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  • MSNBC’s name is being replaced, but its leaders insist that its mission will remain the same

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Asked what viewers should expect when television’s MSNBC makes its corporate divorce from NBC News official this weekend, network president Rebecca Kutler points to a poster on the wall of a conference room at its new offices off Times Square.

    Its message reads: “Same Mission. New Name.”

    “To me, that encapsulates exactly what we need to be saying,” Kutler said. “Our job in the next few weeks is to flood the zone … and make sure they know the thing that they love will be the exact same thing on Nov. 15.”

    Saturday is when MSNBC officially becomes MS NOW, standing for My Source for News, Opinion and the World. That’s the most visible manifestation of parent company Comcast’s decision to spin off most of its cable networks into a new company known as Versant.

    It’s tough enough when one partner tells another that they’re leaving for someone new. In this case, they’re just leaving the partner behind; a cable television network is considered such a diminishing asset in today’s media world that giant companies would rather be free of them.

    “A lot of us really didn’t know what it meant,” said prime-time host Jen Psaki, “and it didn’t feel great initially.”

    Embracing the ethos of a startup

    Left on its own, MS NOW is embracing the ethos of a startup, suggesting it will be better positioned to experiment without ties to the more corporate NBC News. “Morning Joe” is starting its own newsletter. Podcast ideas are encouraged. The network is expanding live events, letting its television stars interact with the audience; Rachel Maddow has one in Chicago later this month.

    “I didn’t see this as a divorce,” said nighttime host Michael Steele. “I see this as the kid growing up and leaving home. We all know what that’s like.”

    As Kutler says, the network’s focus on news and commentary with a liberal perspective remains intact. So does its lineup of stars — Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber and the like. MS NOW has built its own reporting and support staff, and is moving into a new headquarters west of Broadway in Manhattan that is, not incidentally, the former longtime headquarters of The New York Times.

    The new office, tricked out with the latest electronics, ends one geographical oddity: No longer are the political polar opposites MSNBC and Fox News Channel located across Sixth Avenue from one another.

    The MS NOW news staff has about three dozen reporters, among them Washington Post alums Jackie Alemany and Carol Leonnig. It has signed partnerships with Sky News for international reporting and AccuWeather for forecasting.

    “Being divorced from NBC News gives it the opportunity to make deals on its own to supplement its cable existence,” said longtime broadcast and cable news executive Kate O’Brian, who spent several years at ABC. They have a strong identity and a built-in audience of people who oppose President Donald Trump, she said.

    “They’re lean, nimble and niche, putting them in a better position to adapt to any emergent platforms,” O’Brian said.

    MS NOW is leaner in audience than MSNBC was a year ago. The network’s prime-time weekday average of 1.17 million viewers this year is down 29% from 2024 — a number linked in large part to its viewers’ disappointment at the presidential election results. Fox News Channel, popular with Trump supporters, is up 14% to 3.11 million viewers.

    Yet MSNBC has roughly twice the audience of CNN, which saw an identical 29% decrease in viewers over the first nine months of 2025. MSNBC was also buoyed by a strong election night performance where it ran neck-and-neck with Fox, even while missing the khaki-clad numbers nerd, Steve Kornacki, who chose to remain with NBC News.

    MS NOW’s freedom appealed to reporters Jacob Soboroff, who chose it over NBC News, and Rosa Flores, who said she is joining the newly-named network from CNN primarily because she sees the opportunity to do a greater variety of things beyond the immigration beat she’d been covering.

    “All the legacy news organizations are trying to make their way,” Flores said. “I felt like being part of a news organization that was building solutions from the ground up was so unique that I wanted to be a part of it.”

    Being part of a news operation with a clear political identity was not a barrier for Soboroff. “It’s about the people for me, always, it’s not about the politics,” he said. “I feel like I do what I’ve always done, which is report the facts on the ground, turn them around to our audience and let the audience make up their own minds about what they think.”

    Cleaning out the office at Rockefeller Center

    The company is spending a reported $20 million on a marketing campaign designed to publicize the changeover, which will include billboards in Times Square, the Grove in Los Angeles and the South Capitol Digital Experience Wall in Washington, D.C.

    Far cheaper is the mug with MSNBC crossed out and replaced by MS NOW on the set of “Morning Joe.” Co-host Mika Brzezinski recently cleared out her Rockefeller Center office and reminisced about times that NBC’s Richard Engel and Keir Simmons appeared on their show. “We’re going to miss some reporters,” she said, “and they’re going to miss us.”

    With a rapidly evolving media landscape, success or failure will ultimately be decided by who has the content people most want to see, said her co-host and husband, Joe Scarborough.

    “If this were five years ago, I would have been, ‘Oh, my God, how are we going to do this?’” he said. “Everything is so fluid now.”

    ___

    David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

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  • These are the 37 donors helping pay for Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his $300 million White House ballroom will be paid for “100% by me and some friends of mine.”

    The White House released a list of 37 donors, including crypto billionaires, charitable organizations, sports team owners, powerful financiers, tech and tobacco giants, media companies, longtime supporters of Republican causes and several of the president’s neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.

    It’s incomplete. Among others, the list doesn’t include Carrier Group, which offered to donate an HVAC system for the ballroom, and artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, whose CEO, Jensen Huang, publicly discussed its donation.

    The White House hasn’t said how much each donor is giving, and almost none was willing to divulge that. Very few commented on their contributions when contacted by The Associated Press.

    A senior White House official said the list has grown since it was first released in October, but some companies don’t want to be publicly named until required to do so by financial disclosure regulations. No foreign individuals or entities were among the donors, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that haven’t been made public.

    Here’s a look at the divulged donors:

    Tech giants (8):

    Amazon Background: Trump was once highly critical of company founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, but has been much less so lately. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, an event attended by Bezos. Its video streaming service paid $40 million to license a documentary about first lady Melania Trump. Its cloud-based computing operation, Amazon Web Services, is a major government contractor.

    Apple Background: After an up-and-down relationship during Trump’s first term, CEO Tim Cook has sought to improve his standing with the president this time. Before returning to the White House, Trump hosted Cook at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and said he had spoken with Cook about the company’s long-running tax battles with the European Union. Cook also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. In the spring, Trump threatened the computing giant with tariffs after Apple announced plans to build manufacturing facilities in India. In August, Cook presented the president with a customized glass plaque with a gold base as the CEO announced plans to bring Apple’s total investment commitment in U.S. manufacturing over four years to $600 billion.

