily allow more beef imports into the U.S. without triggering higher tariffs.
12K views · 78 reactions | I told my lawyer dad that I was getting a...
I told my lawyer dad that I was getting a science PhD, and he called me a “huge failure” who will never make real money. How do I make my parents proud? Carolyn Hax, Advice Columnist weighs in.
‘Spider-Man’ TV series star Kathy Garver shades new Spider-Men as ‘desolate and all alone’
‘Spider-Man’ TV series star Kathy Garver says new ‘Spider-Man’ franchises’ approach ‘takes away the warmth’ of Spider-Man as a character. Garver calls the modern characters ‘desolate and all alone.’
Someone Made a Terrific Deal in the Peacock/YouTube Premium Partnership…But Who?
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) I hope everyone around the world suffering from record heat waves is doing okay. The temperature is already up in Southern California, but obviously not nearly as bad as parts of Europe. With a super El Nińo coming this year, I worry it will get even worse. Yes, we know what’s causing this heat—it’s the carbon, duh—but we really aren’t making enough progress. I’m not “environmental strategy guy”, but if I were, I’d have some ideas of what I’d try. Honestly, for years I’ve been intrigued by the work of the folks at MEER—whose plan, super simply, is to put up mirrors to reflect heat (while continuing the important work of decarbonization)—but I’m frustrated this idea hasn’t made more progress. (Other geo-engineering groups seem to get better press.) With heat like this—cancelling events, hurting economies and, most importantly, killing people—it seems like the time to push solutions! The “mirrors on the ground” solution has barely been tried.1 While entertainment companies may not “feel the heat”, lots of outdoors/experiential industries—concerts, theme parks and so on—will. Even movie theaters could benefit, since mirrors could help lower AC costs, which I imagine is not an insignificant expense, especially in the hotter areas of the country. So I do think the entertainment industry should prioritize this issue. Anyways, let’s get back into the entertainment strategy. I was about to write, “Hey, this week we don’t have any mergers and entertainment news to dive into,” but that’s not really true, since we had more updates on Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. But the big story of the week involves a streamer and a Big Tech platform bundling their respective streamers. So I’ll write about the updates on Paramount buying Warner Bros., Versant making some moves, and a whole lot more. But we start with a surprising deal: Peacock licensing their content to YouTube Premium. Let’s dive in! Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Peacock’s Pricey Premium Partnership The story of the week is Comcast’s2 NBC-Universal’s Peacock making a deal with Google’s YouTube’s YouTube Premium subscription product to embed their content. And I’ll say this up front: Someone made a terrific deal. The question is who. And I’ll be honest: I don’t know. Let me explain why, including why this deal exists, the pros and cons for each side, the biggest unknown, and what that says about the streaming wars. Customers Love Bundles (But YouTube Has Its Own Issues) We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Why customers love bundles… But why I’m worried about YouTube’s integration... How Peacock is trading scale for control… And the reason they likely made this deal... The odd budget math for this deal... Whether or not I think the Paramount-Skydance/WBD deal is more likely after the latest settlement... Versant making moves and why that’s good for Hollywood… Another distributor going out of business… ...and a whole lot more! ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.
Paramount's David Ellison downplays politics after courting Trump
David Ellison courted Trump when seeking approval for his WBD deal. He argues in a new op-ed that his politics are "just like most Americans."
Could Declining Cable TV Business Undo Paramount-WBD Merger?
The cable TV business is flailing, but it is one of three areas flagged as potential monopolies in a lawsuit looking to block a Paramount-WBD merger.
#paramount #streaming #entertainment
Paramount Skydance isn't waiting around for its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to bolster its flagship streaming service. Paramount's streaming leaders have told employees that they're planning major upgrades to Paramount+ in the coming weeks. An internal presentation, which was unveiled during a streaming town hall this week and viewed by Business Insider, shows "Product Priority Highlights" for Paramount's streaming business this quarter. These initiatives are part of Paramount CEO David Ellison's plan to improve the tech of a 114-year-old media company that trails Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney in streaming subscribers. Buying WBD would help Paramount catch up quickly and give it over 200 million streaming customers, the company has said. Read more about Paramount’s streaming projects on Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/eKfn9wyH (Credit: Getty Images) #paramount #streaming #entertainment
Paramount's WBD deal is on pause after judge orders merger delay
A judge issued a temporary restraining order stopping Paramount Skydance's acquisition of WBD after a lawsuit by California and 11 other states.
