Top News:
CNBC:
Paramount launches a hostile bid to acquire WBD, offering WBD shareholders $30/share in a $108.4B all-cash deal; sources say WBD rejected the same bid last week — Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after it lost out to Netflix in a months-long bidding war …
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Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Paramount's WBD bid is backfiring in DC; a Trump official says Paramount seems to “believe the worst possible tropes” about corruption in the administration — The Scene — Paramount's aggressive quest for Warner Bros. — which escalated into a hostile $108 billion bid …
Bloomberg:
Paramount secures up to $54B in bridge loan financing, one of the largest of its kind, from Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apollo Global for its WBD bid — Paramount Skydance Corp. has lined up as much as $54 billion of financing from Wall Street's biggest firms to help support …
Discussion:
Fortune and @devonheinen.bsky.social
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Filing: Paramount's outside partners for its WBD bid include Saudi Arabia's PIF, Abu Dhabi's L'imad, Qatar Investment Authority, and Jared Kushner's Affinity
Filing: Paramount's outside partners for its WBD bid include Saudi Arabia's PIF, Abu Dhabi's L'imad, Qatar Investment Authority, and Jared Kushner's Affinity
Discussion:
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Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Ted Sarandos met with Trump in November, arguing that Netflix wasn't a monopoly; Sarandos agreed with Trump that WBD should sell to the highest bidder — Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos ventured to the White House in mid-November for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
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Bloomberg:
President Trump says Netflix's WBD deal has “got to go through a process”, its big market share “could be a problem”, and he will be involved in the decision
Discussion:
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Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
WBD CEO David Zaslav, criticized for cutting costs, scrapping movies, and laying off thousands, may end up having the last laugh thanks to the Netflix-WBD deal
WBD CEO David Zaslav, criticized for cutting costs, scrapping movies, and laying off thousands, may end up having the last laugh thanks to the Netflix-WBD deal
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Kotaku and Financial Times
Committee to Protect Journalists:
After the building fire, Hong Kong summoned AFP, FT, NYT, AP, Bloomberg, and WSJ journalists, telling them to avoid “trouble making”, and arrested a commentator — Chinese and Hong Kong authorities must immediately stop harassing journalists, release news commentator Wong Kwok-ngon …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, @sensehofstede.nl and @newsguy.bsky.social
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
Sources: Google has told advertising clients that it plans to bring ads to Gemini in 2026, separate from ads in AI Mode — Google has told advertising clients in recent days that it plans to bring ads to its AI chatbot Gemini, according to agency buyers familiar with the conversations.
Mike Butcher / Pathfounders:
Alexandru Stan, founder of the software marketplace Tekpon, has acquired The Next Web media and events brands from The Financial Times — The European tech media space has been in quite a state of flux this past year or so, to put it mildly. Under assault, it said, from an AI-driven plumet in traffic …
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Source: Piers Morgan's YouTube-based venture Uncensored is raising £22.5M from The Raine Group, Theo Kyriakou, and others at a £97M pre-money valuation — The US-based merchant bank Raine and Greek media mogul Theo Kyriakou are among the backers of the former Mirror editor …
Discussion:
PodcastingToday, The Wrap, Variety, Barrett Media and Mirror
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Academy reports fiscal 2025 revenues of $269.2M, up from $263.1M in 2024, after cutting expenses from $220.1M to $208.1M; Oscars revenue grew to $150.5M — “It is so important that we continue to diversify revenue streams and control expenses to allow for a sustainable and impactful future," Academy CEO Bill Kramer tells THR.
Matt Donnelly / Variety:
A look at the auction for the Oscars' TV rights, as sources say Netflix is out, NBCUniversal gains ground, and YouTube and ABC remain active bidders — There are eight weeks left on the holy Hollywood awards calendar until Oscar nominations are announced, and it's not just artists and craftspeople hunting for trophies.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Offscreen Central, Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, The A.V. Club, Deadline and @discussingfilm.net
Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
WPP Media expects global ad revenue, excluding US political ads, to grow 8.8% YoY in 2025 to $1.14T, and says AI investment drives more spending than expected — A new report from WPP Media says global ad revenue will reach $1.14 trillion this year — Advertising spending will grow …
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Marketing Dive, MediaPost, WPP Media, GeekWire, Communicate Online, Blockchain.News, AdExchanger, Mumbrella, Adweek, The Drum, TVNewsCheck and campaignlive.co.uk
Ellen Gamerman / Wall Street Journal:
Inside the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which included 2,000 iterations; Particle6, its creator, says it has ~60 NDAs for projects involving Tilly — How the human behind Tilly Norwood brought her to digital life
Discussion:
New York Post, Digital Music News and CBS News, more at Techmeme »
Max Tani / Semafor:
Source: OpenAI privately complained to NBC News that the author of a story about OpenAI pressuring nonprofits was backed by a nonprofit involved in the story — The Scoop — Last month, NBC News broke the news that the artificial intelligence behemoth OpenAI had quietly issued a series …
Discussion:
@maxwelltani
