Peter Kingsley

Warner Bros. Discovery faces setback in Q2 earnings https://ift.tt/43gBqcL Warner Bros. Discovery saw a notable drop of over 11% in premarket trading due to underperforming second-quarter earnings. The primary cause was a surprising $9.1 billion impairment charge associated with its TV networks unit, affecting the company’s profitability substantially and lowering the earnings outlook for the upcoming year. This development led investors to revalue their shares, resulting in a rapid sell-off and widespread concern among the investment community. An additional $2.1 billion costs related to the company’s merger brought the total write-downs and charges for the past quarter to $11.2 billion, exacerbating the company’s financial burden and increasing its reported quarterly losses. The company now faces a difficult task of reducing these expenses, holding its market position, and maintaining shareholder confidence, despite the initial optimism about the merger driving positive growth. Despite these setbacks, CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels remain confident in the company’s potential for recovery and growth. They assure shareholders of their commitment to overcoming the current challenges through strategic planning and transparent operation. Their optimism is supported by a recent upswing in the company’s streaming sector, with around 4 million new subscribers this quarter, indicating a shift towards more flexible, on-demand viewing. Contrarily, the traditional television arm of Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q2 earnings stumble Discovery has struggled to keep up, suggesting an ongoing shift in consumer preferences – a reality the company plans to address by enhancing its digital presence. The second-quarter earnings report showed a revenue of $9.7 billion, falling short of the projected $10.12 billion, due largely to the massive impairment charge. However, the company’s European sales grew by 12% and its online sales increased by 8%. Facing these obstacles, the company is committed to improving efficiency, refining their forecasting and budgeting, and leveraging its substantial financial resources for growth. The direct-to-consumer segment added 3.6 million Max users over the quarter, almost doubling streaming advertisement profits. But, a 10% drop in network advertising revenue in Q2 followed NBA’s shift to Amazon and Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Despite this setback, market experts are cautious but hopeful as they project Warner Bros. Discovery’s second quarter EBITDA. The post Warner Bros. Discovery faces setback in Q2 earnings appeared first on KillerStartups. Business News via KillerStartups https://ift.tt/monyTM5 August 9, 2024 at 03:32PM

How David Zaslav can save Warner Bros. Discovery as the cable bundle collapses, according to a top media analyst https://ift.tt/xM6cEmP Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is in a tough spot, but success is possible. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Wall Street is souring on David Zaslav after Warner Bros. Discovery's discouraging earnings report. The media conglomerate is suffering as cord-cutting occurs at a faster pace. Media analyst Tim Nollen suggests a path for Zaslav to turn his troubled firm around. David Zaslav was already on Hollywood's bad side, and now he's losing Wall Street's support. Some analysts now say the embattled media executive should break up Warner Bros. Discovery, but there may be ways to engineer a turnaround without selling off assets or doing mass layoffs. Patience is running thin for Zaslav, as WBD shares hit an all-time low on Monday and are now down more than 70% since the merger that created the company in April 2022. The latest wave of panic stems from WBD's ugly Q2 earnings report, as its revenue fell 6.2% from 2023 and adjusted profits tumbled 16.5%. To make matters worse, Zaslav & Co. revealed last week that they took a $9.1 billion writedown on their TV networks, essentially admitting that they drastically overvalued those assets. WBD wasn't alone: Paramount soon followed suit by slashing the value of its TV assets by $6 billion. Those moves show just how rapidly the cable TV business is unraveling. Over 8 million households have cut the cord in the last two years, according to Macquarie Research, and quit rates are accelerating. The firm found that pay TV subscriptions plunged about 8.5% in each of the first two quarters of 2024, which helps explain the 5% drop in TV advertising revenue last quarter. Even more worrying for media companies is that streaming isn't replacing pay TV's profits. WBD's direct-to-consumer segment still loses money, and its streaming revenue actually declined 6% from last year — even though Max added 3.7 million subscribers. And while Disney and Paramount reached streaming profitability in Q2, investors didn't reward them for it. "Warner Bros. and Paramount are in the most trouble because they still have the highest exposure to the bundle — aside from Fox — and the biggest alternative bets in streaming, which are not really working out for them that well yet," Tim Nollen, Macquarie's top media analyst, recently told Business Insider. While Nollen isn't bullish on WBD, he thinks there are ways Zaslav can preserve his brainchild. He outlined four such paths, though success is far from guaranteed. A 4-part game plan for Zaslav Make Max an international hit WBD's flagship streaming service will determine its future, for better or worse. Max has underwhelmed since its rebrand last May, due to an elevated cancellation rate compared to its peers and modest subscriber growth. WBD's streaming business, which includes Discovery+, has added 11 million customers in the last tw...

