☀️ NETFLIX Crushes Q1: Where Its New Ambitions Lie
AMAZON takes 'Highlander' from LGF / JLo + Zemeckis / UNI re-enlists Apatow, Powell
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKEDIN if ya like or email me seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, April 18, 2025.
Where we’ve almost made it to both Easter and 3 full months of Trump administration economic tactics. Only 45 more to go. 🫣
Hope those of you on Spring Break have been enjoying your week off, and that those celebrating Easter have a good weekend ahead with family and friends.
THEN: SPOTIFY CEO Daniel Ek made his 8th large stock sale this year alone, divesting another $28M worth of SPOT this week, essentially selling a huge tranche every other week. He’s sold $239M of stock this year so far . . . and $778M since July 2023.
PAYDAY 🤑: NETFLIX is up on the circuit, and so are Ted & Greg’s ’24 comp packages:
Ted Sarandos: $61.9M (up from $50M)
$3M base, $12M bonus, $42.7M stock, $2.2M options, $2M “other” (mostly use of the NETFLIX PJ 🛩️)
Greg Peters: $60.3M (up from $40M)
More or less the same, except for a few less options, and much less “other”/PJ use
COMPS: Zaz came in at $52M, Iger at $41M and Andy Jassy was $40M.
CFO Spencer Neumann: $22.9M (up from $17M)
$20.5M is in stock in bonus. Far less “other”/PJ use for Spence.
CLO David Hyman: $17.3M (up from $14M)
Reed Hastings: $1.7M (down from $11M)
Reed is also nudging his separation from the company along, going from Executive Chairman to a Chairman of the Board title and non-executive director status.
27-year board member Tim Haley is also not seeking board re-election.
THEN: GOOGLE just can’t catch a break in court, with a District Court judge ruling that it illegally monopolized some ad tech markets, violating antitrust laws. GOOGLE, how could you?! 😱 This is the 2nd time GOOGLE has been called a monopoly in a year.
OH: Just gotta love the latest ringing endorsement of the actions of the Trump administration from a U.S. appellate court:
“This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
(Yes, this is related to the guy they sent to El Salvador.)
WAKEUP POLL
Lotta thoughts all over the place on Sinners . . . count me in with the 23%.
IN TODAY’S EDITION
The film biz came back early from Spring Break with a barrage of new deals, and TV development was no slouch either yesterday. 💪
NETFLIX pulled a classic overdeliver with its Q1 numbers . . . but looking at some specific exec comments on the call definitely nods to what we should be expecting from NETFLIX’s “content ambitions” in the 2nd half of the 2020s.
Take a look at who and what is likely on the horizon.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
