The board room and executive suite drama at Paramount Global escalated on Monday, with Bob Bakish leaving his role as CEO and a trio of executives taking over just days before an exclusive negotiating window for a sale to David Ellison’s SkyDance Media and partners closes.
Veteran company leaders Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins will make up an “Office of the CEO,” running Paramount on a day-to-day basis for now. The three will work with the Paramount board and CFO Naveen Chopra.
“We’re finalizing a long-term strategic plan to best position this storied company to reach new and greater heights in our rapidly changing world,” McCarthy told a conference call following Paramount’s first-quarter earnings report after the market close on Monday that lasted just nine minutes and didn’t allow for analysts’ questions. As of 11:15 a.m. Et on Tuesday, Paramount shares were down 4.3 percent,...
Veteran company leaders Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins will make up an “Office of the CEO,” running Paramount on a day-to-day basis for now. The three will work with the Paramount board and CFO Naveen Chopra.
“We’re finalizing a long-term strategic plan to best position this storied company to reach new and greater heights in our rapidly changing world,” McCarthy told a conference call following Paramount’s first-quarter earnings report after the market close on Monday that lasted just nine minutes and didn’t allow for analysts’ questions. As of 11:15 a.m. Et on Tuesday, Paramount shares were down 4.3 percent,...
- 4/30/2024
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paramount Global’s ouster of CEO Bob Bakish did not reassure investors that there’s a favorable exit in store for the media conglomerate.
Shares of the company were down more than 4% in trading Tuesday morning to under $12/share, after Bakish’s exit was officially announced and he was replaced by three senior execs tasked with running Paramount Global — for now, anyway.
Wall Street analysts said the dismissal of Bakish, who was said to oppose Paramount Global’s prospective merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, along with the company’s refusal to take questions during its first-quarter 2024 earnings call Monday was evidence that an M&a deal is nearing. Paramount’s Q1 results were decent, as the company boosted Paramount+ streaming subs to more than 71 million and significantly narrowed streaming losses, while its TV group saw revenue up 1% thanks largely to the Super Bowl on CBS. But the financial results...
Shares of the company were down more than 4% in trading Tuesday morning to under $12/share, after Bakish’s exit was officially announced and he was replaced by three senior execs tasked with running Paramount Global — for now, anyway.
Wall Street analysts said the dismissal of Bakish, who was said to oppose Paramount Global’s prospective merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, along with the company’s refusal to take questions during its first-quarter 2024 earnings call Monday was evidence that an M&a deal is nearing. Paramount’s Q1 results were decent, as the company boosted Paramount+ streaming subs to more than 71 million and significantly narrowed streaming losses, while its TV group saw revenue up 1% thanks largely to the Super Bowl on CBS. But the financial results...
- 4/30/2024
- by Todd Spangler
- Variety Film + TV
The core Disney+ streaming service added 800,000 subscribers in the June quarter. Disney+ Hotstar went (far) in the other direction.
Hotstar, the name for Disney+ in India and other Southeast Asia countries, lost 12.5 million subs — or about a quarter of its remaining members — from April to June, which is Disney’s fiscal third quarter. Disney+ Hotstar’s membership has been getting obliterated since Disney lost its Ipl cricket rights.
While those numbers look horrible, the truth is that Hotstar barely brings in any money anyway. (Disney+ core’s average revenue per user is $6.58/month; Hotstar’s Arpu is just 59 cents.)
Adding in Hulu and ESPN+, Disney the company now has a grand total of 219.6 million global streaming subscriptions. Rival Netflix ended June with 238.39 million global paid subscribers — yes, it’s pulling away again.
Disney’s new subscriptions breakdown looks like this:
Disney+ (core): 105.7 million subscriptions
Disney+ Hotstar: 40.4 million subscriptions
Hulu:...
Hotstar, the name for Disney+ in India and other Southeast Asia countries, lost 12.5 million subs — or about a quarter of its remaining members — from April to June, which is Disney’s fiscal third quarter. Disney+ Hotstar’s membership has been getting obliterated since Disney lost its Ipl cricket rights.