    Google Background: During his first term, Trump’s administration sued Google for antitrust violations. While a candidate last year, Trump suggested he might seek to break up the search engine behemoth. Once Trump won the election, Google donated $1 million to his inauguration, and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, joined other major tech executives in attending the ceremony. Google’s subsidiary, YouTube, agreed in September to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump after it suspended his account following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. According to court filings, $22 million of that went to the Trust for the National Mall, which can help pay for ballroom construction.

    HP Background: An original Silicon Valley stalwart, the company donated to Trump’s inaugural fund. HP ‘s CEO, Enrique Lores, participated in a White House roundtable event in September. Lores also previously met with President Joe Biden at the White House on multiple occasions as top CEOs endorsed that administration’s economic plans.

    Meta Background: Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been critical of Trump going back to 2016, and Facebook suspended Trump for years after the Jan. 6 insurrection. This time around, Meta contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, and Zuckerberg attended.

    Micron Technology Background: The producer of advanced memory computer chips announced an April 2024 agreement with the Biden administration to provide $6.1 billion in government support for Micron to make chips domestically. Then, in June, Micron pledged $200 billion for U.S. memory chip manufacturing expansion under Trump. But at least $120 billion of that involved holdovers first announced during Biden’s administration.

    Microsoft Background: The company donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, twice what it spent for Biden’s or for Trump’s first inauguration. CEO Satya Nadella has also met with Trump numerous times, as Microsoft has supported the administration’s relaxation of regulations on artificial intelligence. He met previously with Biden, too. Trump has called for Microsoft’s president of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, to be fired because she was a deputy attorney general under Biden when the Justice Department led several investigations against Trump.

    Palantir Technologies Background: Co-founded by billionaire libertarian Peter Thiel, the firm concentrates on artificial intelligence and machine learning. It has seen profits soar thanks to lucrative defense and other federal contracts.

    Crypto (5):

    Coinbase Background: The major cryptocurrency exchange was founded by Brian Armstrong, a top donor to a political action committee that helped Trump and other pro-crypto candidates in 2024. Armstrong attended the first crypto summit at the White House in March. Coinbase also hired Trump’s co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, to its Global Advisory Council.

    Ripple Background: In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a lawsuit filed during Trump’s first term, which accused the company of violating securities laws by selling XRP crypto coins without a securities registration. In his second term, Trump has eased regulations on digital assets, repealing an SEC accounting rule and a previous presidential executive order mandating more federal study and proposed changes to crypto regulations.

    Tether Background: A cryptocurrency company and major stablecoin issuer, Tether paid fines for misleading investors. CEO Paolo Ardoino has been to Trump’s White House, and, in April, the company hired former Trump administration crypto policy official Bo Hines to lead its domestic expansion efforts.

    Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss Background: Each Winklevoss twin is listed as a separate donor. Best known as Zuckerberg’s chief antagonists in “The Social Network,” the brothers founded the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. Biden’s SEC sued Gemini for selling unregistered securities, but the case has been paused under Trump.

    Energy and industrial (4):

    Caterpillar Background: The equipment maker ‘s PAC has donated to candidates from both parties, but given more to Republicans. It has also said publicly that Trump’s tariffs, some of which the administration has now eased, could increase its costs and hurt earnings.

    NextEra Energy Background: NextEra is the world’s largest electric utility holding company. Trump says he’ll work to ensure tech giants can secure their own sources of electricity to power data centers, especially as they expand energy-hogging artificial intelligence operations. Google recently entered into an agreement to buy power from a shuttered nuclear power plant in Iowa owned by NextEra, which the company plans to bring back online in 2029.

    Paolo Tiramani Background: An American industrial designer who has donated to Trump’s political campaigns. Tiramani, with his son, runs BOXABL, a firm specializing in modular, prefabricated homes.

    Union Pacific Background: Trump has endorsed the company’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern, which would be the largest-ever rail merger. It also will be up to the president to appoint two more Republican members of the Surface Transportation Board, who will ultimately decide whether to approve the merger. In August, Trump fired one of the two Democratic members of the board.

    Philanthropy (3):

    Adelson Family Foundation Background: Founded to strengthen the state of Israel and the Jewish people, the foundation was created by Miriam Adelson, the majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, close Trump ally and longtime GOP megadonor. She’s also the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire founder and owner of Las Vegas Sands.

    Betty Wold Johnson Foundation Background: Based in Palm Beach, the foundation supports health, arts and culture initiatives, as well as environmental and educational programs. It’s named in honor of the mother of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom during his first term.

    Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Background: The nonprofit based in Lake Worth Beach, near Palm Beach, focuses on promoting health care, social justice, the arts and community initiatives. Isaac is an Israeli American businessman and financier and former chair of Marvel Entertainment. He and his wife have donated to Trump’s presidential campaigns and affiliated PACs.

    Trump administration officials (3):

    Benjamin Leon Jr. Background: The Cuban American founder of Miami-based Leon Medical Centers is Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Spain.

    Kelly Loeffler and Jeffrey Sprecher Background: A former Republican senator from Georgia, Loeffler heads Trump’s Small Business Administration. Her husband is CEO of the energy market Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and chairs the New York Stock Exchange. The couple faced scrutiny in 2020 for dumping substantial portions of their portfolio and purchasing new stocks, including in firms making protective equipment, after Congress received briefings on the severity of the coming coronavirus pandemic.

    Lutnick Family Background: Howard Lutnick is Trump’s commerce secretary. A crypto enthusiast, he once headed the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.

    Communications/entertainment (3):

    Comcast Background: The mass media and telecom conglomerate has often been criticized by Trump, including in April, when the president posted that Comcast was a “disgrace to the integrity of broadcasting.” The company owns NBC and is spinning off MSNBC. It could be interested in acquiring Warner Bros. Discover, and that would leave Comcast looking for government approval.

    Hard Rock International Background: A Florida-based gaming and tourism concern owned by the Seminole Tribe, the company operates a number of casinos, including the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Trump has for decades criticized federal exemptions allowing tribes to operate casinos.

    T-Mobile Background: The wireless carrier is indirectly linked to Trump Mobile, which the president’s family controls and offers gold phones and cell service in a licensing deal. Trump Mobile uses Liberty Mobile Wireless, a small, Florida-based network that T-Mobile says runs its operations on T-Mobile’s network. T-Mobile says that is unrelated to its decision to donate to Trump’s ballroom, which it says is meant to “restore and enrich the historic landmarks that define our nation’s capital.”

    Big Tobacco (2):

    Altria Group Background: The tobacco giant controls Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro. It has pressed for federal crackdowns on counterfeit and illegal vaping products. The company donated $50,000 to Trump’s inauguration.