Roku’s new Backdrops feature is blatantly inspired by Samsung’s Frame TV https://ift.tt/9ztYg3I Image: Roku Roku is the latest company to lean into the trend of throwing artwork onto your TV screen, offering viewers some serene relaxation time when they’re not actively watching something. Today the company announced a new feature / app called Backdrops, and it all sounds very familiar. Rolling out first to Roku-branded TVs and third-party Roku TV sets (and then to Roku streaming devices “later in the fall”), Backdrops features “a catalog that includes famous classics, wide-ranging museum collections, abstract designs, and more.” Here’s more on what to expect: Viewers can also learn more about the artwork, including artist name, year it was created, and a brief description for each image, even cycle in photos from their personal collection to display on the largest screen in their home. Whether wanting to relive that unforgettable sunsets captured or showcase a favorite piece of art, the choice is in the hands of the viewer. Image: Roku Credit where it’s due, Samsung’s The Frame sparked this whole phenomenon, which has since been copied by Hisense, TCL, and other TV makers. Amazon has also brought an “Ambient Experience” to its Fire TV platform for a similar effect. At least Roku is recognizing it’s a little late to this game with the silly, over-the-top video up top that describes Backdrops as “revolutionary.” There’s more to The Frame’s success than the artwork alone, of course; the TV has customizable bezels and a matte screen finish that makes the whole effect more convincing. But fear not: Backdrops won’t be replacing Roku City as the default screensaver on Roku’s platform. The two function a bit differently. Backdrops can be triggered manually, or you can set an artwork collection to display whenever a Roku TV is in its “off” state. Bu if you doze off on the couch, you’ll still wake up to Roku’s signature side-scrolling metropolis screensaver. That’s precious ad space, after all. Business News via The Verge https://ift.tt/T5cV4rn September 4, 2024 at 01:05PM

Warner Bros launches Beetlejuice Roblox experience with virtual box office https://ift.tt/WUVnX6o GamesBeat is excited to partner with Lil Snack to have customized games just for our audience! We know as gamers ourselves, this is an exciting way to engage through play with the GamesBeat content you have already come to love. Start playing games here.  Warner Bros announced today that it is bringing the world of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to Roblox with the Escape the Afterlife experience, developed by Sawhorse. This spooky experience also includes an integrated virtual Fandango box office, so that users can get tickets for the movie from within Roblox. This is a first-of-its-kind integration for Roblox as the brand experiments with commerce. The virtual Fandango box office is also clearly marked and opens today. The experience takes place in the Afterlife lobby, where players can see characters and scenes from both the original Beetlejuice and its sequel. It also features the Waiting Room and Adam Maitland’s model of Winter River. Escape the Afterlife will also be linked for a time with four popular Roblox experiences: Barry’s Prison Run, Carry a Friend!, Escape a Running Head, and The Floor is Lava. After playing of those, the player can choose to jump to the Afterlife lobby and purchase tickets. Cameron Curtis, VP of marketing at Warner Bros, said in a statement, “We are always looking to engage audiences and amplify our reach in new and exciting ways; this first-of-its-kind collaboration with Roblox and Fandango for Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice allows for just that. By leveraging the vast Roblox creator community, we are not only able to connect with existing Beetlejuice fans, but also have the opportunity to reach new audiences who are being introduced to him for the first time. And we are thrilled to be the first studio to test ticketing on the platform.” Stephanie Latham, Roblox’s VP of global partnerships, said, “As we continue to test commerce, offering an opportunity to purchase tickets within the movie-inspired immersive environment is a way to explore a new consumer category and further engage users who are looking to purchase different things. This is just the beginning as our vision is to enable brands and creators to turn their brand affinity and consumer engagement on Roblox into a seamless shopping experience for their new and existing audiences.” GB Daily Stay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox daily By subscribing, you agree to VentureBeat's Terms of Service. Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here. An error occured. Business News via VentureBeat https://ift.tt/9WqfX6R August 5, 2024 at 09:53AM

