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Media & Entertainment

Hedgie’s magazine deal is hazy UK media buy signal

10 Sep 2024

Paul Marshall’s 100 mln pound bid for the Spectator values the right-wing publication at over 40 times EBITDA. His generosity will encourage seller Jeff Zucker and partners they can find a similarly blithe buyer for the Telegraph. But the market for political clout has limits.

Murdoch dissident chases another unpromising lead

9 Sep 2024

Hedge fund Starboard wants to rid $15 bln News Corp of super-voting stock that gives the media mogul and his family de facto control. Other founders have relented elsewhere. Narrowing the Wall Street Journal owner’s bad-governance discount, however, will be as elusive as ever.

Buyout barons’ music fest punt is oddly compelling

6 Sep 2024

Private equity and countercultural live events might seem worlds apart. Yet KKR’s recent $1.4 bln purchase of the Superstruct group that runs 80 music festivals has many of the factors buyout shops look for. Scope for a healthy return implies more will take the plunge.

Monopolies work best if they exist. Ask Disney.

3 Sep 2024

The $160 bln media giant pulled its sports and entertainment channels off DirecTV while a US judge also blocked its sports streaming JV. In both arrangements, the Mouse House is trying to exercise the power of its content. Trouble is, consumers have plenty of other places to go.

NFL gives buyout barons a view from cheap seats

28 Aug 2024

The US football league is giving private equity firms access to a coveted investment venue. Returns like the one on the $6 bln Washington Commanders are tempting enough for Carlyle and others to accept tough terms and cede some profit. It’s a steep price for a lousy ticket.

Trophy asset extras serve purpose at own expense

27 Aug 2024

Sellers of media properties are in a bind: empires’ charms often appeal to the heart, but not cold financial logic. Perennial tire-kickers – like Edgar Bronfman Jr. who just dropped a run at Paramount – can add FOMO. Problem is, the runner-up’s credibility has a breaking point.

Pity the Paramount common shareholder

20 Aug 2024

Seagram liquor scion Edgar Bronfman Jr. is crashing tech heir David Ellison’s $8 bln bid for the media group, offering to buy out controlling investor Shari Redstone. Other disgruntled voting shareholders play a role. Those without a say get varying degrees of bad options.

Immovable TV empire calls for irresistible force

8 Aug 2024

Warner Bros Discovery took a $9 bln charge on its cable networks, further subverting boss David Zaslav’s woeful 2022 mega-merger. A $40 bln debt pile would give any agitator pause, but the 71% loss in market value and indefensibly high CEO pay are the stuff of investor mutiny.

Disney exhibits anxiety in more ways than one

7 Aug 2024

The emotion pervades ‘Inside Out 2,’ a blockbuster that brightened financial results. It failed, however, to reverse the recent 25% loss in market value amid angst over the $160 bln kingdom’s synergistic magic. Theme-park struggles only slow boss Bob Iger’s quest for joy.

Paris Olympics warrant medal for budget restraint

26 Jul 2024

The French capital has forked out $9 bln on the Games, but compared to some previous hosts the cost overruns have not been excessive. Pre-existing infrastructure helped. Given France’s political ructions and high deficits and debt, such relative sangfroid is well timed.

Murdoch media galaxy would be better with one sun

25 Jul 2024

News mogul Rupert Murdoch reportedly wants to entrench his son Lachlan at Fox and News Corp, rather than spreading power among four siblings. For other shareholders, stability matters; Fox has beaten peers with Lachlan as CEO. Better an emperor than a squabbling committee.

UMG pays steep price for platform addiction

25 Jul 2024

The $42 bln music group’s shares sank by more than 25% on Thursday, falling below their 2021 IPO. Lower-than-expected growth in subscription revenues underlines the company’s painful dependence on pricing decisions made by big players like Amazon or Apple.

Snap may want to disappear from the public markets

22 Jul 2024

The $24 bln social media firm is staking its future in augmented reality with see-through glasses. Taking Snap private would allow breathing room. Even if insider Tencent and boss Evan Spiegel rolled shares, it would require a large check. But potential returns are worth it.

Vivendi only half-solves its valuation discount

22 Jul 2024

The 11 bln euro French media group is spinning off and listing pay-TV arm Canal+ in London and ad group Havas in Amsterdam. It should unleash value. Yet the remaining listed bits, holding media assets and a ragtag of investments, may just suffer from an even more acute markdown.

Netflix and HBO would be a blockbuster duo

18 Jul 2024

A possible breakup of Warner Bros Discovery, owner of 'Game of Thrones' network HBO, could give the $280 bln Netflix a chance to swoop. Buying WBD’s streaming and studios, maybe worth $60 bln, would put Reed Hastings’ content-hungry firm in an even bigger position of strength.

Axel Springer split could suit both parties’ needs

12 Jul 2024

Buyout firm KKR backed an 8 bln euro take-private of the media group in 2019. Now it may get the classifieds unit it likes while CEO Mathias Döpfner keeps news, the FT says. It would unpick an odd governance situation, and the German tycoon could get cash for a US media splurge.

Ambani wedding allows rich Indians to flaunt it

12 Jul 2024

Anant Ambani's Mumbai nuptials this week cap seven months of extravagant, star-studded celebrations. For many in the deeply inequitable country, the family’s public display of wealth sparks aspiration, not anger. Unlike in China, officials are happy for them to show it off.

Paramount deal offers sneak peak of media 3.0

8 Jul 2024

Shari Redstone agreed to pass her family’s empire to rising Hollywood mogul David Ellison’s Skydance. The $8 bln deal, wildly lopsided in their favor, may raise investors’ hackles. Yet it’s a key test of media also-rans’ likely next chapter: supplying content to streaming giants.