Finance

The law firm that successfully sued Apple and five major publishers for colluding to fix e-book prices in 2011 has filed a class action suit against Amazon, accusing the company of colluding with the Big Five publishers to eliminate price competition from the e-book market.

Source: Amazon Hit with E-book Price Fixing Suit

The Walt Disney Co. and the Motion Picture Association are joining Comcast and AT&T in halting political contributions to House and Senate lawmakers who voted to reject the certification of electoral votes for Joe Biden. A Disney spokesperson said, “The insurrection at our nation’s Capitol was a direct assault on one of our country’s most revered tenets: the peaceful transition of power.”

Source: Walt Disney Co., Motion Picture Association Halt Contributions To Lawmakers Who Voted To Reject Certification Of Electoral Vote For Joe Biden

SiriusXM informed the public of the imminent “impairment charge” in a recent release, ahead of its Q4 2020 earnings call, which is scheduled for Wednesday, February 2nd. The expected impairment is a result of the anticipated operating performance of Pandora, primarily its royalty cost structure,” and “could be approximately $1.0 billion,” the text indicated.

Source: SiriusXM Warns of $1 Billion ‘Impairment Charge’ on Pandora

Max Haycock, an analyst at Stifel’s London division, recently downgraded the rating of Hipgnosis (traded as SONG on the London Stock Exchange) to “neutral,” specifying first that he and his team “feel uncomfortable with Hipgnosis’ valuation procedure” – particularly because the music industry is “opaque.”

Source: Hipgnosis Downgraded by Stifel Analyst Due to Valuation Methodologies

SOCAN and Audible Magic have also announced they have entered into a strategic partnership with the goal to use Audible Magic technology and services to help SOCAN improve operational accuracy and reporting to publishers and songwriters. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Source: Audible Magic acquires rights administration business MediaNet from SOCAN

UK-based song-investment fund Hipgnosis has been blocked from soliciting investors in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Africa, a new message on the website reveals. Upon navigating to Hipgnosis’ website, U.S.-based users are greeted with an “important” notice indicating: “Due to restrictions under applicable securities laws, access to this website is not permitted in certain jurisdictions.”

Source: Hipgnosis Blocked from Soliciting Investors in the U.S., Canada, & More

The local focus may be increasingly valuable given the broader economic challenges facing the local news business — as founder Jeff Zheng put it, there’s “strong user demand” for local news but “weak supply.” And the strategy seems to have paid off for News Break so far, with the app reaching the top spot in the News category of Apple’s U.S. App Store multiple times (it’s currently ranked No. 4), and in Google Play as well.

Source: Local news app News Break raises $115M

Yesterday (January 6), the board of Hipgnosis announced to investors that the firm had entered into a new agreement with a syndicated group of lenders, with JPMorgan Chase Bank as Lead Arranger. Those lenders have increased Hipgnosis’ Revolving Credit Facility from USD $400 million to $600 million.

Source: Hipgnosis secures another $200m to buy music copyrights

Warner Music Group has invested in kids’ gaming phenomenon Roblox, as the platform’s owner, Roblox Corporation, plans to float on the stock exchange via a Spotify-style direct listing. Warner has joined a $520m Series H investment round in Roblox Corporation at a purchase price of $45.00 per share.

Source: Warner Music Group joins $520m investment round in video game platform Roblox

The deal includes both 50% of the publisher share and 50% of the writer’s share in Young’s music, spanning his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crazy Horse, in addition to the singer/songwriter’s full solo catalog. Industry experts suggest that the deal would have cost Hipgnosis in the region of $150m.

Source: Hipgnosis acquires 50% of Neil Young’s song catalog for around $150m