While those numbers look horrible, the truth is that Hotstar barely brings in any money anyway. (Disney+ core’s average revenue per user is $6.58/month; Hotstar’s Arpu is just 59 cents.)
Adding in Hulu and ESPN+, Disney the company now has a grand total of 219.6 million global streaming subscriptions. Rival Netflix ended June with 238.39 million global paid subscribers — yes, it’s pulling away again.
Disney’s new subscriptions breakdown looks like this:
Disney+ (core): 105.7 million subscriptions
Disney+ Hotstar: 40.4 million subscriptions
Hulu:...
- 8/9/2023
- by Tony Maglio
- Indiewire
It wasn’t a broad-based outpouring of “buy”-rated love, but Wall Street gave Paramount Global’s second-quarter results better reviews than its first-quarter update, with several analysts even slightly raising their stock price targets.
After all, in its earnings update unveiled after the market close on August 7, the firm narrowed its quarterly adjusted operating loss before depreciation and amortization in streaming to $424 million while slightly growing Paramount+ subscribers to 61 million. Plus, it unveiled a deal to sell its Simon & Schuster book unit for $1.62 billion to private equity firm Kkr, which will help ease debt and liquidity worries after the company’s dividend cut unveiled as part of its first-quarter earnings update earlier this year.
In early market trading on Tuesday, Paramount’s stock was up 1 percent at $16.25 amid a drop in the broader market.
Wall Street experts overnight dissected the latest performance update from Paramount, led by CEO Bob Bakish,...
After all, in its earnings update unveiled after the market close on August 7, the firm narrowed its quarterly adjusted operating loss before depreciation and amortization in streaming to $424 million while slightly growing Paramount+ subscribers to 61 million. Plus, it unveiled a deal to sell its Simon & Schuster book unit for $1.62 billion to private equity firm Kkr, which will help ease debt and liquidity worries after the company’s dividend cut unveiled as part of its first-quarter earnings update earlier this year.
In early market trading on Tuesday, Paramount’s stock was up 1 percent at $16.25 amid a drop in the broader market.
Wall Street experts overnight dissected the latest performance update from Paramount, led by CEO Bob Bakish,...
- 8/8/2023
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Welcome to what Moffett Nathanson research analyst Robert Fishman calls the “post-streaming wars.” In 2022, streamers couldn’t wait to tell you how much they spend on content. A year later, the same platforms don’t want to open their wallets, let alone discuss it.
“Fueled by cheap money and unbridled/naive optimism from the Street, management teams were willing to spend whatever it took to establish their new streaming services,” he wrote in his very long March 21 note to clients of the Silicon Valley Bank-owned firm. “To that point, if the launch of Amazon’s $1 billion ‘Lord of the Rings’ series sounded like the peak of the bubble, that’s because it likely was.”
Even at the time, that figure sounded insane. Today, as interest rates continue to rise and most services struggle toward profitability in the face of a looming recession, it’s certifiable. As Fishman wrote, “As we now painfully know,...
“Fueled by cheap money and unbridled/naive optimism from the Street, management teams were willing to spend whatever it took to establish their new streaming services,” he wrote in his very long March 21 note to clients of the Silicon Valley Bank-owned firm. “To that point, if the launch of Amazon’s $1 billion ‘Lord of the Rings’ series sounded like the peak of the bubble, that’s because it likely was.”
Even at the time, that figure sounded insane. Today, as interest rates continue to rise and most services struggle toward profitability in the face of a looming recession, it’s certifiable. As Fishman wrote, “As we now painfully know,...
- 3/24/2023
- by Tony Maglio
- Indiewire
Jungle Cruise isn’t, at least as of this writing, the same kind of battleground in Hollywood as Black Widow, whose financial returns prompted star Scarlett Johansson to sue Disney.
Yet one seasoned Wall Street analyst says the latest day-and-date movie release by Disney highlights an existential dilemma for the movie business that goes far beyond talent relations.
“We think we are at the cusp of a new non-virtuous circle emerging for moviegoing, similar to the cord-cutting cycle” in pay-tv, Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson wrote in a note to clients today. Jungle Cruise, like Black Widow, is opening in theaters but is also available for a $30 extra charge to Disney+ subscribers and the results should only add to the swirl of strategic questions.
