Do you remember when film studios were strong investments? John Wick: Chapter 4’s debut made $138M in its first weekend — a much-needed win for Lionsgate Entertainment (NYSE:LGFA) — whose stock has fallen nearly 50% since 2021. Lionsgate is a tale of two businesses: 1/ Studio business: Lionsgate — which creates and distributes films and…
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Free Streaming Services See Increase in Viewership
State of streaming: Higher prices, more ads and less content. Streaming services have increased prices faster than the pace of inflation — despite cutting back on new content. Here’s how much prices have increased in the US: Apple TV+ (40% price increase last October) Disney+ (37.5% increase last December) Netflix (11% increase in Jan. 2022)…
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Disney’s Dilemma: Film Quality or Profits?
Disney is trying to cut costs and push its streaming service toward profitability. But that’s coming at the expense of its film quality. In 2009, Disney acquired Marvel for $4.3B. Since then, it’s grossed over $22B at global box offices — becoming a cornerstone of Disney+. Shrinking down: The latest Ant-Man film had a strong…
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Bob Iger brings the magic back to Disney with great news for investors, bad news for employees
Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind — except the 7,000 employees we over-hired. Bob Iger is back (for two years), and he’s bringing the magic, focus and layoffs with him. Iger served the news to investors on a golden platter: Shareholder returns: Bringing back its dividend (but smaller than before) by…
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Vince McMahon returns to WWE and explores a potential sale
World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE:WWE) has started 2023 up nearly 30%. It’s one of the few that finished 2022 in the green. The company was also in the news for the wrong reasons last year. Here’s why… WWE founder and ex-CEO Vince McMahon was accused of sexual misconduct. He left the company over the investigation, and…
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GPT-3 and Artificial Intelligence Will Completely Disrupt the Media Industry
Media giants like Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA) and Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) are struggling with declining ad revenue — leading to falling profits and mass layoffs this year. Netflix, Disney and other streaming services have also struggled with content costs. AI could be the solution. Here’s how. 1/ AI will reduce the cost of writing content. ChatGPT…
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Streaming wars: Netflix is using its profitability to their advantage
On the other side of the streaming wars, we have Netflix. Netflix and Disney have been neck and neck as the largest streaming service. Disney took the lead earlier this year before Netflix reclaimed the throne. But Disney’s fast growth had come at a high cost: profits. And at the worst possible time, too. Netflix…
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Bob Iger (The Magic) returns to Disney, replacing Bob Chapek as CEO
Xmas came early for Disney investors. Disney’s beloved Bob Iger is returning as CEO after “retiring” just 33 months ago. How big is the news? One analyst compared this to the return of Steve Jobs at Apple. Chapek wasn’t a crowd-pleaser In 2020, Bob Chapek (handpicked by Iger) replaced Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO. But…
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Warner Bros Discovery’s CEO channeling King Joffrey’s madness
HBO had its biggest first season, new series debut with the release of House of the Dragon — drawing in nearly 10M viewers. Still, the debut was short of the final season premiere of Game of Thrones — which brought in 17.9M viewers. House Warner: It’s a much-needed victory for HBO’s parent company Warner Bros…
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Formula One Group: F1 viewership soars, but its stock poses risks for investors
Interest in Formula 1 — the world’s most popular racing series — has skyrocketed in recent years. Formula One Group (NASDAQ:FWONA) — which oversees development and promotion — is raking in the sponsors. Bringing Formula One back to life F1 viewership had been falling fast since 2008. Then Liberty One Media acquired Formula One in…
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