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Behind Biden’s TikTok Dilemma
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Business
Hollywood Is Hoping Its Bank Relationships Are Too Big to Fail
The industry has long leaned on regional banks that specialize in entertainment clients. But after Silicon Valley Bank’s failure rattled tech moguls, execs may rethink where they put their money.
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Business
Want to Impress Wall Street? Just Add Some AI
As media executives look to pop the stock of flagging publicly traded companies, tech advances are becoming the new gimmick to wow (even temporarily) the investing class.
By Alex Weprin -
Business
VFX Workers’ Union Effort Picks Up Where Last Reckoning Left Off
After an organizing push failed a decade ago, IATSE organizers — brandishing a survey in which pros say they face unpaid overtime and have few options for carryover health care — think the time is right again.
Latest Business
Spotify Shutters Live Audio App
Spotify is shutting down its standalone live audio app, Spotify Live, at the end of this month as the audio giant turns away from live programming, a company spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. As user interest in the live audio app Clubhouse gained momentum during the earlier months of the pandemic, Spotify sought […]
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AMC Theatres Settles Shareholder Lawsuit Over Reverse Stock Split Plans
AMC Theatres has settled a shareholder lawsuit that threatened a planned reverse stock split arising from a conversion of AMC Preferred Equity Units, or APEs, into common stock. AMC Entertainment Holdings, parent of the mega-exhibitor and led by CEO Adam Aron, in an SEC filing said it entered into an April 2 settlement agreement that […]
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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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Vice Pacts With Tubi for 8 Original Documentaries
Fox’s Tubi has signed an exclusive content deal with Vice Media Group for eight new Tubi Original documentaries. The first, The Cult of Elon, about Tesla founder and controversial Twitter owner Elon Musk, will debut on the free, ad-supported streaming platform on April 24. The second documentary, Vigilante Inc., a look at the rise of […]
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As Disney Outmaneuvers DeSantis, Florida Gov. Calls for Investigation Over Special District
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for an investigation into an agreement that transferred the powers of Disney’s now-dissolved special district back to the company before the state assumed control of the board. In a letter to state chief inspector general Melinda Miguel, DeSantis says that the deal suffers “serious legal infirmities” and questions whether […]
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Inside Amazon Studios: Big Swings Hampered by Confusion and Frustration
It’s long been an open secret that Jeff Bezos has yearned for his own Game of Thrones, and that Amazon’s big swing as it reached for its own massive hit was The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, believed to be the most expensive series ever made. Last September, the show began with […]
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Writers Guild Calls a Strike Authorization Vote
The Writers Guild is taking its first step toward a potential industry strike. The union has set a strike authorization vote, with online polls opening April 11 at 8:30 p.m. and closing April 17 at 12 p.m., the guild announced to members on Monday. While a strike authorization vote does not ensure a writers strike […]
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Endeavor President Says UFC-WWE Merger Will Bolster Its Representation Business
The $21 billion merger of the WWE and UFC will create a sports and entertainment powerhouse, but the companies do not expect to rest on their laurels, Endeavor president and COO Mark Shapiro says. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday after the deal was formally unveiled, Shapiro (who will serve as president and COO […]
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Actors’ Equity Issues Strike Threat for Broadway National Tours (Exclusive)
Actors’ Equity has issued a strike threat against The Broadway League. The union, which represents more than 51,000 stage managers and actors, has been bargaining with The Broadway League, which represents industry producers, presenters and general managers, since mid-January to create a new touring contract. Now, Actors’ Equity has authorized executive director Al Vincent Jr., […]
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Women and Hollywood Founder Launching Podcast, No Longer Publishing Original Stories on Blog (Exclusive)
Women and Hollywood founder Melissa Silverstein is launching a weekly podcast centered around interviews with women creatives and will no longer be publishing original stories on the Women and Hollywood blog she founded more than 15 years ago. The 30-minute podcast will be called In Her Voice, building on Silverstein’s book of the same name […]
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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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Jennifer Lawrence’s Personal Assistant Branches Out to Build Staffing Agency
Meghan Grimm might be Hollywood’s best matchmaker. In addition to being Jennifer Lawrence’s executive personal assistant, Grimm is the founder and CEO of Clyde Staffing, a first-of-its-kind staffing agency led by a seasoned personal assistant that is dedicated to vetting and matching prospective assistants with top talent. But unlike other agencies, where the extent of […]
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Twitter’s Verification Purge Set to Begin
Leave it to Elon Musk to choose April Fool’s Day to begin Twitter’s version of the Purge. Beginning on Saturday, users with legacy verification badges — notable accounts who were verified under Twitter’s previous leadership — are expected to lose their blue check, as the social media company has been hinting at for months but […]
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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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