The Delta variant and rising Covid-19 infections are certainly putting a damper on box office, Fishman acknowledged. But soft theatrical results for a range of wide releases...
Yet one seasoned Wall Street analyst says the latest day-and-date movie release by Disney highlights an existential dilemma for the movie business that goes far beyond talent relations.
“We think we are at the cusp of a new non-virtuous circle emerging for moviegoing, similar to the cord-cutting cycle” in pay-tv, Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson wrote in a note to clients today. Jungle Cruise, like Black Widow, is opening in theaters but is also available for a $30 extra charge to Disney+ subscribers and the results should only add to the swirl of strategic questions.
The Delta variant and rising Covid-19 infections are certainly putting a damper on box office, Fishman acknowledged. But soft theatrical results for a range of wide releases...
- 7/30/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Wall Street analyst Laura Martin of Needham Co. went so far as to say “Sell Netflix to buy ViacomCBS” after Wednesday’s marathon presentation of ViacomCBS’ plan for growth in the streaming arena with the March 4 launch of Paramount Plus.
But Todd Juenger of Sanford Bernstein Co. is having none of it, setting his target price on ViacomCBS shares at $23 for a stock that closed Wednesday at $65.63. The longtime ViacomCBS bear was not impressed with the company’s efforts to distinguish Paramount Plus (a rebrand of CBS All Access) from the competition in the U.S. by emphasizing that it will deliver live news, sports, the live CBS network linear feed and “a mountain” of on-demand entertainment.
“Sports offering is too narrow to satisfy sports fans. News belongs on the Internet. (International version of Paramount Plus) has neither sports or news. General entertainment is non-differentiated, late, and lacks the global scale of competitive offerings,...
But Todd Juenger of Sanford Bernstein Co. is having none of it, setting his target price on ViacomCBS shares at $23 for a stock that closed Wednesday at $65.63. The longtime ViacomCBS bear was not impressed with the company’s efforts to distinguish Paramount Plus (a rebrand of CBS All Access) from the competition in the U.S. by emphasizing that it will deliver live news, sports, the live CBS network linear feed and “a mountain” of on-demand entertainment.
“Sports offering is too narrow to satisfy sports fans. News belongs on the Internet. (International version of Paramount Plus) has neither sports or news. General entertainment is non-differentiated, late, and lacks the global scale of competitive offerings,...
- 2/26/2021
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
The multi-hour streaming presentation by ViacomCBS on Wednesday about its soon-to-be-rebranded streaming service Paramount+ has not proven to be a short-term tonic for the company’s stock price.
Shares dropped 5% today to close at $62.50, on above-average trading volume. The stock has surged more than 70% in 2021 to date, though, making a cooling-off period fairly inevitable. A quick upswing in Treasury yields also made for an ugly afternoon in the broader markets, with a tech selloff pushing the Nasdaq down 3.5%, the exchange’s worst day since last October. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones also finished in the red, though damage there wasn’t quite as bad.
Analyst reaction to the Paramount+ streaming extravaganza has been divided. A number of optimists have keyed in on the company’s rosy profit and subscriber forecasts, while skeptics say the effort could end up accelerating declines in traditional operations. Also, the unpersuaded say, the company...
Shares dropped 5% today to close at $62.50, on above-average trading volume. The stock has surged more than 70% in 2021 to date, though, making a cooling-off period fairly inevitable. A quick upswing in Treasury yields also made for an ugly afternoon in the broader markets, with a tech selloff pushing the Nasdaq down 3.5%, the exchange’s worst day since last October. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones also finished in the red, though damage there wasn’t quite as bad.
Analyst reaction to the Paramount+ streaming extravaganza has been divided. A number of optimists have keyed in on the company’s rosy profit and subscriber forecasts, while skeptics say the effort could end up accelerating declines in traditional operations. Also, the unpersuaded say, the company...
- 2/25/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
When Universal and AMC in July unveiled a new deal enabling the studio to release movies on demand within weeks of their theatrical debut, rival theater owners publicly and privately decried the change. They feared the agreement would be detrimental to their businesses.
