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☆ Rupert Murdoch is exploring the rejoining of Fox and News Corp into one single company
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rupert Murdoch is considering bringing together Fox Corp and News Corp. Late Friday, News Corp announced it had formed a special committee to begin looking at a potential combination with Fox, following letters from Murdoch and the Murdoch Family Trust. While the television and film assets were renamed under a private company called 21st Century Fox, according to The Journal. The latter was eventually renamed as Fox Corp, and now owns Fox News, Fox Broadcast network, local television stations, and the Tubi streaming service. In May 2021, the younger Murdoch told Insider that "it's a terrific job."

☆ 'Top Gun: Maverick' studio Skydance just scored a $400 million funding led by KKR. Meet 16 private equity players betting big on Hollywood now.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Elaine Low | Claire Atkinson | Madeline Berg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Private equity firms are investing more deeply in film and TV content companies, even amid a possible recession. Private equity accounted for 42% of deals over the last year vs. 24% in 2018, according to PwC. KKR just led a $400 million funding round for Skydance, giving the "Top Gun: Maverick" studio a $4 billion valuation. And earlier in July, Swedish firm EQT invested in UTA, which makes the private equity player the largest outside shareholder of the talent agency. And KKR is continuing to make big bets: It just led a $400 million funding round in "Top Gun: Maverick" studio Skydance that sent the production company's valuation north of $4 billion.

☆ Jeffrey Katzenberg is done with media after 'riding that Quibi rocket ship into the ground.' Here's why he's betting on cybersecurity and VPNs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Katzenberg, a co-founder of DreamWorks and former chairman of Walt Disney Studios, founded another high-profile media venture, Quibi, in 2018. Jeffrey Katzenberg: Our areas of focus when we started were software as a service, best-in-class digital technology, and consumer technology. And then we recognized that digital media wasn't actually going to be successful for us, or frankly for anybody else. What's your outlook at the moment for traditional media companies, big tech, and streaming? What's the right sequencing, what's the right windowing, where's the greatest value creation coming for all parties involved — that's the testing that's going on.

☆ 14 top private equity firms investing in sports, as a swell of funding enters the sector and helps teams, leagues, and stadiums build businesses beyond game day
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Colin Salao | Claire Atkinson | Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Private equity firms are investing more in sports teams, leagues, and other ancillary businesses. From Apollo to Sixth Street, here are 14 private equity firms betting on sports. A few factors are drawing private equity firms to the sector. And sports betting has hastily altered the landscape, opening a new sector for media, leagues, teams, and other businesses to tap. Below are 14 private equity firms — listed alphabetically by company — that have made prominent investments in sports through 2022.

☆ Meet 9 top media bankers transforming the M&A landscape as streaming video reshapes entertainment
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

2022 kicked off with some huge transactions, from AT&T's WarnerMedia spin-off to private equity scooping up content players. Company valuations are set to fall back to earth in 2023, and private equity and strategics are lying in wait. Not surprisingly, WarnerMedia was at the heart of the richest transaction fee waterfall for big banks in 2022. Joshua Grode's Legendary Entertainment, backed by Dalian Wanda and now Apollo Group, which took a stake in the studio in January. There's lots of dry powder still in private equity, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, co-founder and co-president at investment bank Moelis, told Insider.

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav faces 3 key challenges as financial headwinds disrupt his strategy and threaten his promises to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman crystallized the daunting task ahead for Zaslav and WBD in his August 5 report "Reality First. The honeymoon was short-lived," said one senior Hollywood insider. It turns out there are five, housing some 40,000 employees globally: Warner Bros., HBO Max, the Turner entertainment channel business, CNN, and Discovery. The WBD insider said there isn't a rush to hire a new chief and that the company will continue to meet people. Under the ownership of AT&T, WarnerMedia's financials were buried in its parent's spreadsheets — now as a pure-play entertainment company, Warner Bros.

☆ Amazon Prime Video's former marketing chief outlines 'Thursday Night Football' plans and how the company 'listens to culture' to connect with customers
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-08 | by ( Erica Berenstein | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon Prime Video will make a huge marketing push behind marquee series "Rings of Power." Former marketing chief Ukonwa Ojo told Insider about how the company uses data connect with audiences. Amazon does deep analysis of user comments, she said, for clues about what viewers care about — Prime Video's marketing team also factors in the cultural mood. You need data that moves at the pace of culture. They're going to need to be transported to a completely different world — so world-building shows — and they're also going to need some joy and some levity and some laughter.

☆ Hulu will lose top NBC shows like 'SNL' and 'The Voice' in September, one of the key challenges ahead for streamer chief Joe Earley, according to insiders
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-10 | by ( Natalie Jarvey | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Disney executive Joe Earley was named president of Hulu in January. "This is the best outcome for them," said a former Hulu executive, noting that Earley's "superpower" is navigating the type of complicated internal conflicts that have plagued the streamer's leaders. Under Earley, Hulu will have "an advocate," the former executive said. Many in Hollywood believe Disney hasn't taken Hulu international because it doesn't want to further boost the platform's overall valuation. It will also be Earley's job to redefine the Hulu brand once it becomes 100% owned by Disney.

☆ CBS News is mulling a shakeup to its anchor lineup
▼ + stars: | 2021-09-25 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The talks are leading to speculation about potential changes for CBS star anchors Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell. CBS News is mulling changes to its talent lineup. One plugged-in TV executive hears that CBS is looking to create a broader or cross-company deal for King, though. CBS News is also circling NBC talent including MSNBC host Brian Williams and "Today" co-anchor Craig Melvin. A CBS executive shot down speculation, saying: "No one on that list is moving forward into an anchor job here, and Bill Whitaker already has one of the best anchor jobs in the business."

☆ We identified the 125 people and institutions most responsible for Donald Trump's rise to power and his norm-busting behavior that tested the boundaries of the US government and its institutions
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-26 | by ( Darren Samuelsohn | Tom Lobianco | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Insider compiled this database of the 125 people and institutions essential to Donald Trump's rise to power and his norm-busting presidential behavior. Listed are friends, family, lawyers, business partners, donors, staff, media executives, and social-media influencers. Sort the list by their relationships with Trump, as well as when and where they entered the 45th president's orbit. It was a whirlwind unlike anything in US history, hence our attempt to build a searchable database to better understand the people and organizations that helped make Trump Trump. Insider sought comments from those included about what it meant to them that their personal legacy would forever be connected to Trump.

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