Nazara acquires Fusebox Games for $27.2M https://ift.tt/XZ3bfs6 GamesBeat is excited to partner with Lil Snack to have customized games just for our audience! We know as gamers ourselves, this is an exciting way to engage through play with the GamesBeat content you have already come to love. Start playing games here.  Nazara Technologies, a publicly traded gaming and sports media company in India, has acquired Fusebox Games in the United Kingdom for $27.2 million. The all-cash deal by Mumbai, India-based Nazara will boost the company’s presence in the core gaming segment. Back in July, Nazara said it had acquired a 48.4% stake in Paper Boat Apps to drive a global expansion of Kiddopia, a children’s app. And for the second quarter of 2024, Nazara was ranked as the No. 8 acquirer of video game companies according to Drake Star Partners. Fusebox publishes a successful interactive story game Love Island and is developing new games based on popular global TV intellectual properties. In 2023, the company reported revenues of $10.4 million with an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $1.4 million. Lil Snack & GamesBeat GamesBeat is excited to partner with Lil Snack to have customized games just for our audience! We know as gamers ourselves, this is an exciting way to engage through play with the GamesBeat content you have already come to love. Start playing games now! During CY24, Fusebox has demonstrated strong growth with year-to-date revenues of $13.9 million and EBITDA of $4 million. Fusebox operates IP driven interactive story games that are primarily monetized through in-app purchases, which accounted for about 92% of the total revenues in YTD July’24. The games primarily target developed markets including U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand among others. The company has 30 employees primary based in the United Kingdom. Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara, said in a statement, “We see a large opportunity in building an IP based global gaming business that benefits from our core base in India where we can support global studios through enhanced user acquisition strategies, data analytics, live operations and new initiatives such as implementing our in-house AI playbook. Many of our existing IP’s are good examples of this strategy and we are happy to join forces with the talented team at Fusebox as we continue to build Nazara into a global gaming company of meaningful scale” Nazara is India’s only listed gaming and esports company, with majority ownership of several leading gaming and esports brands with presence in India, the U.S., and other global markets. Nazara Technologies worked with Jerome Merchant + Partners as legal advisors, KPMG as financial due diligence advisors and Taxedge as tax advisors for this transaction. Fusebox Games used Aream & Co and Level Up Partners as financial advisors and Osborne Clark as legal advisors. VB Dail...

Take-Two reports flat bookings of $1.2B for June quarter https://ift.tt/f1y5pCc GamesBeat is excited to partner with Lil Snack to have customized games just for our audience! We know as gamers ourselves, this is an exciting way to engage through play with the GamesBeat content you have already come to love. Start playing games here.  Take-Two Interactive Software reported that its bookings in the June quarter were $1.22 billion, or flat compared to $1.20 billion a year ago. In after-hours trading, Take-Two stock is down 1.2% to $137 a share. The New York company said the bookings were in line with expectations and it remains highly confident in its path forward. We would note that path includes Grand Theft Auto VI, which is still on schedule to ship in the fall of 2025. Take-Two said it achieved solid first quarter results by engaging players with exciting new game releases and content updates, while maintaining a focus on efficiency. The company has completed about 600 layoffs and cost reductions aimed at ensuring that efficiency. Meanwhile, it says that its core franchises are healthy. “We achieved solid first quarter results by engaging our players with exciting new game releases and content updates, while also maintaining our focus on efficiency. Our management team remains confident in our path forward and we are reiterating our Net Bookings outlook for the year of $5.55 to $5.65 billion,” said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, in a statement. “We are highly optimistic about our future — our core franchises remain vibrant, our teams are hard at work on the most ambitious development pipeline in our history, and we are evaluating continually new growth opportunities that have the ability to enhance our business model and financial profile. As we pursue our strategic priorities, we expect to achieve sequential increases in net bookings in Fiscal 2026 and 2027, which we believe will drive long-term shareholder value.” Lil Snack & GamesBeat GamesBeat is excited to partner with Lil Snack to have customized games just for our audience! We know as gamers ourselves, this is an exciting way to engage through play with the GamesBeat content you have already come to love. Start playing games now! Grand Theft Auto V, launched in 2013, has sold over 200 million units to date. That’s the same number that the company mentioned last quarter so it’s not clear how many sold in the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2024. “Our teams are hard at work on the most ambitious development pipeline in our company’s history, and we remain focused on new growth opportunities to enhance our business model and financial profile,” Take-Two said. Recurrent consumer spending was flat for the period and accounted for 83% of net bookings, which includes all money that came in for the quarter. By contrast, revenues don’t include figures such as subscription or in-app purchase revenue that players will use in future quarters. Mobile increased mi...

