Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts just sold $20.4 million worth of stock in the media giant. The circa 469.5 million Class A common shares were divested on Tuesday, according to an SEC filing. It’s not a significant part of his holdings and Deadline hears the sale is for year-end planning purposes, which is not unusual. Most of the shares sold were from awards of restricted stock units that were part of Robert’s compensation package this year, with a smaller portion from exercising options. Along with ...

Bob Iger, who is in the home stretch of his two-chapter run as CEO of the Walt Disney Co., is selling $42.7 million in stock. The move, disclosed in an SEC filing on Friday, makes good on a plan detailed by the company earlier this month for Iger to exercise an option to sell shares. The most recent filing said Iger is selling 372,412 shares, the maximum allowed under an option plan adopted earlier this year. The plan was set to expire in December. Shares in Disney have experienced volatility this year as ...

Investment Overview - Amazon will invest an additional $8 billion in AI firm Anthropic, bringing its total investment to $8 billion over the past few months [1] - The partnership began in September, with an initial investment of $4 billion from Amazon, which also designated Anthropic as its primary cloud provider [1] Partnership Details - Anthropic will continue to use Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its primary training partner and cloud provider, utilizing AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips for future AI model training and deployment [1] - AWS customers will gain early access to fine-tuning their own data on Anthropic models [2] Market Context - The deal aligns with a broader trend of significant investments in AI across various sectors, particularly in technology [3] Customer Engagement - AWS CEO Matt Garman highlighted the positive response from AWS customers developing generative AI applications powered by Anthropic in Amazon Bedrock, indicating a strong demand for these technologies [4] - Tens of thousands of customers, including startups, enterprises, and government institutions, are utilizing Anthropic's AI models for diverse applications such as customer service, coding assistance, translation, drug discovery, and engineering design [4] Growth and Innovation - Anthropic's co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei noted that the collaboration with Amazon has been crucial for the growth of Claude, Anthropic's large-language model, reaching millions of end users [5] - The partnership aims to enhance the capabilities of Anthropic's advanced AI models using AWS Trainium technology [5]

Shares of mighty Alphabet are down about 7% today after the U.S. Department of Justice said it should sell its Chrome web browser among other remedies after the tech giant lost a landmark antitrust case last summer. Government lawyers said in a filing that splitting Google’s dominant search engine from Chrome, which controls about two-thirds of the browser market, as well as from its Android operating system, is necessary to ensure a competitive Internet. The filing comes after U.S. District Judge Amit Meh ...

After a few bumpy outings due to Covid and less-than-optimal host cities, the Olympics flourished last summer in Paris, with viewership gains and advertising records. With more happy returns expected from the 2026 Winter Games in Italy and the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, NBCUniversal may need to develop some new muscles in order to maintain the synergistic mojo. Next year, parent company Comcast plans to spin off NBCU’s cable networks into a separate, publicly traded entity. The transaction, formally ...

Corporate Restructuring - Comcast plans to spin off cable channels MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Syfy, Golf Channel, Oxygen, and USA into a new separate company, with the process expected to be completed by late 2025 [1] - The new company will be led by Mark Lazarus as CEO and Anand Kini as CFO and COO [1] - NBC, Peacock, and Bravo will remain with NBCUniversal as part of the streamlining effort [1] - The potential $7 billion new company has already positively impacted Comcast's stock in after-hours trading [1] Leadership Changes - Donna Langley will become chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, reflecting her pivotal role in the company's future growth [4][5] - Frances Berwick, previously reporting to both Langley and Lazarus, will now report solely to Langley [5] - Langley's promotion is seen as a recognition of her leadership capabilities and success with projects like Oppenheimer and Wicked [5] Industry Context - The decision to spin off cable channels is driven by the declining value and viewership of cable, with a focus on creating a leaner and more streamlined core business [3] - Comcast's move aligns with industry trends, as peers like Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery have also taken significant write-downs on their cable businesses [5] - The new company aims to capitalize on opportunities in the evolving media landscape and create value for shareholders [5] Strategic Rationale - The restructuring is part of Comcast's broader strategy to adapt to the transition in video businesses and optimize its asset portfolio [5] - The new company will be well-capitalized and owned by shareholders, positioning it to leverage its strong portfolio of cable networks [5]

The Mouse is regaining its mojo on Wall Street. Disney stock, which hit a 2024 bottom of $83.91 over the summer, has roared back to life and is seeing a second straight day of significant gains after an upbeat earnings report Thursday morning. Shares were up nearly 4% as of mid-day Friday, reaching a 6-month high north of $113. They have gained 24% in 2024 to date. While there are some reasons for concern (the ongoing meltdown of linear TV assets, the ramp-up in sports rights costs, the challenge of picki ...

Disney CEO Bob Iger had a “hot mic” moment on the company’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings call Thursday morning, questioning aloud whether he should have revealed key streaming numbers. Fielding a question from a Wall Street analyst about the growth outlook and pricing strategy of Disney+, Iger divulged how many Disney+ subscribers take the ad-supported tier in the U.S. (37%) and globally (30%). The disclosure was unusual in the streaming sector. Netflix, for instance, has never broken out a similar perce ...

Just a year ago, Disney CEO Bob Iger was in the midst of an ongoing apology tour for the studio after string of tepid box office returns. At a conference last November, he acknowledged that things had a taken a downturn and promised, as he had been doing regularly, that Disney will be stressing quality over quantity after The Marvels, the latest Indiana Jones and a handful of other films disappointed.  “I’ve been very public about it saying, and I would say right now, my number one priority is to help the ...

Disney‘s process to identify CEO Bob Iger‘s successor will officially include external candidates as well as four current executives. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday morning on the deliberations extending to outsized candidates. One particular outsider, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, was called out in the Journal report and pictured prominently in a photo. When asked by Deadline if that treatment reflected Wilson’s status as a leading candidate in the derby, a Disney rep declined to comment. M ...