☀️ ANNAPURNA Comes Back To Life; AMAZON 🫶 Gyllenhaal
NETFLIX’s big spending week / Ellison 🤐 on job cuts / RAINE adds gaming group
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, March 6, 2026.
Where it looks like the Ellison family is getting a head start on the massive layoff thing.
No, you’re still good (for now), WARNAMOUNT folks — it’s the ones at Larry’s “other” company, ORACLE, who are in trouble, as thousands of layoffs lie ahead — potentially this month. The company employs about 162k folks globally.
This is in reaction to an AI data center construction-induced cash crunch at the company, according to Bloomberg. This need for cash is seemingly boosting the “restructuring” costs ORACLE has earmarked for FY26 (which ends in May) by about 3x over previous years.
But hey — you’re fine, Hollywood. I mean, it’s not like WARNAMOUNT is gonna have a cash crunch due to large debts! But just in case — keep those 🤞 there’s no AI bubble burst in the next 6-9 months, eh?
SPEAKING OF: Here’s the transcript of David Ellison on CNBC yesterday for those interested — or watch a few exchanges here for the full effect.
Of note:
WARNAMOUNT is keeping both studio lots.
Ellison said CNN will run independently . . . just how CBS NEWS is now — so, uh, take that as ya like.
No questions were asked about whether any Middle Eastern money is in the deal, but he reiterated that the Ellison family is the largest shareholder . . . so the mystery continues.
Again, PSKY put language in its deal announcement that “at closing, the equity may include other strategic and financial partners.” Nothing like keeping things on the up and up! #transparency
READ: We’re going to announce the Saudi/Middle East money at the latest possible moment, so no one can examine it through the entire preceding process.
Keep in mind the above cash crunch at ORACLE — the cash isn’t as free-flowing as often portrayed, so outside “partners” are super helpful.
Ellison was asked for specifics to share with Hollywood about the level of job loss ahead and pricing expectations that Americans should anticipate with a combined service . . . and he basically punted on both questions.
He also brushed off any concerns about DOJ approval in the U.S. (or state AG challenges), saying the deal “could close in the U.S. tomorrow” if the merger was already cleared everywhere else in the world (Germany and Slovenia have signed off on it in the EU).
AGAIN: With PSKY’s promise to bring down leverage/debt really fast . . . we’re looking at huge changes in a short amount of time — and it could be sooner than you think.
KEEP IN MIND: That big layoffs (2k folks) were enacted at PAR by the Office of the CEO about 3—4 months after the PSKY deal was agreed to — but several months before the PSKY deal was actually approved/final.
OH: For those keeping track at home — the week after NETFLIX ✌️💨 from the WARNER BROS. deal with some walking around money, it has done the following in 4 days:
Ordered 4 TV series.
Bought a Ben Affleck AI company while also setting a streaming movie deal with his production outfit.
Renewed Little House on the Prairie before the show debuts.
And there’s still one day left in the week. So, yeah, I think it’s doing just fine. NFLX stock is also about to cross back over $100 a share, about where it was the first week of December.
AND: For any theme park watchers out there — SIX FLAGS is selling off 7 park locations to a property group for $331M, with reducing debt cited as the rationale.
AH: Radio station conglomerate CUMULUS is going through the bankruptcy process. Again. The last time was in 2017. The other 2 major radio conglomerates, IHEART and AUDACY, have also undergone bankruptcy proceedings within the past 6 years.
WELL: If you ever wanted to see the Anger character from Inside Out beat the crap outta Bing Bong — ESPN has you covered on April 5, as it’s doing an animated simulcast on ESPN+, DIS+ and DISNEY CHANNEL of the CAPITALS vs. RANGERS game with the characters from the movie.
AND: AMAZON PV will once again stream 21 YANKEES games this year, but only in the greater NYC area. The first one is on April 8, and most will be on Wednesday nights.
THEN: Ya gotta love “physical” media sales at UMG, the world’s largest music label, hitting +21% YoY in Q4. That makes for a $609M total, mostly driven by good ol’ vinyl! It’s also good to be in the Taylor Swift business.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
I’m rejoining the optimists on DISNEY/PIXAR Hoppers.
NEW POD
FINALLY: Just a little bonus video follow-up to the Ben Affleck AI thing — this is from a CNBC conference last year, but Ben outlines his thoughts pretty directly on how AI is going to enter the creative process, which is worth a listen.
Of course, in retrospect — a little odd that he didn’t mention “and I have my own company working on it right now!” . . . but I also get how that could have been a distracting headline.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