Why Apple should buy Warner Bros. Discovery. No, seriously. https://ift.tt/x1H0wTr Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/BI Come on, Tim Cook! Let's do a deal: Time to buy not just HBO but Warner Bros. Studios and everything else. You want to build up your services business, and Apple TV Plus isn't doing it. Why not buy a media business that already works? Yes, there are some issues. But this is way more doable now than it ever has been. The TV industry is in free fall. So I've got a not-so modest proposal: Time for Apple to jump in with both feet, and buy HBO — along with the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery, the company that owns the network. I know, I know: "Apple should buy X, Y or Z" is a long-running piece of techworld fanfic. And it almost never happens. Yes, Apple bought Beats for $3 billion 10 years ago, which remains a very weird acquihire. But that's been about it. But now I think Apple should spend real money and buy WBD. Not just HBO, but also Warner Bros. Studios, along with CNN and a slew of cable channels in terminal decline. The why here is pretty simple. Apple has been interested in HBO in the past and has already spent many billions trying to build its own studio and streaming service — with mixed results. They could keep doing that, or they could just buy a company that already has a successful studio and streaming service. And then do … nothing. At least not right away. It might be tempting for Apple to try to insert MacBooks and AirPods Maxes into HBO shows — the way it does with Apple TV Plus programming — but the right call would be to step back and let the people who already run HBO and Warner Bros. keep doing what they're doing — making stuff lots of people like, watch, and pay for. And, crucially, to keep selling all of it to anyone, whether they're paying to watch this stuff on an iPhone, in a theater, or on good ol' cable TV. The money part is also reasonably straightforward. WBD's stock has been steadily getting cheaper since the day Discovery and the company formerly known as Time Warner mergred in April 2022. But now that it's clear that this is a failed merger, it's on sale for more than two-thirds off, with a market cap of $17 billion. Throw in $40 billion in debt, and you're looking at an enterprise value of about $60 billion. So maybe, after a premium, the whole thing costs Apple $70 billion? That is: What Microsoft paid for Activision a few years ago? That's very, very doable for a company worth more than $3 trillion that produces annual profits of $100 billion. And then, boom: Apple's services business — the part of the company Apple needs to keep growing while its hardware business slows — instantly grows by nearly 50%. Would there be issues with regulators? Absolutely, no matter who wins this fall's election. It's one thing for a tech company to buy a minor studio and 50% of the James Bond franchise. It's quite another to hoover up a conglomerate that owns CNN, a ton of other TV ...

Analysts may talk up a maturation of the streaming market -- as well as possible slowdown of overall yearly content production -- but long term there will always be a need for new programs and movies

The "Underconsumption Core" TikTok Trend, Explained https://ift.tt/4rwJ2He When users started buying backpacks for their Stanley cups, trend of people shopping too much and sharing their hauls on TikTok seemed to take its final breath. Instead of hoarding piles of makeup, filling their fridges with snacks and perfectly organized drinks, or buying a new wardrobe every season, the people of the internet have started to realize that enough is enough, so much so that some are participating in what’s been dubbed “underconsumption core.” With over 45 million views, the underconsumption trend is all about, well, under-consuming. The idea is to use what you already have — often until it falls apart — to buy less, spend less, and appreciate more. While shopping hauls are still hanging on, the more sustainably-minded influencers have been showing off their tiny closets, thrifted furniture, and worn-in shoes. In a viral TikTok posted July 16, @dainty.nugs revealed the torn sneakers she’s worn every day for two years, the skincare products she cuts open to scoop out every last drop, and the off-brand water bottle she totes around. “Not everything needs to be aesthetic,” she says in the video. “If it works, it works.” Creator @karishmaclimategirl is also on the underconsumption train. She packs snacks in old yogurt containers, takes public transit, and stays dry in the rain with an umbrella she got at a thrift store. Instead of buying new Tupperware or pristine outdoor gear, she uses what she already has or gets it secondhand. That’s the underconsumption way. What Does Underconsumption Mean? — TikTok/@karishmaclimategirl On an app where you’re so used to swiping through glam apartments and homes with trendy decor, it’s refreshing to see regular spaces filled with regular things, like a kitchen with an old table and chairs, a shower with only one shampoo, or a living room with a secondhand couch. The underconsumption trend applies to homes, clothes, and makeup, as well as how you spend your time. Instead of getting your nails done every week, you might do them yourself with a trusty bottle of polish. Instead of signing up for workout classes, you might use the gym at your apartment complex. And instead of buying a coffee every morning, you could simply make it at home. These ideas are nothing new, especially when it comes to saving money, but what is new is the length to which some people go to under consume. One of the best examples comes from @shelbizleee, whose popular account focuses on consumerism and how to be more mindful. — TikTok/@shelbizleee The creator still has an iPhone 12, as she refuses to update “just because.” Most of her makeup is de-potted from old palettes. She has a “one in, one out” rule for buying new skincare products. The mirror she uses to get ready is broken and seven years old. And, her only beach towel is the one she got at her Kindergarten graduation decades earlier. In her comments, people seemed inspired...

