☀️ A-List Movie Packages Rule January Dealmaking
DISNEY INDIA valuation hits trouble / Bakish confirms layoffs coming, sets strategy / PRIME VIDEO offering Advertiser deals
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY Jan. 26, 2023.
Where - good news ya’ll! Apparently there are still new millionaires still looking to get into publishing!
Country music stars Eric Church and Morgan Wallen have bought Field & Stream. See - there’s hope, people! I mean, granted the print publication comes out twice a year… but we gotta start somewhere.
AND: Here are your ACE EDDIE Awards for editing. (see how I kept that brief? 🥁 I’m here all week. Well, actually no, it’s Friday so alas you’ll have to handle your own hacky comedy for the weekend).
PLUS: META is now blocking DMs to (declared) teen accounts unless they’re from one of their FB or IG friends, or at least that’s the default setting for those under 16-years-old (or 18 in some countries).
THEN: The DGA secured the same streaming success bonus that the WGA did, as well as the same access to the streaming data blackbox every quarter.
ALSO: A kudos to the U OF SOUTH CAROLINA women’s hoops team for staying undefeated, beating defending champ LSU & Amber Reese in a 76-70 nailbiter in front of a crowd of over 13,000 people last night. Gonna be a fun March Madness to watch this year! Very curious to see the marketing support for it this year on ESPN/ABC 👀.
TODAY IN JOB LAYOFFS:
Business Insider is laying off another 8% of its staff. BI already laid off 10% back in April.
Forbes is cutting about 3% of its workforce.
Time’s benefactor owner Mark Benioff is cutting another 700 folks at SALESFORCE, after cutting 8,000 (about 10%) last year.
BUZZFEED is looking for buyers for TASTY and FIRST WE FEAST, and VICE’s new PE parent FORTRESS is seeing if there’s any interest out there in REFINERY29, per the WSJ.
As has been reported already, BUZZFEED has some big debt-related checks looming this year… and not a lotta cash (and a $0.22 stock price) on hand.
REFINERY29 revenue apparently fell from $50 mil in 2022 to… $30 mil in 2023, in a nice snapshot at what’s afoot here at large this month in the industry.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
