Sony offers no concessions to EU regulators in $2.3bn EMI bid October 22, 2018 Sony has offered no concessions to the EU’s antitrust regulator in support of its $2.3bn (£1.8bn) bid for major record label EMI. Sony had not submitted any proposed concessions by last Friday’s deadline, the European Commission’s website showed today. Read more: EU sets October deadline to rule on Sony's takeover of EMI The Commission is [...]
Truth to power: Adtech has to stand up for journalism October 22, 2018 The future of the press is in doubt. If you need an example of just how powerful fake news has become, remember August, when even seasoned journalists accepted at face value a spoof campaign ironically titled “Don’t believe every tweet”, featuring bogus quotes from Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey. The changes in journalism have not [...]
DEBATE: Subscribers have surged, but are we nearing ‘peak Netflix’? October 18, 2018 Subscribers have surged, but are we nearing ‘peak Netflix’? Jon Tipple, chief strategy officer at FutureBrand, says YES. Netflix is an amazing success story. Its content, valuation, and subscriber numbers all say so, especially after Tuesday’s results. Our FutureBrand Index also confirmed it last week – we reorder the PwC Global Top 100 firms to [...]
Netflix can chill: Shares surge as site smashes new users predictions, after disappointing second quarter October 16, 2018 The house of cards stood firm last night as Netflix shares soared 18 per cent on the news it had smashed its own predictions on new subscribers, reversing its second-quarter fortunes. The streaming service, known for shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, added nearly 7m new customers, 2m more than [...]
Celebrities like Kanye West and Taylor Swift need to learn that we really don’t care what they think October 16, 2018 Taylor Swift, look what you made me do. Swifty has been a hallowed island of political neutrality in a sea of bad blood. But she’s now come out as a mid-term Democrat, and the love story is over. Maybe one day historians will look back and admire how Bob Geldof’s support for a People’s Vote [...]
Disney moves to pacify EU regulators with concessions on $71bn Fox deal October 15, 2018 Walt Disney has made commitments it hopes will please European regulators, allowing its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox to go ahead. The concessions, filed Friday with the European Commission, will be considered by EU antitrust authorities, before a decision is reached by 6 November. Read more: Fox and Disney to sell minority Sky stake to Comcast [...]
Tech giants stumble as Wall Street fails to recover from nightmare week October 15, 2018 The big five US tech companies dropped over $30bn (£23bn) from their market value yesterday as Wall Street struggled to bounce back from a nightmare week. Netflix recovered slightly after an initial three per cent drop when the share’s target price was slashed by Raymond James and Goldman Sachs. Read more: Snap to challenge Netflix [...]
The Scotsman publisher Johnston Press puts itself up for sale as it tries to tackle huge £220m debt pile October 11, 2018 Struggling publisher Johnston Press’s share price dropped over seven per cent today on the news that it was putting itself up for sale. The newspaper group behind the ‘i’ newspaper, The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, amid 200 regional titles, has a towering pile of debt totalling £220m that it must pay off by 1 June [...]
Snap to challenge Netflix in new turn to original scripted content October 10, 2018 Snap has today announced it has expanded into the realms of original content, with 12 new shows lined up from the creators of popular TV shows such as Riverdale and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Each of the 12 series will release new episodes daily, and be monetised by up to six seconds of unskippable advertisements. [...]
James Murdoch quits Sky as Comcast officially confirms takeover of media titan October 9, 2018 James Murdoch has resigned from Sky's board after Comcast confirmed it was now officially the owner of the UK media titan. The chief exec of 21st Century Fox Murdoch stepped down from the board alongside six other directors after Comcast said it had officially acquired 75 per cent of Sky's share capital. The chance of Comcast [...]
