Media & Entertainment

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.

Difference between AT&T and Comcast: deal hubris

21 May 2021

Both the U.S. telecom firm and cable company used M&A to somersault into media and distribution. Now AT&T is U-turning by ditching Time Warner, yet Comcast is humming along with NBC Universal. For all AT&T’s labors, it’s hard to come back from an expensive, ill-timed acquisition.

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.

Amazon’s world is already enough without MGM

18 May 2021

The $1.7 trln e-commerce giant has huge clout in what consumers buy. Buying the studio that owns James Bond would make it a bigger force in what they watch too. For competition watchdogs, Amazon’s creep into every facet of its customers’ lives is an invitation to yell “cut.”

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 shows breaking up can be worth it

17 May 2021

The telecom firm’s $43 bln deal with Discovery to shed media assets has a fair valuation. AT&T’s investors even like it, which is a rarity for a somewhat complicated transaction that underscores destroyed value. It shows that humility isn’t necessarily the same as weakness.

Capital Calls: AT&T’s bankers, Blackstone in Italy

17 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. telecom giant’s unwinding of its purchase of Time Warner is a gift for advisers on Wall Street; a court rules that the U.S. private equity firm’s 2013 purchase of Corriere della Sera’s HQ was valid.

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.

Netflix’s biggest threat lurks behind the curtain

14 May 2021

YouTube is lavishing money on creators and lapping up revenue from brands at a scorching pace. If the trend continues, the video network behind “MrBeast” could soon be worth as much as Netflix. The fact its value is hidden within that of parent Alphabet increases the danger.

Chinese podcast IPO starts on shrill note

14 May 2021

Tencent-backed Ximalaya, last valued at $3.7 bln, is going public. It boasts a diversified model of subscriptions, ads and live-streaming sales. But growth is slowing and rival Lizhi, which floated last year, is already underwater. A premium price tag could leave ears ringing.

Knicks owners flirt with Humpty-Dumpty capitalism

13 May 2021

Shares of Madison Square Garden and its sister sports networks took a beating as the family controlling them plans to smush them back together. Returning to a conglomerate structure may benefit the empire-building Dolans, if not shareholders. Entrenched ownership has its price.

Capital Calls: Amazon EU tax win, Scooter SPAC

21 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: Jeff Bezos’s e-commerce giant wins a victory over the European Union, but the battle has already moved on; Bird’s $2.3 billion price tag is relatively high but less pie-in-the-sky than some recent deals.

Capital Calls: Sabers down for Project JEDI

10 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Pentagon may end the $10 billion cloud project to consolidate U.S. military data after exhausting worse options.

Nintendo half-heartedly looks beyond games

6 May 2021

After a bumper year, the Japanese giant expects its next annual operating profit to drop 22% to $4.6 bln. Peak Switch also means console sales are due to fall. A new theme park and Super Mario film are promising, but boss Shuntaro Furukawa is dragging his feet on bolder ideas.

Apple’s App battle has only slightly epic ending

5 May 2021

A ruling against the $2 trillion tech behemoth in the case brought by video game company Epic could optically be bad for Apple and have global implications. But even if App Store sales fall in half, it would shave just 3% from Apple’s market value. Being a giant has privileges.