    Reynolds American Background: With brands including Lucky Strike and Camel, the company has been active in lobbying to steer the Trump administration away from a Biden-proposed ban on menthol cigarettes.

    Defense/national security (2):

    Booz Allen Hamilton Background: A major defense and national security technology firm with extensive government contracts, it paid fines to settle lawsuits with the Justice Department under Biden. Booz Allen Hamilton agreed to pay more than $377 million in 2023 to settle allegations that it improperly billing costs to its government contracts. In January, it paid nearly $16 million to settle allegations that it submitted fraudulent claims in connection with government contracts.

    Lockheed Martin Corporation Background: The massive defense contractor has huge government contracts. It said in a statement that it “is grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House.”

    Individuals (7):

    Stefan E. Brodie Background: A biotech entrepreneur and co-founder of the chemical manufacturing company Purolite, Brodie and his family donated to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and affiliated committees. Brodie and his brother, Donald, were convicted in 2002 of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

    Charles and Marissa Cascarilla Background: Charles Cascarilla is co‑founder of the blockchain firm Paxos. He and his wife are philanthropists who have advocated for financial technology sector deregulation.

    J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul Background: Longtime Republican donors and Palm Beach residents, the couple controls U.S. sugar refining interests that includes the Domino brand.

    Edward and Shari Glazer Background: Members of the family that owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has a controlling stake in the Manchester United football club, the couple donated to Trump’s campaign. Edward is the founder and CEO of US Property Trust, which operates shopping centers, and the car dealership company US Auto Trust.

    Harold Hamm Background: The billionaire oil tycoon and pioneer of hydraulic fracturing heads the oil producer Continental Resources. He’s praised the Trump administration for aggressively moving to purchase oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve stockpile.

    Stephen A. Schwarzman Background: A Palm Beach resident and chair and CEO of the Blackstone Group, a global private equity firm he helped establish in 1985. Schwarzman has donated to Trump and his PACs previously and led his first-term President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

    Konstantin Sokolov Background: Born in Russia, he immigrated to the U.S. and now heads the Chicago-based private equity firm IJS Investments. Sokolov has donated to many educational and charitable causes in the past, and to Trump’s political campaigns.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the first name of an individual who donated to the White House ballroom. He is Harold Hamm, not Howard Hamm.

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  • ‘Inside Out 2’ hits $155 million domestic debut, second-highest animation opening ever

    ‘Inside Out 2’ hits $155 million domestic debut, second-highest animation opening ever

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    Disney and Pixar brought a big dose of joy to the box office this weekend.

    “Inside Out 2” debuted with an estimated $155 million domestically, the second-highest theatrical opening of an animated film and the first film since Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” to top $100 million during its debut.

    Of note, Disney does not consider its 2019 live-action remake of “The Lion King,” which generated $191.7 million during its debut, an animation film.

    “Inside Out 2” is expected to haul in $295 million globally for the weekend.

    “Let’s issue a collective ‘welcome back’ to Disney, Pixar, and the summer box office,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory.”

    Both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation struggled to regain a foothold at the box office after pandemic restrictions lessened and audiences returned to theaters. Disney had opted to debut a handful of animated features directly on Disney+ and so parents were trained to seek out new Disney titles on streaming, not in theaters, even when they did return to the big screen.

    Compounding Disney’s woes, many audience members began to feel that the company’s content had grown overly existential and too concerned with social issues beyond the reach of children.

    “Many narratives have been written about the two studios and moviegoing in recent times, so this powerful debut by ‘Inside Out 2’ is a breath of fresh air,” Robbins said.

    The film is the fifth Pixar feature to surpass $100 million during its debut in North America and the second-biggest opening weekend ticket seller for the studio just behind 2018’s “The Incredibles 2,” which tallied $182.6 million. Around 12 million patrons flocked to cinemas to see the flick, according to data from EntTelligence.

    “This is clearly a big win for theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It’s an even bigger win for Pixar.”

    The theatrical industry has struggled this year with fewer titles, as production shutdowns from the pandemic were exacerbated by a dual labor strike that closed movie sets for nearly five months last year. The result has been a 26% decline in ticket sales compared to 2023 and a 42% drop from 2019 levels, according to data from Comscore. Heading into this weekend, the domestic box office stood at $2.8 billion.

    While there have been some standout performances from films like Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “Dune: Part Two,” Warner Bros. and Toho’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4,” the 2024 box office has struggled to hit a consistent pace of releases and ticket sales.

    Missing from this year’s early summer slate for the first time since 2009 was a Marvel Cinematic Universe title. Typically, these films average $100 million to $200 million openings, with 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” hitting a record $357.1 million. Instead, this year, Universal’s “The Fall Guy” opened to $28 million.

    Fewer films and fewer blockbusters could push the summer box office down as much as $800 million compared with 2023, according to Comscore’s Dergarabedian, and have ripple effects for the whole year. After all, the key summer period, which runs from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, typically accounts for 40% of the total annual domestic box office.

    “Inside Out 2” is a bright spot for the industry. It boasts the biggest domestic debut of 2024, surpassing “Dune: Part Two” and its $82.5 million in opening weekend ticket sales.

    “Does this performance wipe away all concerns of evolving consumer behavior? Of course not, but it should stay the hand of those thinking Disney or Pixar had permanently lost their commercial gravitas after an overly aggressive streaming strategy and undercooked films which together eroded some of their audiences in the past few years,” Robbins said.

    And some heavy hitters are coming to close out the summer and finish up the year.

    “Deadpool and Wolverine,” Marvel’s first R-rated feature, is due in theaters in July and is expected to deliver a strong opening weekend as well as a steady stream of ticket sales throughout its run.

    Then “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” arrives in early September, “Joker: Folie a Deux” hits in October alongside “Venom: The Last Dance,” and November sees “Gladiator II,” “Moana 2” and “Wicked.” Additionally, December will have “Kraven the Hunter,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3″ and “Mufasa: The Lion King.”

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

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  • David Letterman Fast Facts | CNN

    David Letterman Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the life of former late-night talk show host David Letterman.

    Birth date: April 12, 1947

    Birth place: Indianapolis, Indiana

    Birth name: David Michael Letterman

    Father: Harry Letterman, florist

    Mother: Dorothy (Hofert) Letterman Mengering

    Marriages: Regina Lasko (March 19, 2009-present); Michelle Cook (divorced)

    Children: with Regina Lasko: Harry Joseph

    Education: Ball State University, B.A., 1969

    Letterman is the founder of the production company Worldwide Pants, which produced “Late Show with David Letterman.”

