☀️ Small to Smallest: How Studios Size Up Post-Splits
SPOTIFY returns to a loss / SONY PICS top exec changes / Eddie Murphy as Clouseau
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 Tuesday, July 29, 2025.
Where uh, you may want to bring a little extra cash to Venice for the festival at the end of next month — I think it’s gotten more expensive.
Jeff Bezos has sold well over $5B of his AMAZON stock holdings over the past month since his wedding, including the sale of $690M on his wedding day alone (Italian vendors and their 30-day invoice pay windows, amirite? 🙄). Good thing he had that AMAZON Thursday Night Football T-shirt handy for the “something blue” wedding day gift.
But, maybe that whole “Please send wedding registry gifts to these 3 non-profits” wasn’t the best way to go (for the record, he also sold $13.5B in stock last year).
AND: Ryan Reynolds & George Dewey’s MAXIMUM EFFORT has kinda become the go to in crisis comms — they were the ones behind the Gwyneth ad for ASTRONOMER AI, and of course also did that PELOTON spot after Mr. Big died on the bike, and for PELOTON’s disastrous “Peloton Wife” ad blowback as well.
AH: MSNBC will hold its MSNBC-Con MSNBCLIVE ’25: This Is Who We Are fan event on Sat. Oct. 11 at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Tix are $100.
PLUS: Meet the Parents 4 is called Focker in-Law. The comments section is down below.
THEN: RAY BAN maker ESSILOR LUXOTICA said that sales for its META smartglasses 3x’d in H1 2025 YoY . . . but gave no numbers to show what that looks like, always a sign of proud success.
OH: Another golfer has surpassed how much Scottie Scheffler has made so far this year. I’ll let you guess which league he plays in (somehow, he didn’t make the Happy Gilmore casting cut), but I’m sure that $22M of Saudi golf money so far this year can buy Joaquin Niemann a helluva PR team to raise his profile.
He competed in the Masters and PGA Championship, but did not make the cut in the U.S. Open and
BritishOpen Championship.
YUP: The Texas man arrested for stalking Caitlin Clark got the maximum 2.5 years in prison, including about 200 days of time served.
SO: Here are your fall premiere dates for NBC series, including Oct. 4 for SNL and Tuesday, Oct. 21 for the NBA (teams TBA).
FOX’s premiere dates are here.
THANKS!: To PARAMOUNT for the invite to check out The Naked Gun premiere in NYC last night, featuring a very funny and I’m gonna say most extensive rapid-fire back and forth on the Black Eyed Peas in big screen history.
FINALLY: It may only be the end of July, but the It’s Not You, It’s Me award for 2025 definitely goes to WBD — who not only realized that our old boyfriend was better with the HBO MAX rewind, but now has also done so with . . . well, the entire company.
Thus, the WB and the D are getting their own condos in the impending 2026 split, and going back to, uh, the names they essentially had before: WARNER BROS. and DISCOVERY GLOBAL.
DISCOVERY gets custody of the TURNER business, but WBD still gets custody for all of the ballgames on streaming. Enjoy those well-earned multi-millions 💰 in C-suite bonuses for a job . . . undone!
Below, I break down the new 💰 size rankings for Hollywood studios to start putting your eyes on come 2026 when they all split apart, and what that could portend for more dealmaking.
Ok fine, not all studios are fracturing — but there’s a lotta change ahead in how big our beloved corporate overlords will be in a year’s time, and this is before we know WTF PARAMOUNT is gonna do.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