In the pandemic era, it may ironically end up being a saving grace.
Exhibitors initially were concerned that audiences wouldn’t pay to see a movie in theaters if they could wait just 17 days to watch it at home. Traditionally, films play on the big screen for 75 to 90 days before landing on digital rental platforms. Theater operators were particularly cantankerous because the pandemic had already been ruinous to the film industry, and they worried that shattering the theatrical window — the term for the amount of time a movie exclusively plays in theaters — could push struggling multiplexes over the edge.
That was before plans for a grand moviegoing revival failed to take off.
In the pandemic era, it may ironically end up being a saving grace.
Exhibitors initially were concerned that audiences wouldn’t pay to see a movie in theaters if they could wait just 17 days to watch it at home. Traditionally, films play on the big screen for 75 to 90 days before landing on digital rental platforms. Theater operators were particularly cantankerous because the pandemic had already been ruinous to the film industry, and they worried that shattering the theatrical window — the term for the amount of time a movie exclusively plays in theaters — could push struggling multiplexes over the edge.
That was before plans for a grand moviegoing revival failed to take off.
- 10/13/2020
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Movie theater stocks slid further on Friday as Wall Street analysts lowered their outlook due to Covid-19 and AMC’s CEO called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to open theaters in New York.
Shares in AMC, Cinemark, National CineMedia and Reading International all slid between 1% and 3% on a day when stocks overall posted modest gains. Imax Corp. was unchanged and Marcus Corp. rose a fraction. The major roadblock for theaters is continued closures in New York in LA, with no end in sight. More bad news came Friday when Canadian authorities said Toronto, a major North American market, is closing its theaters due to an uptick in coronavirus infections.
The gloomy fall outlook prompted two veteran exhibition analysts to trim their financial estimates and price targets for several companies, though they did not lower their ratings. Eric Handler of Mkm Partners still rates Cinemark a “buy” but shaved $3 off...
Shares in AMC, Cinemark, National CineMedia and Reading International all slid between 1% and 3% on a day when stocks overall posted modest gains. Imax Corp. was unchanged and Marcus Corp. rose a fraction. The major roadblock for theaters is continued closures in New York in LA, with no end in sight. More bad news came Friday when Canadian authorities said Toronto, a major North American market, is closing its theaters due to an uptick in coronavirus infections.
The gloomy fall outlook prompted two veteran exhibition analysts to trim their financial estimates and price targets for several companies, though they did not lower their ratings. Eric Handler of Mkm Partners still rates Cinemark a “buy” but shaved $3 off...
- 10/9/2020
- by Dade Hayes and Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Cinema should look at striking content deals with streaming services to get much-needed content amid studios’ ongoing film slate delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, one Wall Street analyst suggested on Friday.
“Theater owners should consider finally striking a deal with Netflix, Amazon and other SVOD services as a lifeline to get more product on movie screens,” MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman wrote in a report.
“To no one’s surprise,” he decided to cut his box office projections “given a high level of uncertainty around the future of the domestic box office and when we should ...
“Theater owners should consider finally striking a deal with Netflix, Amazon and other SVOD services as a lifeline to get more product on movie screens,” MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman wrote in a report.
“To no one’s surprise,” he decided to cut his box office projections “given a high level of uncertainty around the future of the domestic box office and when we should ...
- 10/9/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Cinema should look at striking content deals with streaming services to get much-needed content amid studios’ ongoing film slate delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, one Wall Street analyst suggested on Friday.
“Theater owners should consider finally striking a deal with Netflix, Amazon and other SVOD services as a lifeline to get more product on movie screens,” MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman wrote in a report.
“To no one’s surprise,” he decided to cut his box office projections “given a high level of uncertainty around the future of the domestic box office and when we should ...
“Theater owners should consider finally striking a deal with Netflix, Amazon and other SVOD services as a lifeline to get more product on movie screens,” MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman wrote in a report.
“To no one’s surprise,” he decided to cut his box office projections “given a high level of uncertainty around the future of the domestic box office and when we should ...
- 10/9/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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