    Is a co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

    Letterman has been nominated for 50 Emmy Awards and won five.

    “Late Night with David Letterman” was nominated for 25 Emmy Awards and won three.

    “Late Show with David Letterman” was nominated for 76 Emmy Awards and won nine.

    “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman” has been nominated for four Emmy Awards.

    1969 – Begins working as an announcer and weekend weatherman at WLWI (now WTHR), an ABC affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana.

    1975 – Moves to Los Angeles and begins performing stand-up at the Comedy Store. Later he is hired by Jimmie Walker, star of the CBS sitcom “Good Times,” as a writer.

    1978 – Appears on Mary Tyler Moore’s variety show, “Mary.”

    November 1978 – Makes the first of 22 appearances on “The Tonight Show” hosted by Johnny Carson. Letterman also serves as a guest host on “The Tonight Show” several times.

    June 23, 1980-October 24, 1980 – Hosts “The David Letterman Show,” a daytime talk show on NBC.

    February 1, 1982-June 25, 1993 – Hosts “Late Night with David Letterman” on NBC.

    September 23, 1984 – Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

    September 18, 1985 – Premiere of the “Top Ten” list.

    September 22, 1985 – Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

    September 21, 1986 – Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

    September 20, 1987 – Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

    May 1992 – Carson announces his retirement and speculation begins that Letterman will replace him.

    January 1993 – After it is announced that Jay Leno will take Carson’s place, Letterman announces he will be leaving NBC for CBS, and expresses anger over what he regards as NBC’s poor treatment of him.

    August 30, 1993-May 20, 2015 – Host of “Late Show with David Letterman.”

    September 11, 1994 – Wins the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series.

    March 27, 1995 – Hosts the Academy Awards.

    January 14, 2000 – Letterman undergoes quintuple bypass surgery.

    September 17, 2001 – Is the first late-night talk show host to return to air after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Instead of starting the show with a humorous monologue, Letterman mourns those lost and praises the city’s firefighters and police officers. His first guest, CBS anchor Dan Rather, breaks down in tears during the broadcast.

    March 31, 2003 – Letterman returns to his show after being out for nearly a month due to shingles.

    March 17, 2005 – Kelly Frank, a house painter who worked on Letterman’s Montana ranch, is charged with plotting to kidnap Letterman’s son for ransom. In September, Frank pleads guilty to a lesser charge and is sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 2007, he escapes, but is later recaptured.

    October 1, 2009 – Letterman admits on air that he has had sexual relationships with female staff members and that someone has been attempting to blackmail him over the affairs.

    October 5, 2009 – Letterman apologizes to his wife and female staffers in front of a live studio audience.

    March 9, 2010 – Robert “Joe” Halderman, a former CBS News producer accused of trying to blackmail Letterman, pleads guilty to attempted second-degree grand larceny and is sentenced to six months in jail, five years’ probation and 1,000 hours of community service. In September, Halderman is released after serving four months of his six-month prison sentence.

    April 2012 – Extends his contract with CBS through 2014.

    December 2, 2012 – Is honored at the Kennedy Center Honors gala along with Buddy Guy, Dustin Hoffman, Natalia Makarova and the musical group Led Zeppelin.

    October 4, 2013 – Extends his contract with CBS through 2015.

    April 3, 2014 – During a taping of “The Late Show,” Letterman announces that he will be retiring in 2015.

    May 20, 2015 – Tapes his final show. Counting his work on both NBC and CBS, this is show number 6,028 for Letterman.

    October 30, 2016 – Letterman’s segment on climate change for the “Years of Living Dangerously” series airs on the National Geographic Channel. The episode follows Letterman as he travels around India discussing India’s zealous renewable energy plan.

    October 22, 2017 – Is awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

    January 12, 2018 – In the debut of his new Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” Letterman interviews former US President Barack Obama. Guests scheduled for the rest of Letterman’s shows include George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, Tina Fey and Howard Stern.

    February 1, 2022 – “Late Night” host Seth Meyers welcomes Letterman to help celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary.

    December 12, 2022 – Letterman’s interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” debuts on Netflix. Letterman traveled to Kyiv for the wartime interview, which took place in an underground subway station.

    ‘Late Show with David Letterman’: Our top 10 moments

    November 20, 2023 – Returns to his former studio for the first time as a guest on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

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  • Companies — profitable or not — make 2024 the year of cost cuts

    Companies — profitable or not — make 2024 the year of cost cuts

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    Mathisworks | Digitalvision Vectors | Getty Images

    Corporate America has a message for Wall Street: It’s serious about cutting costs this year.

    From toy and cosmetics makers to office software sellers, executives across sectors have announced layoffs and other plans to slash expenses — even at some companies that are turning a profit. Barbie maker Mattel, PayPal, Cisco, Nike, Estée Lauder and Levi Strauss are just a few of the firms that have cut jobs in recent weeks.

    Department store retailer Macy’s said it will close five of its namesake department stores and cut more than 2,300 jobs. JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines have offered staff buyouts, while United Airlines cut first-class meals on some of its shortest flights.

    As consumers watch their wallets, companies have felt pressure from investors to do the same. Executives have sought to show shareholders that they’re adjusting to consumer demand as it returns to typical patterns or even softens, as well as aggressively countering higher expenses.

    Airlines, automakers, media companies and package giant UPS are all digesting new labor contracts that gave raises to tens of thousands of workers and drove costs higher.

    Companies in years past could get away with passing on higher costs to customers who were willing to splurge on everything from new appliances to beach vacations. But businesses’ pricing power has waned, so executives are looking for other ways to manage the budget — or squeeze out more profits, said Gregory Daco, chief economist for EY.

    “You are in an environment where cost fatigue is very much part of the equation for consumers and business leaders,” Daco said. “The cost of most everything is much higher than it was before the pandemic, whether it’s goods, inputs, equipment, labor, even interest rates.”

    There are some exceptions to the recent cost-cutting wave: Walmart, for example, said last month that it would build or convert more than 150 stores over the next five years, along with a more than $9 billion investment to modernize many of its current stores.

    And some companies, such as banks, already made deep cuts. Five of the largest banks, including Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, together eliminated more than 20,000 jobs in 2023. Now, they’re awaiting interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve that would free up cash for pent-up mergers and acquisitions.

    But cost reductions unveiled in even just the first few weeks of the year amount to tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. In January, U.S. companies announced 82,307 job cuts, more than double the number in December, while still down 20% from a year ago, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

    And the tightening of months prior is already showing up in financial reports.

    So far this earnings season, results have indicated that companies have focused on driving profits higher without the tailwind of big price increases and sales growth.