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang didn’t get hurt in the selloff—he sold $360 million in stock before it declined https://ift.tt/oPEHt3s On a near-daily basis, billionaire entrepreneur Jensen Huang is selling hundreds of thousands of shares in his company, Nvidia. Huang’s selloff strategy was put in place in early spring, and it has meant the CEO avoided being hit as hard now the value of his chip-maker company has begun to fall. For example, in late June Nvidia’s shares sat pretty as the darling of Wall Street, valued at approximately $124 a share. In July, this leapt to a near-all-time high of $134. 91, before beginning to dip in the second half of the month. Currently, Nvidia shares are down to approximately $100—a benchmark it last reached in May of this year. But Huang’s portfolio strategy meant he began selling his equity in regular blocks of 120,000 shares each when the company’s price was high. In July alone Huang offloaded approximately $323 million in Nvidia stock—and near $361 million if one counts the first week of August. Huang also sold his usual 120,000 shares the day Nvidia’s share price hit an all-time high of $135.58 in June, when the market value of the sale hit $16.08 million per an SEC filing seen by Fortune. However, across some 25 SEC filings viewed by Fortune between early July and the time of writing, the values of sales of these blocks of 120,000 shares oscillated anywhere between $11.98 million and $16.09 million. From July to the time of writing, the average value of Huang��s daily sale was $14.44 million. Nvidia declined to comment when reached by Fortune. World’s richest lost $134 billion While Huang’s timing is fortuitous in some aspects, it was laid out well in advance of any fluctuations in Nvidia’s stock price. A regulatory filing seen by Fortune reveals that Huang announced he had a Rule 10b5-1 trading agreement on March 14, with sales possible through to March 31, 2025. The arrangement means executives like Huang—and any other business insiders—buy or sell their company stock on a predetermined schedule without violating insider trading laws. Huang wasn’t the only Nvidia exec to confirm a Rule 10b5-1 trading agreement in the April filing. Debora Shoquist, executive vice president of operations, Colette M. Kress, executive vice president and CFO, and Ajay K. Puri, executive vice president of worldwide field operations also disclosed they similar plans. And while the offload of Huang’s stocks are worth millions on a daily basis, that hasn’t insulated the CEO entirely from the faltering of the market in recent weeks. At the peak of his net worth in June—corresponding with Nvidia’s share price peak—Huang was worth $119 billion per the Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. Less than two months later that net worth has fallen to $88.4 billion, placing him at 15th on the world’s richest rankings. That said, the bulk of Huang’s worth is still made up of shares in the California-based chip giant he worked ...

PlayStation ceases Concord sales, offers refunds after anemic launch https://ift.tt/EneRg7A GamesBeat Next is connecting the next generation of video game leaders. And you can join us, coming up October 28th and 29th in San Francisco! Take advantage of our buy one, get one free pass offer. Sale ends this Friday, August 16th. Join us by registering here.  PlayStation and Firewalk Studios announced today that they are taking their recently released multiplayer game Concord offline. The game launched on August 23, and it’ll go offline a mere two weeks later, on September 6. According to Firewalk, they’ll use the time after the game goes offline to “explore options” for it. PlayStation ceases all sales of the game at that time and players will receive refunds. Firewalk Studios announced the decision in a blog post on the PlayStation website, with game director Ryan Ellis saying that, while some aspects of the game resonated with players, “our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended… We’ll keep you updated and thank you again to all the Freegunners who have joined us in the Concord galaxy.” Ellis doesn’t say what the options Firewalk will explore are, but says they hope to “better reach our players.” Concord launched simultaneously on PC and PlayStation, and according to SteamDB, its highest concurrent player count was 697 on that platform. In a report from IGN, GameDiscover.co’s Simon Carless estimated that the game had sold only about 25,000 copies — 10,000 on PC and 15,000 on PlayStation. Whether these figures are due to the game’s $40 price point, the saturation of live service market or the competition from Black Myth: Wukong is a matter of speculation. The rest of the article details how users can get refunds for their game on different platforms. Players on all platforms will receive their refunds automatically if they purchased the game digitally, while physical refunds will go through the retailer. Players no longer have access to the game once they receive a refund. GB Daily Stay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox daily By subscribing, you agree to VentureBeat's Terms of Service. Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here. An error occured. Business News via VentureBeat https://ift.tt/y3eHVx7 September 3, 2024 at 09:51AM