Comcast reported first quarter results that outpaced Wall Street expectations, with Peacock reaching 34 million subscribers but seeing higher programming costs erode profits in the Media unit. Total revenue inched up 1% to $30.1 billion, with adjusted earnings per share coming in at $1.04, up from 92 cents in the year-ago period. The Media division, which includes Peacock, reported a nearly 4% gain in revenue, to $6.4 billion. But higher operating expenses, notably higher programming expenses at Peacock, c ...

(formerly called ) pretty much ignored the social media elephant in the room today on a post-earnings conference call, with chief financial officer Susan Li saying it’s too early to discuss what just happened in Washington, D.C. President Biden has signed into law a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest the hugely popular U.S. app within about nine months or risk it being banned. TikTok said it will take the fight to the courts. “We’ve obviously been following the events related t ...

parent posted solid quarterly financials today with revenue and EPS beating Wall Street expectations, but investors dinged the stock on high expenses and lower than anticipated revenue for the current quarter. Shares are down 10% in after-market trading. What Meta calls “Family daily active people” or DAP, rose 7% to 3.24 billion for the three months ended in March. The company also owns Instagram and WhatsApp. Revenue rose 27% to $36.46 billion for the quarter. Net income of $12.4 billion was way up from ...

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish saw his total compensation dip slightly in 2023, to $31.3 million from $32 million in the prior year. The latest figures were disclosed Monday in an SEC filing. The next-highest tally among top execs was for CFO Naveen Chopra, who collected $8 million, up from $6.5 million in 2022. Bakish’s salary was $3.1 million and he was given a stock award of $15.5 million and another $12.4 million via the company’s non-equity incentive plan. Along with executive compensation, the fil ...

Aaron LaBerge, who helped oversee Disney‘s expansion into streaming during two stints totaling 20 years, is exiting the company. On July 1, the exec will become Chief Technology Officer at Penn Entertainment, holding the same title he did at the end of his Disney run. Penn is largely known for its gaming operation. In 2023, the company teamed with ESPN and rebranded its sports book as ESPN Bet. As Disney’s CTO, LaBerge oversaw a number of product rollouts, including the integration of Hulu into Disney+ and ...

Paramount Global shares jumped 13% Friday as investors cheered news that Sony Pictures Entertainment is talking with Apollo Global Management about joining Apollo’s bid for Paramount. The beleaguered stock ended the day at $12.44 after registering more than twice its normal trading volume. Shares reached their highest point since February, offering fresh evidence that many investors appear to be gravitating toward the Apollo/Sony scenario, largely for structural reasons. Importantly, even if the two entiti ...

Remember those rumors, oh, eight years ago about how Sony was a target for acquisition? No more. Still, don’t say merger yet. Deadline has confirmed that Sony Picture Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra has been in talks with Apollo Global Management about making a go for Paramount. This despite Skydance/Redbird Capital being in exclusive talks with Paramount Global‘s majority shareholder National Amusements to take control of the studio. The Apollo and Sony deal is reportedly an all-cash one for outstand ...

Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters says internal viewership data from before and after the implementation of paid password sharing shows the new policy has not turned off viewers, as some had initially predicted it would. The company on Thursday reported a year-over-year jump of 9.3 million subscribers in the first quarter, in part due to the password policy that has put a price on sharing login credentials. The move has been a 180 from the free sharing ethos in the company’s start-up phase that eventually became ...

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos saw a 2023 compensation package valued at $49.8 million, down a hair from the year before but with one big change — he took more in option awards than in cash after the streamer changed its pay policies. Sarandos had a $3 million base salary last year, up from $20 million the year before. Option awards worth $28.3 million compared with $28.5 million. In 2023, he was also awarded a non-equity incentive plan compensation — like a cash bonus — for $16.5 million, according to the co ...

Netflix said today it will stop reporting quarterly starting in 2025, a huge change for the giant streamer whose stock tends to get buffeted up or down (mostly up lately) by those numbers. In a letter to shareholders along with first-quarter earnings, the company said it’s now focused on other metrics and that memberships “are just one component of our growth.” “As we’ve noted in previous letters, we’re focused on revenue and operating margin as our primary financial metrics — and engagement (i.e. time spe ...