China’s new generation of tycoons is its most enigmatic yet
Their companies are conquering the world—and they hate talking to the press
Eli Lilly is reinventing the pharma business
The world’s largest drugmaker is betting big on preventive medicines—and learning from big tech
Paramount-WBD merger could impact entertainment options
California Attorney General Rob Bonta joins "Here's the Scoop" to discuss how the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery could impact the entertainment industry.
Global misinformation takes center stage at Emory conference
Emory College brought together leading scholars to study propaganda and information manipulation, emphasizing feedback and collaboration over traditional presentations to better address the growing global impact of disinformation.
Paramount Says States' Effort To Block WBD Deal "Will Only Harm Entertainment Workers"
Paramount hit back at an antitrust lawsuit filed Monday by attorneys general of 12 states seeking to block the company's pending $110 billion merger.
America at 250: Small business still carries the water
Guest essayist Chuck Violand writes as America turns 250, let's recommit to the values that helped build strong businesses and a strong country.
Long Reads for the Long Weekend
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Happy Fourth of July weekend! As has been a tradition of mine going back to the beginning of the EntStrategyGuy website, I’m sharing my favorite long reads of the last year, like I did in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025. Let’s dive right in! Subscribe “Different Prices for the Same Ride: How Uber and Lyft Use AI to Get More Money Out of You“ by Derek Kravitz in Consumer Reports I don’t think surveillance pricing, like the kind described in this brilliant Consumer Reports article, is long for the world—it’s toxically unpopular—but we’ll see if either party takes on this issue. If I ran a political party focused on affordability, I would focus on a few pro-consumer and pro-market policies: Banning non-compete agreements. Ending surveillance pricing Eliminating junk fees (read more here...) Ensuring “right to repair” for consumer (and military!) products Capping excessive app store fees Stopping digital/algorithmic price-fixing tools. Preventing automatic subscription price increases. And more. If you want to fight inflation, there are a lot of great ways to do it quickly. Speaking of higher prices... “Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy“ by Matt Stoller in BIG Again, I think a political party should focus on lowering prices for consumers. And deals like this—Walmart making a deal/forcing Pepsi to offer the lowest prices at its stores and nowhere else—hypothetically lower prices at Walmart...but raise them everywhere else. “15 DUIs, still driving: California’s failure to take repeat drunk drivers off the road“ by Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler in CalMatters CalMatters does terrific reporting in California, something the Golden State desperately needs more of, and this article is a great example of that. “PugLips: The next insanely popular thing you’ve never heard of…” by Simon Carless in Game Discover Co I thought that this parody article (and yes, it’s a parody, but I was definitely unsure at first) was hilarious and totally nailed how much tech/business journalism feels these days. Actually, three of my favorite articles this year were on hype in the video game industry, including Georg Zoller’s “The Video Game Industries Very Dark Night”—which I linked to recently and wrote a follow-up here—and Owen Mahoney’s “Derek Zoolander, Videogame Exec”. In particular, I like Mahoney’s focus on user experience as a guide to what trends will actually grab hold of customers. “The Matrix Lies“ by Evan Shapiro in Media War & Peace Evan Shapiro’s first person account of his experience with AI was hilarious. I think LLMs capabilities have significantly grown from last summer, and yet...my editor/researcher just had an abysmal experience using an LLM to do a quite basic task (which our LLM normally does each week) and the LLM made a mistake on every single data entry...along with seven different mistakes affecting twelve of the twenty or so entries, including mistakes that are explicitly spelled out in the prompt. That’s a brutal failure rate. Again, if you use AI/LLM for data collection, you need to take a lot of extra steps to verify and check the data. “Ghosts in the Balcony: A Cross-Country Trip to 58 Theaters Fighting to Survive“ by Matthew Frank in The Ankler I thought Matthew Frank’s pitch to head across America to visit theaters sounded insane aggressive at the time—at least it felt that way to someone a decade older than him; man, to be in your twenties again, am I right?