☀️ NETFLIX Film Gets Biggest Viewership since 'Glass Onion'
Key Taylor Swift view comps to note at DIS+ / WB's big year in directors / ESPN locks down CFP 🏈
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY March 20, 2024.
Where Selena Gomez is the latest actress to prove yet again that acting is really . . . all about the CPG business.
Her cosmetics brand RARE BEAUTY has hired financial advisors to feel out a sale or new outside investment, looking for a $2 Billion valuation according to Bloomberg.
PLUS: Longtime New Yorker columnist Andy Borowitz has joined the ol’ SUBSTACK, launching a column after leaving CONDE after the last round of cost cuts.
THEN: Lollapalooza has set SZA, Tyler the Creator and Blink 182 to headline this year’s fest in Chicago on August 1-4. Other acts include The Killers, Future x Metro Boomin, Deftones, Reneé Rapp, Kesha and more.
UH OH: Heads up FOX — this year’s biggest Super Bowl advertiser may not be making similar buys next year . . . as China’s TEMU isn’t feeling the U.S. legislative hostility toward Chinese internet-based companies these days, and is looking to reduce the U.S. % of its sales from 60% of TEMU’s total, to 30% by next year (it’s pivoting its focus to EMEA and Japan/South Korea), according to The Information.
META is offering to cut the rate of its FB/INSTA paid version almost in half to appease regulators. As a part of a GDPR-related data tracking agreement, META agreed to create a pay version to give an option for consumers who do not wish to be tracked . . . and it doesn’t sound like EU regulators were too happy with the $11/month price point.
BASICALLY: If for some reason you thought the whole TIKTOK thing wouldn’t have potential ramifications beyond just TIKTOK and the U.S. market, yeah not so much — we have a few tech & social media companies doing a lot of business 💰 in other countries, who very well may get thoughts of their own on this overall concept of foreign ownership).
ALSO: Just a note on earnings calls — APPLE got a rare ding for not being forthcoming in its comments on the Q3 2019 call. Well technically APPLE agreed to settle the allegations without admitting anything, paying a $490 Million fine (likely in money Tim has in an office drawer next to his pretty sweet highlighter collection).
It centers on allegations that APPLE management’s comments on the Nov. 2019 earnings call about not facing sales pressures in China were misleading, as just days later reports surfaced that they were cutting back production there.
According to Tim Cook’s WEIBO account, which I’m sure we all follow, he’s actually in China right now, as sales are reportedly taking a hit there once again.
HMM: GOOGLE got fined $271 Million by France for breaching some commitments to negotiate fair deals in good faith with news publishers there to use their content, in an agreement it made in 2022. Are they sure? That sounds so unlike Big Tech. 🤷♂️
OH: The meme stock to know in AI seems to be SUPER MICRO COMPUTER, which makes servers that use NVIDIA chips, and puts that stock (and pretty much all stocks) to shame this year so far. Sure it’ll last.
ERR: Think folks holding commercial real estate debt are having a fun 2024? You know it’s bad when Bloomberg is flashing the 🚨 on this, whose core issue (the CRE CLO’s here) sounds a lot like 2008 — wrapping up crappy debt in larger worthless packaging that no one now wants (albeit on a different scale).
IN THIS EDITION:
The new management at WB PICTURES has lined up quite a 12-month director run ahead, as their new MBJ/Ryan Coogler pic gets a date, and they also welcome in HBO talent royalty. Take a look at what’s afoot.
The details to note on ESPN locking down their $1.3 Billion a year College Football Playoff deal, as the Championship moves back to broadcast TV.
Another small layoff hits CAA.
BLUMHOUSE makes a fun new investment.
Taylor Swift got 4.6 Million views on DISNEY+. . . uh, is that good? Some comps to look at.
The latest in sports ratings, new sports investment banking divisions, and a lot more today so let’s get going.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
