Top News:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: The Messenger is seeking to raise around $20M amid layoffs and financial struggles; it launched in 2023 after a $50M raise — Digital news start up The Messenger is seeking to raise around $20 million amid layoffs and financial struggles, sources tell Axios.
Discussion:
@ernie.tedium.co, @themaxburns, @rolandsmartin, @henryporters, @scottnover, @jasonshevrin and The Wrap
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Kim Masters / The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at the men allied with Nelson Peltz and their histories with Disney: Ike Perlmutter, the ousted Marvel chairman, and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo — As ousted Marvel mogul Ike Perlmutter and activist investor Nelson Peltz enlist former Disney exec Jay Rasulo in their quest to reshape the studio …
Discussion:
@kimmasters, @thr and @erik_hayden
RELATED:
Variety:
Blackwells nominates three candidates to Disney's board to rival Nelson Peltz's proxy fight, and says Disney's ValueAct deal is “a disappointing defensive move”
Discussion:
@xpangler, GlobeNewswire News Room, Radio & Television …, The Information, Deadline, Reuters and Bloomberg
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
RedBird IMI invests in Media Res, the independent studio behind “The Morning Show”; Jeff Zucker plans to take a seat on the studio's board — The former CNN president will return to Hollywood by investing in the studio behind streaming hits like “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.
Discussion:
The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter
The Information:
Sources: OpenAI offered some media companies as little as $1M-$5M/year to license their articles for model training; Apple offered more but wants more rights — OpenAI has offered some media firms as little as between $1 million and $5 million annually to license their news articles for use …
Discussion:
@garymarcus and @alex, more at Techmeme »
Paul Sandle / Reuters:
Layered Reality announces Elvis Evolution, an AI, AR, and holographic-based show, launching in London in 2024 before traveling to Las Vegas, Tokyo, and Berlin — Elvis Presley fans who missed out on seeing their hero when he was alive will be able to catch a glimpse of the King …
Discussion:
Billboard, The A.V. Club, Variety and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Sources: TikTok aims to grow TikTok Shop US' merchandise volume tenfold to $17.5B in 2024 and plans to increase merchant fees to 6% of each sale in April 2024 — - ByteDance's video app is fast expanding beyond advertising … The 2024 merchandise volume goal for the US version of TikTok Shop …
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
BOA analysis: Amazon's video ad push will boost annual revenue by up to $5B, comprising $3B in video ad sales and $1.8B in Prime users paying to avoid ads — - Subscribers can pay extra $3 per month for ad-free streaming — Amazon.com Inc.'s push into video advertising will boost annual revenue …
Aditya Kalra / Reuters:
Sources: Disney and Reliance executives signed a non-binding term sheet in December and both have hired law firms to do antitrust due diligence for their merger — Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) and Walt Disney (DIS.N) have appointed law firms …
Discussion:
Variety and Wall Street Journal
Oliver Darcy:
Internal note: Alex MacCallum, who became The Washington Post's chief revenue officer in July 2023, is leaving; sources: she's in talks to join CNN — News: Alex MacCallum, the digital product whiz who I've confirmed is in discussions with CNN about joining the org under network chief Mark Thompson …
Discussion:
@dylanbyers, @benmullin, Oliver arcy and Puck
RELATED:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Athan Stephanopoulos plans to leave as CNN's chief digital officer at the end of January, the second turnover of digital executives at CNN since WBD took over
Discussion:
@bristei, @pressgazette, @dylanbyers, @dylanbyers, Adweek, Deadline, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter
Kari Paul / The Guardian:
Q&A with Jacob Bakkila, who ran the popular @Horse_ebooks Twitter account for two years, on the inspiration for the language bot, AI chatbots, and more — By reusing and repurposing existing writing into viral fragments on Twitter, the account functioned like today's chatbots.
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
MPA: the Asia Pacific video industry grew 5.5% in 2023 to hit $145B in revenue, with a 13% jump in online video sales to $57B; TV revenue grew under 1% to $98B — The video industry in the region grew by 5.5 percent in 2023 to hit $145 billion in revenue, says research firm MPA.
Discussion:
@livemint, Livemint, WORLD SCREEN, Advanced Television and Variety
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
In a lawsuit, a Disney employee claims she was sexually assaulted by former VP of distribution Nolan Gonzales and that management didn't escalate concerns to HR — The plaintiff, suing as a Jane Doe, claims she was assaulted by former vice president of distribution Nolan Gonzales …
Discussion:
Bloomberg Law and Deadline
Michael Schneider / Variety:
After a WGA protest, the Television Academy and Fox reverse an earlier plan and return the Emmy for variety series outstanding writing to the Emmys telecast — In a joint release sent out today, the Television Academy, Fox and the WGA said they were “happy to announce they have reached …
Discussion:
@wgawest, IndieWire, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter
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