—but I knew the result would be great. And it was, a terrific feature by a great young writer. Also, I loved Matthew’s recent article on who’s getting the precious few entry level jobs in Hollywood. (Hint: nepotism.) “Disney erased FiveThirtyEight“ and “Did Las Vegas get too greedy?” by Nate Silver in Silver Bulletin I love media history and analysis, and there’s no one better to get the history of FiveThirtyEight than from Nate Silver, who wrote about his personal experience in one of my favorite pieces from this year. I also loved Nate’s breakdown of what’s causing Vegas’ woes, but I’ll offer one criticism, summarized as “Might I suggest antitrust?” Many centrists/center-right/libertarian thinkers (Nate is self-described as the latter) often don’t consider consolidation or antitrust as factors in policy issues like housing, America’s military readiness, or, in this case, Las Vegas. Even if libertarians want to debunk antitrust/consolidation concerns, I’d love to read that debunking. In this case, Vegas is incredibly consolidated (though it also has been for a long time) and I’d have loved to read Nate at least contending with this factor, since he addresses almost every other potential factor for Vegas’ decline. “Why Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Pullback Is Such a Big Deal“ by Robinson Meyer in Heatmap News I’m a big supporter of carbon removal efforts, but this nascent industry faces a lot of headwinds, including this big move most recently. I think it’s clear that solar panels and batteries should be able to get the world to its carbon footprint goals, but effective carbon renewal remains necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. “AI is killing the cheap smartphone“ by David Oks LLMs and AI will impact the world in ways we’re not ready for, and already, third world countries are seeing the prices of cheap cellphones skyrocket due to the cost of chips skyrocketing. This article by David Oks is a terrific breakdown. “100 Days of Madness: Netflix, Paramount, Warner and the Future of Hollywood“ by Wade Major at Hollywood Heretic Wade Major dove deep into Hollywood/streaming’s financials in this must read piece. Not that I agree with everything in this article (read my take on Warner Bros./Paramount here) but the analysis is top notch. I think many people discount how quality thinking, regardless of the argument/conclusion, will make you a better thinker. “Erased by the UFC: Frank Shamrock, The MMA GOAT of the 20th Century“ by Nate Wilcox in The MMA Draw Newsletter Growing up playing the UFC fighting game on the Dreamcast, Frank Shamrock was my favorite MMA fighter, and this history/tribute to him was great. Other Fun Reads “The Hardest Part Of History To Tell Is How It Felt“ by Craig Fehrman at Defector “Unmasking the Sea Star Killer“ by Craig Welch at bioGraphic “What Could Save the Industry? Fin-Syn“ by Richard Rushfield in The Ankler Alex Rollins Berg in Underexposed on movie bumpers, pillow shots, Disney trash cinema, cult films, and Casablanca. David H. Montgomery in YouGov’s The Surveyor on punctuation marks, condiments, dinosaurs, and comic strips and kids media. “How Medium finally pivoted its way to profitability“ and “Why the best journalists on YouTube are all former Vox employees“ by Simon Owens in Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter “It’s Not Just You, Netflix Shows Have Gotten Slightly Shorter: Here’s What the Data Says“ by Kasey Moore at What’s on Netflix “Numlock Awards: How Diane Warren became the biggest loser in Oscar history“ by Nathaniel Rakich and “Numlock Awards: The Oscar Bait era is over. The Oscar Chum era is here.” by Walt Hickey & Michael Domanico at Numlock Awards
Zombie unicorns are haunting Silicon Valley
Years of frothy valuations have created a nightmare
'A completely different story': 300 million-year-old fossils reveal the first vertebrate land dwellers weren't what we thought, researchers claim
Our ancient four-legged ancestors didn't have an amphibian-like life cycle when they began walking on land, according to a new study of rare fossils found near Chicago.