    As of mid-February, more than three-quarters of the S&P 500 had reported fourth-quarter results, with far more earnings beats than revenue beats. The quarter’s earnings, measured by a composite of S&P 500 companies, are on pace to rise nearly 10%. Revenues, however, are up a more modest 3.4%.

    Layoffs, flight cuts and store closures

    While companies’ drive for higher profits isn’t new, they have made bolstering the bottom line a priority this year.

    Downsizing has rippled across the tech industry, as companies followed the lead of Meta’s 2023 cuts, which many analysts credited with helping the social media giant rebound from a rough 2022. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had dubbed 2023 the “year of efficiency” for the parent of Facebook and Instagram, as it slashed the size of its workforce and vowed to carry forward its leaner approach.

    In recent weeks, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Cisco, among others, have announced staffing reductions.

    And the layoffs haven’t been contained to tech. UPS said it was axing 12,000 jobs, saving the company $1 billion, CEO Carol Tome said late last month, citing softer demand. Many of the largest retail, media and entertainment companies have also announced workforce reductions, in addition to other cuts.

    Warner Bros. Discovery has slashed content spending and headcount as part of $4 billion in total cost savings from the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia. Disney initially promised $5.5 billion in cost reductions in 2023, fueled by 7,000 layoffs. The company has since increased its savings promise to $7.5 billion, and executives suggested in its Feb. 7 quarterly earnings report that it may exceed that target.

    Last week, Paramount Global announced hundreds of layoffs in an effort to “operate as a leaner company and spend less,” according to CEO Bob Bakish. Comcast’s NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, has also recently eliminated jobs.

    JetBlue Airways, which hasn’t posted an annual profit since before the pandemic, is deferring about $2.5 billion in capital expenditures on new Airbus planes to the end of the decade, culling unprofitable routes and redeploying aircraft in addition to the worker buyouts.

    Delta Air Lines, which is profitable, in November said it was cutting some office jobs, calling it a “small adjustment.”

    Some cuts are even making their way to the front of the cabin. United Airlines, which also posted a profit in 2023, at the start of this year said it would serve first-class meals only on flights more than 900 miles, up from 800 miles previously. “On flights that are 301 to 900 miles, United First customers can expect an offering from the premium snack basket,” according to an internal post.

    Several of the country’s largest automakers, such as General Motors and Ford Motor, have lowered spending by billions of dollars through reduced or delayed investments on all-electric vehicles. The U.S.-based companies as well as others, such as Netherlands-based Stellantis, have recently reduced headcount and payroll through voluntary buyouts or layoffs.

    Even Chipotle, which reported more foot traffic and sales at its restaurants in the most recently reported quarter, is chasing higher productivity by testing an avocado-scooping robot called the Autocado that shortens the time it takes to make guacamole. It’s also testing another robot that can put together burrito bowls and salads. The robots, if expanded to other stores, could help cut costs by minimizing food waste or reducing the number of workers needed for those tasks.

    Shifting patterns

    Industry experts have chalked up some recent cuts to companies catching their breath — and taking a hard look at how they operate — after an unusual four-year stretch caused by the pandemic and its fallout.

    EY’s Daco said the past few years have been marked by a mismatch in supply and demand when it comes to goods, services and even workers.

    Customers went on shopping sprees, fueled by government stimulus and less experience-related spending. Airlines saw demand disappear and then skyrocket. Companies furloughed workers in the early pandemic and then struggled to fill jobs.

    He said he expects companies this year to “search for an equilibrium.”

    “You’re seeing a rebalancing happening in the labor markets, in the capital markets,” he said. “And that rebalancing is still going to play out and gradually lead to a more sustainable environment of lower inflation and lower interest rates, and perhaps a little bit slower growth.”

    The auto industry, for example, faced a supply issue during much of the Covid pandemic but is now facing a potential demand problem. Inventories of new vehicles are rising — surpassing 2.5 million units and 71 days’ supply toward the end of 2023, up 57% year over year, according to Cox Automotive — forcing automakers to extend more discounts in an effort to move cars and trucks off dealer lots.

    Automakers have also been contending with slower-than-expected adoption of EVs.

    David Silverman, a retail analyst at Fitch Ratings, said companies are “feeling a bit heavy as sales growth moderates and maybe even declines.”

    Cost cuts at UPS, Hasbro and Levi all followed sales declines in the most recent fiscal quarter. Macy’s, which reports earnings later this month, has said it expects same-store sales to drop, and there’s early evidence that may come to bear: Consumers pulled back on spending in January, with retail sales falling 0.8%, more than economists expected, according to the latest federal data.

    Most major retailers, including Walmart, Target and Home Depot, will report earnings in the coming weeks.

    Credit ratings agency Fitch said it doesn’t expect the U.S. economy to tip into recession, but it does anticipate a continued pullback in discretionary spending.

    “Part of companies’ decision to lower their expense structure is in line with their views that 2024 may not be a fantastic year from a top-line-growth standpoint,” Silverman said.

    Plus, he added, companies have had to find cash to fund investments in newer technology such as infrastructure that supports e-commerce, a resilient supply chain or investments in artificial intelligence.

    Forward momentum

    Companies may have another reason to cut costs now, too. As they see other companies shrinking the size of their workforces or budgets, there’s safety in numbers.

    Or as Silverman noted, “layoffs beget layoffs.”

    “As companies have started to announce them it becomes normalized,” he said. “There’s less of a stigma.”

    Even with rolling layoffs, the labor market remains strong, which may help explain why Wall Street has by and large rewarded those companies that have found areas to save and returned profits to shareholders.

    Shares of Meta, for example, almost tripled in price in 2023 in that “year of efficiency,” making the stock the second-best gainer in the S&P 500, behind only Nvidia. After laying off more than 20,000 workers in 2023, Meta on Feb. 2 announced its first-ever dividend and said it expanded its share buyback authorization by $50 billion.

    UPS, fresh from job cuts, said it would raise its quarterly dividend by a penny.

    Overall, dividends paid by companies in the S&P 500 rose 5.05% last year, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, and he estimated they will likely increase nearly 5.3% this year.

    — CNBC’s Michael Wayland, Alex Sherman, Robert Hum, Amelia Lucas and Jonathan Vanian contributed to this story.

    Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

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  • ‘Anyone But You’ could spark a rom-com renaissance in Hollywood

    ‘Anyone But You’ could spark a rom-com renaissance in Hollywood

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    Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney star in Sony’s “Anyone But You.”

    Sony

    Released just before the crowded Christmas movie season, Sony’s “Anyone But You” seemed destined to be anything but a box-office hit — especially after it tallied just $6 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend.

