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☆ Meta spent billions to close offices and lay people off. Now we know why.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Meta lost an astonishing $16 billion on the Metaverse last year. One big reason: Even with the Metaverse losses, Meta's margins are way, way better. Well, that's still happening: Last year, Meta lost $16.1 billion on its "Reality Labs" division, the group that brings you things like the Oculus goggles. Those losses are accelerating, too: In the last quarter of 2023, Meta lost $4.6 billion on the Metaverse. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: Meta, —, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: Meta, Service, Labs, Business

☆ The video game industry is in trouble. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewEven if you don't play video games, you probably know that video games are a really big business. And if you pay attention to the media business, you may also know that by some measures, the video game industry dwarfs Hollywood in terms of revenue . Which leads to layoffs: The games industry shed 8,500 jobs in 2022 and a record 10,500 in 2023, Ball reports. And that also affects the mobile games business, since game-makers use mobile ads to distribute their apps, and to advertise to players once they've downloaded the apps. Now, mobile game ads are more expensive and less precise, which makes it harder to find new customers and harder to make money from the customers they do have.

Persons: —, Matthew Ball, It's, We're, Ball Organizations: Service, Business, Apple, PlayStation

☆ Wait. This guy wants to spend $14 billion on … Paramount?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen says he wants to buy Paramount for $14.3 billion. Who wants to buy a big TV company these days, anyway? But investors still think it's worth less than $10 billion — meaning they don't think Allen Media is really going to end up owning Paramount. AdvertisementOne answer may simply be skepticism about Allen Media Group and its owner, TV personality-turned-entrepreneur Byron Allen. But no one, to date, has suggested that Paramount is worth anything close to $14 billion.

Persons: Byron Allen, —, Allen Media Group didn't, David Zaslav, Bob Bakish, It's, Robert Fishman dryly, Shari Redstone, David Ellison, who's, Larry Ellison, Allen Organizations: Paramount, Service, Allen Media Group, CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, Allen Media, Weather Channel, ABC, BET, Denver Broncos, Bloomberg, Street Journal, Comcast, Warner Bros Discovery, Apple, Netflix, Biden, Viacom

☆ The most-streamed show of 2023 wasn't a Netflix original – but it's still a huge win for the streamer
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Palmer Haasch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Nielsen released data on the most-streamed shows in 2023, and "Suits" came out on top. The analytics firm released its fourth annual end-of-year streaming report, detailing the top television series and movies on streaming platforms in 2023. As a caveat, Nielsen's rankings are by minutes watched — meaning that longer series have an advantage. "Bluey" on Disney+ (43.9 billion), "NCIS" on Netflix and Paramount+ (39.4 billion), "Grey's Anatomy" on Netflix (38.6 billion), and "Cocomelon" on Netflix (36.3 billion) round out the top five. AdvertisementEven the most-watched streaming-original series of the year — "Ted Lasso," with 16.9 billion minutes watched — couldn't crack the top 10 most-viewed television series.

Persons: Nielsen, —, Gilmore, Ted Lasso, Lucia Moses, Peter Kafka, it's, I've, Aaron Korsh Organizations: Netflix, Service, Globes, USA Network, Disney, Paramount, Hollywood, Nielsen

☆ Now TikTok wants you to turn your phone sideways
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

After popularizing vertical videos, TikTok is now trying to encourage horizontal ones, too. It's promising to increase views for some creators who submit horizontal videos. Now, TikTok would like you to turn your phone sideways. TikTok is telling creators that if they submit horizontal videos, the platform may "boost" their views. Which would be ironic now that YouTube is spending a lot of effort trying to promote YouTube Shorts — its horizontal TikTok clone.

Persons: It's, —, TikTok, Go90, I've, Instagram Organizations: Service, YouTube, Verizon, Facebook, New York Times, Times

☆ Apple was just forced to crack open its App Store — but the changes are already being called 'hot garbage'
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Apple just did something unthinkable: it opened up its App Store. AdvertisementApple's absolute rule over the App Store has just been broken for the first time since its launch in 2008. Developers in the EU could previously only sell apps through Apple's App Store. It means developers can simply bypass the App Store. Did... did Apple just introduce the equivalent of Unity's runtime install fee... but for all iOS app developers in the EU?!

