Disney and its current CEO, Bob Iger, have secured the backing of Iger’s onetime boss, former Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner. In a statement posted to social media, Eisner didn’t name Nelson Peltz, whose Trian Fund Management is mounting an offensive to win two seats on Disney’s board at the April 3 annual shareholder meeting. But the longtime media exec wrote that “bringing in someone who doesn’t have experience in the company or the industry to disrupt Bob and his eventual successor is playing not only ...

Paramount Global shares, which soared Wednesday on news that Apollo had made an $11 billion offer for Paramount Pictures, has slumped today after a report splashed cold water on the scenario. Shares in the media company had dropped 5% by mid-day, to below $12, after the Financial Times reported that controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is “unconvinced” by the private equity offer. Apollo’s offer, which valued just the studio at more than the entirety of Paramount Global, pushed the stock up 12% on Wednes ...

The Justice Department and more than a dozen state attorneys general have sued Apple, claiming that the tech giant has an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market. Attorney General Merrick Garland will appear at a press conference this morning to detail the lawsuit. In a statement, per Reuters, he said that consumers “should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust laws. If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen the smartphone monopoly.” The lawsuit is th ...

After skidding to multi-year lows in late-2023, Disney stock has rebounded more than 20% thus far in 2024 as two activist investment firms have launched a proxy fight. The stock finished Thursday trading at $110.18, up a fraction. It started the year at $90.10, putting its gains at 22% for the year to date. Goosing the stock price is a stated goal of two activist investment firms that have taken aim at Disney’s top execs and board of directors ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting on April 3. I ...

Paramount Global could be set for change in the tough Indian media market. A Bloomberg report, citing unnamed sources, claims the MTV and Comedy Central owner is in talks with Reliance Industries to sell its stake in their channels and streaming venture, Viacom18. This would allow Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, to consolidate his media assets as his conglom Reliance Industries prepares to form its new merged venture with Disney India. Reliance already majority controls Viacom18, whose JioCinema has be ...

Disney CEO Bob Iger called the proxy fight being waged by two activist investors a campaign that “is, in a way, designed to distract us, to take our eye off all [that’s] necessary to do what we need to do to generate returns for shareholders.” Nelson Peltz ‘ Trian Partners is fielding two director candidates – himself and former Disney executive Jay Rasulo — and has been aggressively soliciting Disney stockholders. Investment firm Blackwells Capital has nominated three candidates. Shareholders will elect t ...

Instagram and suffered apparently widespread outages Tuesday morning, with users venting frustration on other social media platforms. Users reported being kicked out of Facebook and unable to log back in. Visitors to Instagram were greeted by an error message reading, “Something went wrong. There’s an issue and the page could not be loaded.” According to the website DownDetector, which tracks tech outages, the issues began in the 10 a.m. hour Eastern Time. The situation remained unresolved an hour later. M ...

The forthcoming sports streaming venture backed by Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery will reach 5 million subscribers in its first five years, according to a projection shared Monday by Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch. Speaking at a conference hosted by Morgan Stanley, Murdoch cited the forecast in responding to questions about whether the new venture would threaten the company’s existing pay-TV business. Fox has “built our plans around” the 5 million subscriber outlook, Murdoch said. “So some of the ta ...

Apple has been fined €1.8B ($1.95B) for breaking antitrust rules in Europe over music streaming. The EU’s European Commission issued the heavy penalty, Apple’s first ever of its kind, after ruling the tech giant had prevented the likes of Spotify from informing consumers about “alternative and cheaper music subscription services” outside of the App Store. The EC said this amounted to Apple “abusing its dominant position” — effectively restricting Apple handset users using its operating system (iOS) to its ...

Fubo CEO David Gandler blasted a planned sports bundle backed by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, calling the companies a “sports cartel” engaging in “borderline racketeering.” The comments came during a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss fourth-quarter results. Fubo posted strong numbers in the quarter, including 1.62 million paid subscribers, a 29% gain in revenue to $402 million. The company is not yet profitable, but narrowed its losses to $71 million from $96 million in the ye ...