    However, the film’s box-office success was as much of a slow burn as the romance between its main characters played by rising stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.

    In the seven weeks since, the romantic comedy has tallied $170 million globally, including $80 million from domestic theaters, according to data from Comscore. The film had a reported budget of just $25 million.

    A sleeper hit at the box office, the film is a “healthy sign” for the romantic comedy genre and other mid-budget Hollywood flicks, said Scott Meslow, author of “From Hollywood With Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy.” But it remains to be seen if other rom-coms can repeat its success.

    As studios chased big-budget superhero flicks after the success of Marvel’s interconnected cinematic universe, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy and DC Studios’ “Man of Steel,” the rom-com found itself on the cutting room floor — and then as padding for streaming services.

    Between 2004 and 2010, Hollywood consistently released between 15 and 25 romantic comedy or romance films each year. But from 2011 through last year, there were less than 15 new rom-com or romance releases per year, with most years falling below 10.

    Meslow said there was no rom-com “kill shot,” a film or series of films that sparked the decline in theatrical releases of the genre.

    Instead, it came after media companies changed their priorities.

    “Studios are, at the end of the day, businesses,” Will Gluck, the writer-director of “Anything But You” and the filmmaker behind “Easy A” and “Friends with Benefits,” told CNBC. “So, if they start to see a certain thing is successful, they’re going to try to replicate that success. So, I don’t think there’s an inherent bias against rom-coms and comedies.”

    Studios saw action or superhero movies with $200 million budgets and billions in box-office returns as a priority over smaller-budget films, which may have been profitable, but less so in comparison. Now, as superheroes fall out of favor and Wall Street wants to see profitability from direct-to-consumer streaming platforms, the romantic comedy genre is poised for a comeback.

    Gluck’s “Anyone But You” proves audiences will still turn up for romantic comedies in theaters.

    The film’s performance builds on the success of two rom-coms from 2022. Paramount’s “The Lost City” generated nearly $200 million at the global box office on a budget of under $75 million. Universal’s “Ticket to Paradise” snared nearly $170 million globally on a budget of $60 million.

    While “Anyone But You” had a slow start at the box office, ticket sales increased in both its second and third weekend in theaters. And when sales started to dip, they fell just 27% or less in each of the next five weeks. Typically, films will see sales drop around 50% to 70% in each week after their opening weekend.

    Gluck attributes much of the film’s box-office popularity to word of mouth and the power of TikTok.

    In the wake of its release, users on the social media platform began making short videos of themselves singing and dancing to Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 single “Unwritten.” The song is featured in the film, and cast and crew are seen singing and dancing to it during the final credits.

    “It would not surprise me at all if this became a textbook case of modern Hollywood marketing,” Meslow said. “It’s really harnessed TikTok and the stars’ presence on it better than probably any movie ever released.”

    Hollywood will now find out if “Anyone But You” is a unicorn or a replicable theatrical strategy. The film benefited from several key factors, including a blockbuster-free January and limited direct competition.

    But the industry is already leaning into a strategy that relies on potential sleeper hits like “Anyone But You.”

    Major studios have pledged to bring more mid-budget films back to theaters. Those movies are able to fill the gaps between large tentpole features and provide consistent box-office dollars. More films also means more chances for studios to advertise future releases to the public.

    While some films will still be released only on streaming platforms, Hollywood has rediscovered the importance of theatrical as part of overall downstream revenue. A film’s debut in theaters creates buzz and a sense of quality that follows it through on-demand sales and onto streaming platforms.

    Notably, Sony’s “No Hard Feelings,” which tallied $83.8 million globally in 2023 on a budget of $45 million, became a top-streaming film on Netflix when it was released on the platform in October.

    “Anyone But You” is destined for Netflix after it wraps up its theatrical run, as part of a streaming distribution deal with Sony signed in 2021.

    Gluck, who enjoys taking on a wide variety of projects, expects he will continue to write and direct films like “Anyone But You” going forward.

    “I think I’d rather take a gamble on a mid- to low-budget movie than a $200 million movie,” Gluck said. “Because my whole career has been mid-level budget movies. But to me, the fun part is always outperforming. It is always great when the expectations are low … it’s just it’s really fun to be written off and outperform.”

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

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  • Universal banks on 'Migration' to expand its animation lead over Disney

    Universal banks on 'Migration' to expand its animation lead over Disney

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    Universal and Illuminations latest animated film centers on a family of ducks who decides to leave the safety of a New England pond for an adventurous trip to Jamaica. However, their well-laid plans quickly go awry when they get lost and wind up in New York City.

    Universal

    Disney dropped the animation crown. Universal has picked it up.

    And, with “Migration” opening Friday, the studio is looking to strengthen its grip.

    “Migration,” a comic tale about a family of New England ducks that leave their pond for Jamaica, but end up in New York City, is expected to tally $25 million during its domestic debut. Universal has more conservative expectations, forecasting between $10 million and $15 million in ticket sales for the film’s opening.

    While that pales in comparison to the $100 million-plus debuts of Illumination/Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and the latest “Minions” film, it’s comparable to the studio and DreamWorks Animation’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which ran in theaters for several months, securing nearly $500 million globally.

    “‘Migration,’ with solid word-of-mouth and strong reviews, will have to be judged more on its long-term results than the opening weekend splash,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

    Disney’s most recent animated film “Wish” failed to connect with audiences. After generating $31.6 million domestically over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday, the film has grossed a total of $55.2 million in the U.S. and Canada. Globally, the film has reached $127.1 million. The film had a budget of $200 million, not including marketing costs.

    For comparison, “Trolls Band Together,” which was released the week before Thanksgiving, secured $30 million for its three-day debut and nearly $180 million worldwide. The film had a budget of $95 million, not including marketing costs.

    Representatives from Disney did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

    How Disney lost the crown

    Ariana DeBose stars as Asha in Disney’s new animated film “Wish.”

    Disney

    Disney established its animated feature empire in the early 20th century with 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and continued to dominate, more or less, into the 1980s and 1990s with “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

    Later, it acquired Pixar, which together with Walt Disney Animation, generated billions in box-office receipts for the company.

    “The world of feature animation has been dominated for decades by Disney and for good reason,” said Dergarabedian. “They set the gold standard.”

    Then came the Covid pandemic. While theaters closed, Disney sought to pad its fledgling streaming service Disney+ with content, stretching its creative teams thin, and sending theatrical movies during the pandemic straight to digital.

