Finance

AT&T topped Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter of 2021, with WarnerMedia revenue gains driving top-line results — helped by strong growth of HBO Max — although the division’s operating income dropped 38% on higher costs. The company also announced that it expects the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger with Discovery to close in the second quarter (previously, it pegged the close for mid-2022).

Source: AT&T Tops Q4 Earnings Estimates, WarnerMedia Income Down 38% as Discovery Merger Expected to Close in Q2

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) plans to initiate antitrust proceedings against Spanish Authors society SGAE, for alleged “abuse of dominant position.” The investigation is being launched at the request of Unison, a Barcelona-based Independent Management Entity (IME) organization.

Source: Spanish competition authority to open antitrust case against authors society SGAE

Digital rights startup SuperBam announced it has paid out more than $10 million in reclaimed ad revenue to content creators who make their livings on YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and Facebook. SuperBam, works with creators and companies to help them track down those mashups, compilations, reuploads, and reposts on YouTube and claim the revenue those videos generate.

Source: SuperBam Reclaimed $10 Million In Pirated Revenue For Content Creators From YouTube, TikTok, And Twitch – Tubefilter

Investors apparently decided all at once that they’re not into deficit-financed companies, in streaming video or any other wildly overvalued corner of technology. What that means when all the major streaming services plan to spend billions more than they’re bringing in to fuel a brutal arms race for attention is suddenly much more complicated.

Source: Did Wall Street Just Give Up on the Streaming Wars?

Whether you’re a novice or veteran filmmaker, for a film to go from script to screen, there must be an adequate source of funding from various investors, grants, and other third parties. With the rise of NFTs, filmmakers have found an opportunity to use blockchain technology to acquire the necessary funds to bring their vision to life.

Source: How Blockchain Technology Is Helping Tinseltown Produce The Next Generation Of Films

Microsoft described the $75 billion acquisition of videogame giant as a pathway to the metaverse, a future vision of the internet that is the subject of growing hype. “When we think about our vision for what a metaverse can be, we believe there won’t be a single centralized metaverse,” Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said on the call. “We need to support many metaverse platforms.”

Source: What the Metaverse Has to Do With Microsoft’s Deal for Activision Blizzard

Netflix’s subscriber growth again came in limper than predicted in the last three months of 2021 — and the company predicts growth will slow way more than Wall Street was expecting in the first months of 2022, the latest bumps on the road for the world’s biggest subscription streaming service. Shares plummeted 18% to $415.01 early in after-hours trading.

Source: Netflix’s herky-jerky subscriber growth misses target, set to screech slower in early 2022

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is aimed at shaking up the game industry by building out the software giant’s library of blockbuster videogames and bolstering its efforts to entice consumers onto its cloud-gaming service. The planned $75 billion deal would be Microsoft’s biggest ever and its most ambitious investment yet in its plan to turn its Game Pass subscription service into the Netflix of gaming.

Source: Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Deal to Power Its Netflix-of-Gaming Aspirations

Research from PwC indicates that deal activity in the media and entertainment space will continue at a “vigorous pace” in 2022, powered by the demand for content from streaming platforms, 5G rollouts and strong interest from private equity buyers. In 2021, there were 804 M&A deals in the media and telecommunications sector, a 27 percent gain on 2020, with deal value at $233 billion.

Source: Demand for Streaming Content to Drive M&A Activity – WORLD SCREEN

Microsoft announced a deal to buy video-game player Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in cash. If it goes through, it would be Microsoft’s biggest-ever acquisition — and by far the biggest deal ever in the video game biz — as well as the largest tech deal to date. With Activision Blizzard, Microsoft would become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind China’s Tencent and Sony.

Source: Microsoft to Buy Activision Blizzard in Mega-Deal Worth $68.7 Billion