Persons: —, Peter Kafka, Apple, Tim Sweeney, Tim Sweeny, Rachel Luna, Stringer Apple, Sweeney, Nikita Bier, Eric Seufert, Heracles Capital, Seufert, Ashley Gullen, Z7KMiWEqmD — Ashley Gullen Organizations: Apple, Service, European Union, Digital, Epic, Microsoft, Valve, Heracles, European, Unity, European Commission Locations: iPhones, EU

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Jurgen Klopp shocked the soccer world by announcing he will step down as Liverpool manager at the end of this season. Klopp has led Liverpool to a Champions League title and Premier League championship in his tenure after being hired in October 2015. He made the announcement Friday, saying he is “running out of energy.”“I will leave the club at the end of the season. “I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team. "The outside world want to use that - this decision - to laugh about it, blah, blah, blah.

Persons: — Jurgen Klopp, Klopp, “, ” Klopp, I’m, it’s, didn't, “ Let's, ”, Liverpool, Pepijn Lijnders, Peter Krawietz, Vitor Matos, ___ Organizations: LIVERPOOL, Liverpool, Champions League, Premier League, English League Locations: England, Liverpool

At Meta, in CEO Mark Zuckerberg's words, 2023 was the "year of efficiency," and the stock jumped almost 200% alongside 20,000 job cuts. AI demand is so great that some tech companies are cutting headcount in parts of the business to invest more heavily in developing AI products. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, appears at the Political Opening of the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 23, 2023. Within tech, a wide variety of companies, big and small and spanning the consumer and enterprise markets, are eliminating jobs. But, he added, there's an "enormous base" of small and mid-sized tech companies across the U.S., and that in some cases contractors, freelancers and overseas workers are being hit particularly hard.

Persons: Peter Kramer, They've, Mark Zuckerberg's, Zeile, Phil Spencer, Franziska Krug, Sundar Pichai, Bob Carrigan, Nigel Vaz, Publicis Sapient, Salesforce, Meta's, " Vaz, Levi Strauss, Bob Bakish, Tim Herbert, Herbert, there's, Vaz, Michael Bloom, Annie Palmer, Jennifer Elias Organizations: Nasdaq, CNBC, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Investors, Activision Blizzard, SAP, Microsoft Gaming, Facebook, Citigroup, Paramount, Commerce Department, Gross Locations: Cologne, Germany, U.S

☆ Did Netflix's movie boss leave because he didn't want to make so many movies?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Netflix movie boss Scott Stuber, who joined in 2017, is leaving. AdvertisementOn Monday, when Netflix announced that Scott Stuber, their longtime film boss, was leaving to start his own production company, we wondered what the backstory was. Or, more accurately, one version of the answer: Stuber, who Netflix brought in to ramp up its movie business in 2017, was sick of making so many movies. Related storiesHe also wanted to get those movies into movie theaters, with wide distribution, before they came to Netflix. Sarandos and Bajaria—Stuber's boss since last January—wanted none of that, even though Netflix loses many coveted projects over the theater issue.

Persons: Scott Stuber, —, Ted Sarandos, Bela Bajaria —, — Kim Masters, Matt Belloni, Stuber, Here's, Bela Bajaria, He'd, Chris Nolan wouldn't, Oppenheimer, Belloni, Sarandos, Oscar Organizations: Netflix, Service, — Netflix, Hollywood, Apple, Sundance, Big Bad Locations: Puck, Hollywood

☆ Holy crap, look how small and old 'The Daily Show's' audience has gotten
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

When Jon Stewart left "The Daily Show" in 2015, he had a modest but meaningful audience on cable TV. When he comes back next month, he'll find that in his absence, the show's audience has gotten much, much smaller. "The Daily Show's" overall audience has shrunk by 75% — from 2.2 million viewers a night to 570,000. And the age of the audience has skyrocketed because younger viewers are barely watching at all. On Wednesday, when I got these numbers from Nielsen, I asked someone who has spent a lot of time in late-night TV to guess the age of the Daily Show's audience today.