    The decision trained parents to seek out new Disney titles on streaming, not theaters, even when Disney opted to return its films to the big screen. Compounding Disney’s woes was a general sense from audiences that the company’s content had grown overly existential and too concerned with social issues beyond the reach of children.

    As a result, no Disney animated feature from Pixar or Walt Disney Animation has generated more than $480 million at the global box office since 2019.

    “I think what’s changed is that Disney doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt,” said Josh Brown, CEO at Ritholtz Wealth Management and a CNBC contributor. “And people will not go to a movie just because it’s the latest Disney movie in the way that previous generations did.”

    Universal appeal

    Meanwhile, Universal’s two animation arms — Illumination and DreamWorks — have thrived.

    Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which opened in 2022, tallied $942 million worldwide, DreamWorks’ “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” capped at $485 million after its holiday 2022 opening, and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” soared to more than $1.3 billion in 2023.

    Even the Magic Kingdom was impressed with the box office of “Super Mario.” Disney CEO Bob Iger praised the rival studio back in May during the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call.

    But as moviegoers have returned to cinemas in the wake of the pandemic, more are gravitating toward Universal’s fare.

    “Simply put, Illumination Animation’s only agenda is entertainment,” said Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “Their animated films are sweet and simple and family audiences appreciate that. Disney sometimes attempts to pack too much into their animated features, and lately have been losing sight of the simplicity of the genre.”

    Not to mention, Universal has been revisiting tried and true fan-favorite stories and characters. In fact, Illumination hasn’t released a nonfranchise film since 2016, and only three of the last 10 DreamWorks features have been original stories.

    For comparison, of the last eight films released by a Disney animation studio, seven have been original films with just 2022’s “Lightyear,” a “Toy Story” spinoff, tied to an existing franchise. Previously, Disney has thrived bringing new animated material to audiences, but in the post-pandemic world, it has struggled.

    It is the exact opposite strategy of Disney’s live-action theatrical releases, which have relied heavily on established franchises. Think “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “The Little Mermaid,” Marvel franchise films and “Haunted Mansion.”

    Iger has said that Disney will continue to make sequels, without apology, but admitted that the company needs to be more selective in which franchises it revisits.

    “I think there has to be a reason to make them, you have to have a good story,” Iger said during The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in late November.

    “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is the sequel to the 2015 film, “Minions,” and spin-off/prequel to the main “Despicable Me” film series.

    Universal

    In animation, returning to popular characters and worlds is an easy way to capture the attention of parents and kids.

    “Because they have seen these characters and related stories before, they have high confidence that they will be high quality, entertaining and ‘brand safe’ for their kids,” said Peter Csathy, founder and chair of advisory firm Creative Media. “And they may even anticipate franchise animated films as much as their kids.”

    In developing consistent franchise content like Minions and Trolls, Universal is now able to introduce a new film like “Migration” with a sense of clout. Parents who see that the film is from the same studio that brought other fan favorites to the big screen are then more likely to come out to see it.

    It’s what Pixar was able to do so well for nearly three decades.

    “With ‘Minions,’ ‘Secret Life of Pets’ and ‘Sing,’ I think Illumination is a brand people are aware of by now,” said Bock. “And that awareness will boost ‘Migration’s’ flight pattern, likely extending its box-office run. That’s key. The long play.”

    So far, “Migration” has generally favorable reviews from critics. If audiences respond well, and spread the word, the film could see a solid run, adding to the prestige of Universal’s animation brand.

    “The kids animation market opportunity will never grow old, so those playing at the top of the game – as is Illumination – hold the promise and possibility of becoming the next go-to brand for quality animation after Pixar,” said Csathy.

    Next year, Disney and Pixar are set to release “Inside Out 2” in June, while Universal and Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4” is scheduled to hit theaters weeks later in July.

    Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Pictures and CNBC.

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  • Hunger Games prequel, ‘Napoleon’ lead as Thanksgiving box office shows signs of life

    Hunger Games prequel, ‘Napoleon’ lead as Thanksgiving box office shows signs of life

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    Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler star as Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird in Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”

    Lionsgate

    This year’s Thanksgiving box office was both feast and famine for the theatrical industry.

    Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” had a solid second week run in cinemas, generating an estimated $42 million for the five-day Thanksgiving frame and Apple’s “Napoleon,” an R-rated war epic distributed by Sony, snared around $32.5 million.

    Meanwhile, Disney’s latest animated feature “Wish,” which celebrates the company’s 100th anniversary, fell startlingly short of box office expectations, tallying just $31.7 million over its first five days in theaters. Analysts had foreseen an opening of $45 million to $55 million for the five-day period.

    “It wouldn’t be a holiday box office season without some occasional upsets and this weekend is delivering on that front,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “‘Napoleon’ is a solid win for Sony, Apple, theaters and moviegoers all around. Another successful adult-driven film was needed right now after the vacancy left behind by ‘Dune: Part Two’ and the light holiday calendar still ahead.”

    Top Thanksgiving box office titles (five-day)

    • “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (Lionsgate) — $42 million
    • “Napoleon” (Apple/Sony) — $32.5 million
    • “Wish” (Disney) — $31.7 million
    • “Trolls Band Together” (Universal) — $25.3 million
    • “Thanksgiving” (Sony) — $11.13 million
    • “The Marvels” (Disney) — $9.2 million
    • “The Holdovers” (Focus Features/Universal) — $3.75 million
    • “Saltburn” (Amazon MGM/Warner Bros. Discovery) — $2.72 million
    • “Next Goal Wins” (Disney) — $2.57 million
    • “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (Universal) — $2.5 million
    • Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film (AMC) — $2.33 million

    ** All figures are estimated by studios

    Yet, the underperformance of “Wish” continues to call attention to issues over at Disney’s animation studios, which have struggled to lure audiences back to theaters since the pandemic. For comparison, Universal’s “Trolls Band Together” managed to snag $25.3 million for the five-day period and it was the film’s second week in theaters.

    “Disney’s ‘Wish’ is struggling to reach even the most conservative of expectations,” said Robbins. “It is a performance that again highlights the studio’s long road ahead to rebuild brand and audience confidence while making their films stand out as theatrical events again rather than have them be cannibalized by the impact of flailing streaming-focused strategies.”

    Overall, the Thanksgiving box office secured around $172 million, an improvement over the previous three years of pandemic-pressured ticket sales. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the five-day Thanksgiving spread — consisting of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through Sunday — had resulted in more than $250 million in ticket sales each year. 