Sports is driving a large part of the entertainment economy, says Activate CEO Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf, Activate Consulting CEO and co-founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Versant's media rights agreement with the WNBA, appetite for live sports, Fox's $22B acquisition of Roku, Paramount-WBD merger, and more.
Sports is driving a large part of the entertainment economy, says Activate CEO Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf, Activate Consulting CEO and co-founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Versant's media rights agreement with the WNBA, appetite for live sports, Fox's $22B acquisition of Roku, Paramount-WBD merger, and more.
Entertainment Workers Oppose Paramount-WBD Merger in Town Hall
Writers, actors, crew members and small business owners expressed their opposition to the $111 billion transaction in Beverly Hills on Saturday: “It may be the final domino that knocks everything down.”
American capitalism has taken an apocalyptic turn
Millenarian thinking permeates business and markets
Yankees Birthday of the Day: Bud Metheny
The last Yankee to wear No. 3 would have turned 111 today.
Behold the success of Texan business
Exxon’s reincorporation is one more feather in the state’s cowboy hat
3 players Cowboys need to remain healthy in 2026
Hopefully the Cowboys can remain healthy this season.
The war between businesses and hackers enters a perilous new phase
AI agents present novel dangers
Cardinals first-rounder Jeremiyah Love officially signs rookie deal, gets largest RB guarantee in NFL history
Where CBS Sports has Alabama football in post-spring top 25 rankings
CBS Sports cites 'reduced confidence' in Alabama football as part of its post-spring ranking of the Crimson Tide entering Year 3 under Kalen DeBoer.
Photos: Raiders host 2026 Draft Festival of Football at HQ
Head inside Intermountain Health Performance Center to view photos from the Las Vegas Raiders' 2026 Draft Festival of Football.
WBD shareholders approve Paramount deal, reject David Zaslav's pay
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted to approve the Paramount Skydance deal but against the pay package for CEO David Zaslav.
Only the champions might be happy with Minnesota’s student-athlete transfer system
Inside an imperfect system: Because the high school league is “not an investigative body,” athletic directors own the burden of enforcing Minnesota’s trust-based transfer process. Coaches are often caught in the middle, too.
This Week in Politics with UC Santa Cruz Professor Nolan Higdon
UC Santa Cruz Professor Nolan Higdon talks about the conflict in Iran and more of the latest political news.
Altman, Amodei and Musk fight dirty for the biggest prize in business
OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX plan initial public offerings that could raise sums equivalent to a decade of American IPOs, as artificial intelligence labs seek funding.
A new wave of disrupters takes on American health care
Patients are unhappy. Can AI help?
WBD Sports Announces Historic First for Downhill as Elite Women Will Race Last at the Leogang World Cup
"This change marks a powerful shift in visibility, recognition and parity for women’s racing at the highest level."
CNBC Sport: Paramount may unwind WBD's sports strategy if merger goes through
WBD's sports strategy it has deployed since it lost NBA rights may not make sense if it's acquired by Paramount.
John Oliver Doesn’t Want Paramount as WBD ‘Business Daddy’
John Oliver recently addressed the possibility of Paramount acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. The Last Week Tonight host used his HBO platform to comment on the proposed transaction, describing the po...
Netflix CEO Sarandos says he bailed on WBD because of price, not Trump
Netflix's rivals — Paramount owners Larry and David Ellison — had made a point of courting the President and other Republicans.
Leaked audio: WBD CEO pitches staffers on Paramount deal post-Netflix
WBD CEO David Zaslav addressed employees at a town hall Friday after Paramount won the bidding war over Netflix. He called the process "whiplash-y."
WBD Done Dealt: Politics Are On Paramount’s Side
Netflix walked away from WBD not just over price, but because of politics which has favored Paramount from the get-go.
USU College of Allied Health Sciences Graduate Plays Key Role in Lifesaving Response
Navy Hospital Corpsman Third Class Adam Altreche, a 2023 USU graduate, utilized his military medical training to revive an unresponsive man ...