Persons: Jon Stewart, Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, I'm, Trevor Noah, Stewart's, I've Organizations: Nielsen, Daily, Comedy, Paramount, NBC, SNL, YouTube

☆ Jürgen Klopp to step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Ben Church | George Ramsay | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has announced that he will step down from his position at the end of the current season. Since taking over in 2015, the German has overseen one of the most successful eras in the club’s history, notably winning a Champions League title and Liverpool’s first league title in 30 years. Video Ad Feedback Jurgen Klopp's influence on Liverpool FC 02:05 - Source: CNNUnder Klopp, Liverpool transformed back into a powerhouse of English and European soccer. Under his guidance, the team won the Champions League, Premier League, FIFA Club World Cup, FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Super Cup, as well as the FA Community Shield. Chief among them is perhaps the stunning comeback against Barcelona in the semifinals of the Champions League in 2019.

Persons: Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s, “, ” Klopp, ”, Pepijn Lijnders, Peter Krawietz, Vitor Matos, Jurgen Klopp's, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio, Klopp Organizations: CNN, Liverpool, League, ” Liverpool, Liverpool FC, Klopp, Champions League, Premier League, FIFA Club, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA, FA, Tottenham, Reds, Barcelona, Chelsea Locations: Liverpool

☆ Apple is opening up its powerful App Store for the first time ever. It's not happy about it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewFor years, Apple has been insistent that it needs control over its App Store and other key parts of its iPhone ecosystem, even in the face of increasing complaints from regulators. AdvertisementSome of the big ones:Apple will allow developers to create and distribute apps without using the company's App Store. Apple's App Store now will now take a cut of up to 17%, plus another 3% fee, for payments made on apps distributed on its App Store. Those apps — along with apps distributed through Apple's App Store — will pay a fee of 0.50 euros for each download over a million. A version of the screen Apple App Store users will see if they want to pay for things without using Apple's App Store.

Persons: —, you've Organizations: Service, Apple, Business, Developers, Meta, Epic Locations: Europe

☆ Melanie, Singer Who Made a Solo Splash at Woodstock, Dies at 76
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Peter Keepnews | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Melanie, the husky-voiced singer and songwriter who was one of the surprise stars of the Woodstock music festival in 1969 and two years later had a No. 1 single with the disarmingly childlike “Brand New Key,” died on Tuesday. Her death was announced on social media by her children, Leilah, Jeordie and Beau Jarred. Neither the cause nor the location were cited. Melanie, born Melanie Safka in 1947, was only 22 but already a presence on the New York folk scene when she appeared at Woodstock.

Persons: Melanie, ”, Beau Jarred, Melanie Safka Organizations: Woodstock Locations: York, Woodstock

☆ Will Jon Stewart's TV audience come back? Here's why it may not matter.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On the other hand, maybe wondering about Stewart's TV audience isn't the right question. If TV ratings aren't important, then why would Stewart come back to a TV network — and why would a TV network care about landing Stewart? Doing a thing he's good at on Comedy Central — the thing he was good at doing on Comedy Central a decade ago — could be a real boost. AdvertisementOne theory is that Stewart's old audience, who are … old, will indeed come back to watch him. But even if they don't, the TV people I talked to argue that it won't matter that much to Comedy Central.

Persons: Jon Stewart hasn't, Stewart, —, Jon Stewart, Will, Trevor Noah, Nielsen, Noah's, buoying Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Taylor Sheridan, Tom Cruise, Stewart — Organizations: YouTube, Service, Cable, Nielsen, Comedy Central, Variety, Apple, Comedy, CBS, Paramount, Warner Bros Locations: TikTok

☆ Peacock reportedly signed up 2.8 million subscribers for its NFL playoff game
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read previewEarlier this month, NBC Universal said the NFL playoff game it streamed (mostly) exclusively on Peacock, its streaming service, was a huge success. Crucially, it didn't say how many people signed up (and paid for) Peacock to watch the game. Now we (probably) know: Peacock signed up nearly 3 million subscribers for the game. That's according to subscription tracking service Antenna, which says 2.8 million people signed up over a three-day window leading up to the January 13 game. (It says Disney+ signed up 2.5 million people on its launch day in 2019, though Disney announced 10 million signups.

