Finance

Inside Saudi Arabia’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Hollywood

Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery — a merger that would unite Paramount’s century-old IP library with HBO, CNN and Warners’ global television assets — is being powered by $24 billion from Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The Saudis backing the Warner Bros. deal represents more than just another international investor taking a financial stake in Hollywood. For Riyadh, the deal offers the House of Saud proximity to American media power — and, potentially, to the political ecosystem that surrounds it.

Source: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Hollywood

WGA Reaches Surprise Deal With Studios a Month Before Contract Expires

The guild reached a tentative agreement on Saturday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The deal will run for four years — instead of the typical three-year term — a significant benefit to the studios, which will get an extra year without the possibility of a strike. Details were not immediately forthcoming, but the deal was expected to include a major cash infusion into the guild’s teetering health fund, which has bled $200 million over the last four years.

Source: WGA Reaches Surprise Deal With Studios a Month Before Contract Expires

IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

The statement, published on Thursday (April 2), came one day after WMG announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the independent music platform, which specializes in digital music distribution, rights management, royalty accounting, and real-time analytics. IMPALA acknowledged that the deal reflects well on the independent sector’s capacity for innovation, but argued that it continues a pattern in which independent infrastructure is absorbed by major label groups

Source: IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing

The early 2020s marked the apex of a production boom known as “peak TV,” during which streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max tried to add subscribers as fast as possible. By the time strikes by actors and writers ended in 2023, Wall Street was demanding that streaming services give priority to profits over growth. The easiest way to get into the black was to cut production spending. 

Source: See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing

Global Streaming Subscription Revenue Tripled In Five Years, Poised to Top $200 Billion by 2030

Global streaming subscription revenue surpassed $150 billion for the first time in 2025, according to a new survey from Ampere Analysis, which highlighted that as “a major milestone” for the subscription market. And streaming subscription revenue will hit $202 billion by 2030, up 29 percent, “as streamers shift focus from subscriber growth to price increases and ad-supported tiers.”

Source: Global Streaming Subscription Revenue Tripled In Five Years, Poised to Top $200 Billion by 2030

The Sudden Fall of OpenAI’s Most Hyped Product Since ChatGPT

With OpenAI’s purse strings tightening ahead of its IPO, company executives began taking a more critical look at Sora—and didn’t like what they saw. The research team there was about to begin a training run for a new model meant to power video-generation in ChatGPT. Unlike language models, which learn from text, video models have to make sense of entire moving worlds, making them far more expensive to create. After running the numbers on how much it would cost, OpenAI decided to cancel it.

Source: The Sudden Fall of OpenAI’s Most Hyped Product Since ChatGPT

US judge dismisses Google monopoly claim brought by local publishers

A judge has dismissed an antitrust case brought by two US news publishers alleging Google has monopolized the online news market via its search business.  US District Judge Amit P. Mehta said the publishers did not successfully prove they have antitrust standing, meaning that they had suffered harm as a result of the tech giant’s actions within the search market.

Source: US judge dismisses Google monopoly claim brought by local publishers

Deezer Achieves Profitability In Fiscal 2025; ‘AI Transparency’ a Serious Differentiator

On Wednesday, French music streamer Deezer unveiled its 2025 financials, reporting profitability for the first time and exceeding all three key metrics across adjusted EBITDA, positive net income, and free cash flow. This, Deezer said, marks “the start of a cycle of sustainable profitability.” This growth was attributed to a $14 million (12 million euro) reduction in expenses, while earning more users through the company’s position on AI in music and artist compensation.

Source: Deezer Achieves Profitability In Fiscal 2025; ‘AI Transparency’ a Serious Differentiator

OpenAI Will Shut Down Sora Video App; Disney Drops Plans for $1 Billion Investment

OpenAI said it will discontinue Sora, the generative-AI video creation app it launched last year, without providing a reason for the decision. “We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,” OpenAI’s Sora team said in a statement Tuesday. The announcement comes just three months after Disney inked a groundbreaking deal with OpenAI.

Source: OpenAI Will Shut Down Sora Video App; Disney Drops Plans for $1 Billion Investment

Indie Label Owner Says Streaming Has Failed ‘The Middle Class of Musicians’

Streaming has failed “the ‘middle class’ of musicians” – at least according to Hopeless Records founder Louis Posen, who’s calling for major changes to the current pro-rata compensation model. Posen took aim at streaming’s shortcomings – and floated an interesting solution – in a blog post entitled “The Digital Paradox.” Technically, said post was attributed to the Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts (ORCA), an indie advocacy group that counts Hopeless as a founding supporter.

Source: Indie Label Owner Says Streaming Has Failed ‘The Middle Class of Musicians’

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