Here's what smart people are saying about Paramount's WBD win
Business and political leaders discuss the impact of the deal, from antitrust concerns to Netflix's big breakup fee.
Why Netflix walked away from Warner Bros. Discovery,
We are going to have lots of questions about the WBD-Paramount tie-up. But explaining why Netflix bailed is more straightfoward.
Samsung Galaxy S26 launch live: S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra specs, Galaxy Buds 4, price, release date, and what is expected
Samsung is going to be launching its new devices today and we are closely following it all!
WBD considers partnering with David Ellison, Paramount over Netflix
David Ellison's Paramount Skydance has a new offer for WBD that may force Netflix to pay more money, or drop its pursuit altogether.
Rejoice! Private equity is taking over America’s small businesses
Its ghoulish reputation is ill-deserved
NFL analyst's 'bold prediction' sees Chargers bolstering guard spot
Sports Illustrated's Connor Orr predicts the Chargers will sign a veteran guard in free agency.
Friedman, Schiff seek commitments to protect Hollywood jobs amid WBD acquisition
Media giants Netflix and Paramount are making their sales pitches to take over Warner Brothers Discovery, and it's caught the attention of Capitol Hill.
Elon Musk is betting the future of his business empire on AI
The fates of xAI, SpaceX and Tesla are increasingly intertwined
Q&A With 3 Star Edge Troy Mailo
Happy Sunday Husky fans. I’m sorry this is late today but I’m in Hawaii having some family time. I got the chance to talk to 3 star edge Troy Mailo from Mullen HS, CO about his recruitment and interest in UW. Mailo is rated as the 42nd best edge in the country and besides UW […]
Netflix wins long form entertainment and that's where the game is, says Media Mogul Tom Rogers
Tom Rogers, Versant Media Senior Advisor, Fmr. NBC Cable President and CNBC Founder, joins 'Fast Money' to talk Netflix quarterly results, what's ahead for the Netflix's bid for WBD, and more.
Top-performing movies and interactive entertainment stocks in 2025 (WBD:NASDAQ)
Warner Bros. Discover (WBD) has been the best stock of the year for the movies and interactive entertainment subsector.
OpenAI faces a make-or-break year in 2026
One of the fastest-growing companies in history is in a perilous position
New York Enacts FAIR Business Practices Act Expanding State Consumer Protection Law
On December 19, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law S8416, amending New York’s General Business Law to enact the Fostering Affordability and
WBD Sports Reports Another Year of 'Record-Breaking' Mountain Bike World Cup Viewership
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports has announced it set more
The 6 biggest reveals from WBD's filing on why it rejected Paramount
A new filing says Paramount offered pay and a job to WBD CEO David Zaslav, and gives other takeaways from the bidding war.
What Netflix's co-CEOs are saying after WBD rejected Paramount's hostile bid
Warner Bros. Discovery just turned down a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance. Netflix's co-CEOs sent a letter about the decision and the deal.
Why WBD says shareholders should reject Paramount's bid and go with Netflix
Warner Bros. Discovery's board rejected Paramount Skydance and CEO David Ellison again. Read WBD's full letter to shareholders.
Jared Kushner's Affinity stepping away from Paramount-Warner Bros bid
Kushner's private equity firm, Affinity Partners, is backing out of Paramount's $108 billion WBD bid.
Oracle and the hard truths about software
Running a giant digital business is not as fun as it used to be
Leaked Paramount memo reveals what CEO David Ellison told staffers about its hostile WBD bid
Netflix made a winning bid for Warner Bros., but Paramount Skydance has not given up. Read Paramount CEO David Ellison's memo to Paramount employees.
Netflix in Exclusive Talks for WBD Acquisition, Sports Broadcasting Reportedly Not Included in Deal
WBD's entertainment, sports and news television brands will reportedly continue to split off into a newly formed Discovery Global brand.
China’s entertainment industry is booming but needs some slack
The Communist Party is in a quandary
From micro-dramas to video games, Chinese entertainment is booming
But how much slack will the Communist Party give creators?