Persons: —, Peacock, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Organizations: Service, NBC Universal, NFL, Business, NBC, Comcast, Disney

☆ Apple has a cheeky new plan to protect its App Store
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Courts and regulators around the world are trying to get Apple to open up its App Store. AdvertisementEuropean regulators say Apple needs to open up its App Store, and a new law that goes into effect in March is supposed to make that happen. The company will give itself the ability to review each app downloaded outside of its App Store. Apple also plans to collect fees from developers that offer downloads outside of the App Store, said people familiar with the company's plans. But it also makes an enormous amount of money from the App Store.

Persons: —, Apple, Sideloading Organizations: Apple, European Union, Service, Meta, Spotify, Street, Google

☆ Netflix is the king of streaming. But can it last?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In today's big story, we're looking at what to expect ahead of Netflix's big earnings report. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. And as other streamers scramble to figure out long-term business plans, Netflix has been crowned the winner of the streaming wars thus far. Netflix is so big it even has shows from other streamers, a sign of how ubiquitous it has become. AdvertisementGet in touchinsidertoday@insider.comTo read unlimited articles, subscribe to Business Insider.

Persons: —, It's, Scott Stuber, Stuber, Insider's Lucia Moses, That'll, dealmaking, isn't, Insider's Peter Kafka, Peter, it's, James Leynse, Griffin's, Shaw, Griffin, Gary Weathers, Morgan Stanley, Tesla, Stellantis, Tommy Parker, They're, Oscar, Zazie Beetz, Jack Quaid, They'll, Tim Spector's, Dan DeFrancesco, Diamond Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb, Hayley Hudson, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, IRS, Business, Netflix, Netflix Films, Traders, Computer Terminals, Goldman, Getty, UBS, Griffin's Citadel, LCH Investments, BlackRock, Los, Peugeot, Chrysler, Dodge, BI, Balyasny, Management, National Baseball Hall of Fame, MLB Network, Procter, Gamble, Electric, Verizon Locations: Goldman Sachs, Los Angeles, Boston, Suez, Panama, New York, San Diego, London, Edinburgh

☆ Netflix's competitors helped it land a blowout quarter by selling it some of their best stuff
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Netflix had a blowout quarter — much better than Wall Street expected. That's partly because competitors like Disney are selling their content to Netflix — a big strategy reversal. That's much better than Netflix or Wall Street had expected. But that was when Wall Street didn't care much about streaming profit. Now it does, so Netflix's competitors have to live with the fact that they're arming their biggest rival.

Persons: —, It's, Mario, Young Sheldon, they'd, you've Organizations: Netflix, Wall, Disney, Service, AMC, Comcast, Nintendo, Warner Bros, HBO, Brothers, Paramount

☆ Why Netflix just made a $5 billion pro wrestling deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Now it's in "live sports entertainment" via a $5 billion pro wrestling deal with TKO. One big reason the deal could work: Netflix wasn't in the ads business. That's when a new $5 billion, 10-year deal with TKO Group will kick in and bring Raw, the weekly WWE pro wrestling show currently airing on Comcast's USA network, to Netflix in the US and other countries. Now it's here, in what appears to be the biggest licensing deal Netflix has ever made. And this deal is a rights deal, not an outright purchase.

Persons: —, they'll, Comcast's, . Peacock, Chris Rock, That's, it's Organizations: Netflix, Service, WWE, USA, ESPN

☆ Corporate America's loyalty problem is on display in Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In today's big story, we're looking at how there's no more loyalty in corporate America between employers and their workers. Business Insider's Aki Ito, who has covered workplace trends better than anyone, dove into the deterioration of loyalty in corporate America. The best example of the deterioration of loyalty in corporate America these days is in Big Tech. AdvertisementOne year later, Big Tech's layoffs are back and could become the new normal, Business Insider's Peter Kafka writes. However, the best representation of the growing employee-employer chasm in Big Tech is at Google.

