More from Georg Szalai
WWE-UFC: How Wall Street Views the Deal So Far
Mixed martial arts powerhouse UFC and sports entertainment giant WWE are betting that they are even stronger together. So executives from UFC owner Endeavor and WWE, fresh off WrestleMania 39 weekend in Los Angeles, stepped into the spotlight to unveil a merger to form a global live sports and entertainment titan, 51 percent controlled by […]
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Endeavor’s UFC, WWE to Merge; Ari Emanuel to Serve as CEO, Vince McMahon as Executive Chair
Endeavor Group Holdings and sports entertainment powerhouse WWE made things official on Monday, unveiling a definitive agreement to form a new, publicly listed company consisting of two “iconic, complementary” global sports and entertainment brands: UFC and WWE. Endeavor will hold a 51 percent controlling interest in the new company, with existing WWE shareholders owning a […]
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Regal Owner Cineworld Unveils Restructuring Agreement With Lenders to Emerge From Bankruptcy
Movie theater giant Cineworld said early Monday London time that it has struck an agreement with lenders that would see it emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy via a restructuring. The company said it still expects to emerge from its Chapter 11 cases during the first half of 2023, even though the process could delay this […]
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Endeavor Nears Deal to Buy WWE and Merge It With UFC
Forty-three years after Vince McMahon founded the company now known as the WWE, and 70 years after his father entered the professional wrestling business, the McMahon family appears ready to give up control of their empire, closing in on a multibillion-dollar deal to sell the WWE to Endeavor, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Assuming the […]
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Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery Among Top Hollywood Stock Gainers in First Quarter
Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global were among the hit Hollywood stocks of the first quarter of 2023, shaking off investor concerns about such industry challenges as record cord-cutting, getting streaming businesses to profitability and economic clouds darkening the advertising outlook, as well as recent stock market volatility due to the collapse of banks. […]
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Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s 2022 Pay Package Hits $39.3M
The value of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s compensation package for 2022, which saw the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger close in April, hit $39.3 million, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. In 2021, the then-Discovery CEO had received a pay package worth $246.0 million, an enormous jump compared with $37.7 million in 2020 and $45.8 million in […]
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Why Fox Corp. Analysts Are Cutting Their Ad Forecasts
For the final quarter of 2022, Fox Corp. could celebrate a 4 percent advertising revenue gain. Amid economic clouds late in the year, executive chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in February that his team was “mindful of current macroeconomic conditions,” but touted that “the durability of our brands and Fox’s ability to deliver audiences […]
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Alibaba to Split Into 6 Parts, Including Digital Media and Entertainment Group
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s technology conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding is splitting into six groups, including an entertainment business, with each of them set to be “independently managed by its own chief executive officer and board of directors,” the company said on Tuesday. Daniel Zhang will serve as CEO and chairman of the holding company, which reminded […]
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U.S. Advertising Growth Forecast Cut Slightly for 2023
After a 5.7 percent gain in 2022 to a record $315 billion, U.S. media owners’ advertising revenue will rise 3.4 percent in 2023, down from the previously forecast 3.7 percent, media investment company Magna projected on March 27. That will still mean a new all-time high of $326 billion for the U.S. ad market, the firm noted. […]
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Global Streamers’ Original Content Spend Increase to Slow in 2023 Amid “More Cautious Approach”
Global streamers’ original content spend will grow to $26.5 billion in 2023, up $3.3 billion, or 14 percent, from $23.2 billion last year, according to estimates from research firm Ampere Analysis. However, that is a marked slowdown from the $7.2 billion, or 45 percent, increase recorded from 2021 to 2022 as selectivity and austerity have come […]
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Fremantle Acquires Majority Stake in A Team, Belgian Producer of ‘Baghdad Messi’
Fremantle, the production unit of Bertelsmann-owned TV giant RTL Group, has acquired a majority stake in A Team Productions, the Belgium-based producer of upcoming feature film Baghdad Messi and upcoming drama series Alter Ego. Financial details weren’t disclosed. The deal for the company, founded in 2009 and led by Kobe van Steenberghe and Hendrik Verthé, is the […]
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Peter Chernin’s North Road Company Boards Israeli Crime Drama ‘Bad Boy’ From ‘Euphoria,’ ‘Bosch’ Creatives
Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company has boarded crime drama Bad Boy, the new Hebrew-language series from Euphoria creator Ron Leshem and director Hagar Ben-Asher (Bosch, City on a Hill). The content studio, launched last year, unveiled its “first international co-studio deal” for the series with Israel-based film and TV company Sipur (The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes, Munich ’72), formerly known as Tadmor […]
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