Persons: —, hustleharder, Insider's Aki Ito, they're, Insider's Peter Kafka, Kali Hays, BI's Eugene Kim, Ashley Stewart, Long, Sundar Pichai, BI's Hasan Chowdhury, Brian Moynihan, Moynihan, Laura Labovich, Asher, Emerson, Bill O'Leary, there's, Frederic J . Brown, haven't, Christian Dior, Dan DeFrancesco, Diamond Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb Organizations: Service, Big, Workers, Amazon MGM Studios, Big Tech, Google, OsakaWayne, Investment, New, Bank of America's, Fed, Washington, Getty, Meta, OpenAI Mafia, Shoppers, Spotify, Couture, United Airlines, The, Business Locations: America, Big Tech, Big, Bethesda, That's, Paris, New York, San Diego, London

☆ Why did the powerful head of Netflix's movie studio just leave?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

If you do work in movies, you almost certainly have heard of him: He's the guy in charge of Netflix's movie division, and for years, Netflix's movie division made a lot of movies, at a time when lots of studios were shrinking. Now that's changing, and now Stuber isn't going to be at Netflix anymore: Netflix says he's leaving to start his own media company. And a few months after that, when Stuber's name was floated as a possible contender to run Amazon's movie business, he didn't seem long for the place. Now, Stuber said, Netflix was going to cut its output in half so it could make things better things. Asked for comment, a Netflix spokesperson supplied quotes from Stuber, Sarandos, and Bajaria saying nice things about each other.

Persons: Scott Stuber's, Stuber, Ryan Reynolds, Martin, Scott, Reed Hastings, Ted Sarandos, Greg Peters, Bela Bajaria, We'd Organizations: Netflix, Business, Universal, Stuber, Hollywood, Variety Locations: Hollywood, Stuber

☆ This one chart shows how Netflix has won the streaming wars
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Netflix is crushing its competitors when it comes to "churn." Starz has the worst churn rate, according to Antenna data shared with BI; Netflix has the best. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, They're Organizations: Netflix, Starz, BI, Service, Business

☆ RIP Sports Illustrated. And RIP, magazines.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewSports Illustrated used to be an American cultural touchstone. And sad for a certain kind of media person — like me — who remembers when Sports Illustrated was Really Important. AdvertisementFor people who don't remember that era: In a pre-internet world, Sports Illustrated was many things. In recent years, you were much more likely to read about a scandal or stupid controversy at Sports Illustrated than you were to actually read Sports Illustrated. So feel free to pour one out for Sports Illustrated — both the idea and the actual place where people worked.

Persons: —, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Don DeLillo, Gilbert Carrasquillo, who've, it's, Condé Nast, Steve Jobs, DotDash Meredith, Conde Organizations: Service, Sports Illustrated, Business, Authentic Brands, Group, Brands, Sports, Inc, Vogue, Apple, Pitchfork, Google, Facebook Locations: American

☆ Can you watch porn on an Apple Vision Pro? Yes and no.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Apple's Vision Pro goes on sale today. You can still watch porn on a Vision Pro via a web browser. I've asked Apple PR to confirm that the guidelines will extend to apps made specifically for the Vision Pro. (This is why the fact that neither Netflix nor YouTube are making Vision Pro apps is not a big deal — if you want to watch Netflix or YouTube on a Vision Pro, you can do it on a browser). But don't expect to see porn that fully exploits the capabilities of the Vision Pro anytime soon.

Persons: —, Apple, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, Jobs, I've, it's Organizations: Vision, Service, Apple, Netflix, YouTube

☆ Streaming music is a brutal business. Just ask Spotify.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But streaming music is a really, really hard business to make money in. That's why Spotify has spent so much time and money trying to do things beyond streaming music. These are some of the ventures Spotify has bet on to expand beyond its core business — selling streaming music subscriptions. But the main takeaway you ought to get from reading about Spotify's attempt to do something beyond selling music subscriptions is this one: Spotify really, really wants to do stuff beyond selling music subscriptions. AdvertisementBecause just selling music subscriptions is a really hard business.

Persons: —, they're Organizations: Spotify, Service, Comedy Central, ESPN, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Sony, Warner, Merlin

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