    Thanksgiving 5-day frame over the last decade

    • 2023 — $172 million (estimated)
    • 2022 — $122.8 million
    • 2021 — $142.7 million
    • 2020 — $21.4 million
    • 2019 — $263.4 million
    • 2018 — $315.6 million (biggest all-time Thanksgiving frame)
    • 2017 — $270.5 million
    • 2016 — $260.8 million
    • 2015 — $258.5 million
    • 2014 — $230.2 million
    • 2013 — $294.2 million

    Source: Comscore

    “This important period of Thanksgiving moviegoing has been solid though not earth-shattering,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “This week’s performance is encouraging for the industry, though at under $200 million, the total box office has not returned to the heyday years of pre-2020 levels.”

    Still, Dergarabedian noted that the Thanksgiving box office offered moviegoers an eclectic selection of films across genres and age demographics, something that has been lacking in recent years.

    “Overall, this is a positive step forward for Thanksgiving box office moviegoing traffic as the industry continues to learn how to navigate a rapidly evolving marketplace,” said BoxOffice.com’s Robbins.

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “The Holdovers,” “Trolls Band Together” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”

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  • Apple and Disney have paused advertising on X after Elon Musk promoted antisemitic tweet

    Apple and Disney have paused advertising on X after Elon Musk promoted antisemitic tweet

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    Apple CEO Tim Cook looks on following a conversation on mental health, during a spousal program on the last day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week at Apple Park in San Francisco, California, on November 17, 2023.

    Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

    Apple and Disney have paused online advertising campaigns on X (formerly Twitter), after owner Elon Musk said he agreed with a social media post accusing “Jewish communities” of pushing “hatred against whites,” according to a sources familiar with both companies’ moves.

    A Lions Gate Entertainment spokesperson also told CNBC that it would be suspending advertising on X.

    Apple’s move was first reported by Axios and Disney’s by the New York Times.

    The iPhone maker was singled out in a report published this week by the Media Matters for America nonprofit as one of a handful of big companies, including IBM, Bravo, Oracle and Infinity whose online X ads were displayed next “to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.”

    An IBM spokesperson said Thursday that the tech giant would halt its online ad campaigns on X, explaining that the tech giant “has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.”

    A spokesperson for Comcast, which owns Bravo and Xfinity and is also the parent of CNBC, said yesterday that it’s investigating the situation. Apple and Oracle did not respond to requests for comment.

    A coalition of 163 Jewish leaders, activists and academics representing both major political parties also issued a statement this week in response to Musk’s recent behavior, calling on businesses like Disney, Apple and Amazon “to stop funding X through their ad spend.”

    The X Out Hate group originally urged those companies to suspend their online advertising campaigns on X in September, when Musk insinuated that he would file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League, alleging that the ADL was “trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic.”

    At the time, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who also criticized Musk’s recent controversial X posts this week, dismissed the Tesla chief’s rhetoric as simply a “threat of a frivolous lawsuit.”

    “It has been two months since we originally put out our call for large advertisers like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Disney to stop funneling money onto X as antisemitism explodes on the platform,” the Jewish leaders said in their latest statement. “Nothing has changed. Except for the danger Jews are in.”

    Also on Friday, the White House publicly criticized Musk over the billionaire’s tweets. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said it was “unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time.”

    Watch: IBM pauses advertising on X after Elon Musk receives backlash for antisemitic post.

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  • SAG-AFTRA says studios’ latest offer falls short of union’s AI demands

    SAG-AFTRA says studios’ latest offer falls short of union’s AI demands

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    NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 31: Rebecca Damon joins SAG-AFTRA members on strike during Halloween on October 31, 2023 in New York City. The strike, which began on July 14, entered its 100th day on October 21st as the actors’ union and Hollywood studios and streamers failed to reach an agreement. (Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images)

    John Nacion | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

    SAG-AFTRA actors aren’t totally on board with Hollywood studios’ latest labor agreement pitch.

    The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said there were still “several essential items” that they couldn’t agree with during their negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, including artificial intelligence guidelines.

    Studios put forth this “last, best and final offer” over the weekend, with top executives making clear that they would not make further concessions. SAG-AFTRA spent time Sunday and Monday evaluating the deal.

    It is unclear if the AMPTP will return to the table to continue bargaining or if talks will officially shutdown.

    Representatives from the AMPTP did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

    Hollywood actors initiated a work stoppage in mid-July as initial negotiations broke down with studios including Disney, Paramount, Universal, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. They resumed talks for a short period of time in early October, but those broke down for several weeks.

    Later in the month, talks resumed again, but so far, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP have been unable to reach a deal.

    Television and film performers were looking to improve wages, working conditions, and health and pension benefits, as well as establish guardrails for the use of AI in future television and film productions. Additionally, the union sought more transparency from streaming services about viewership so that residual payments can be made equitable to linear TV.

    The 116 day strike has disrupted marketing campaigns and prevented production from commencing on a significant portion of Hollywood’s film and television projects.

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

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  • Disney to buy remaining Hulu stake from Comcast in widely expected move

    Disney to buy remaining Hulu stake from Comcast in widely expected move

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    Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

    Disney said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Comcast‘s one-third stake in streaming service Hulu, a long-expected outcome.

    Disney said it expects to pay Comcast’s NBCUniversal about $8.61 billion by Dec. 1, reflecting the guaranteed minimum value of $27.5 billion for the streaming service the two sides agreed upon in 2019.

    Disney could pay more based on Hulu’s equity value as of Sept. 30. The company said the appraisal process should wrap up some time next year.

    Originally, Disney and Comcast had set a deadline to resolve Hulu’s ownership by January. In September, the rival media giants moved up that deadline, effectively acknowleding the outcome announced Wednesday.

    Disney already sells Hulu as part of a streaming bundle with its Disney+ and ESPN+ products.

    Read the full release from Disney.

    Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

    This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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  • ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ rides PG-13 rating, video game fame to Halloween box office crown

    ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ rides PG-13 rating, video game fame to Halloween box office crown

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    A scene from the film “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”

    Universal Pictures

    If anything was going to topple Taylor Swift at the box office, it had to be a killer animatronic bear, right?

    “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the new Universal-Blumhouse horror offering set in an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese-type kids’ pizza parlor, scored an estimated $78 million at domestic theaters over the weekend, a huge haul that surprised many in the industry. Swift’s Eras Tour concert film came second for the weekend, with an estimated $14.7 million, putting its domestic total at $149.3 million.

    “Five Nights at Freddy’s” had a few things going for it. First, it was Halloween weekend, which is primetime for spooky movies. In fact, the flick made more in its first weekend than fellow Universal-Blumhouse horror collaboration “The Exorcist: Believer” has made in its entire domestic run so far — an estimated $59.4 million, according to Comscore.

    “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is also based on a popular horror-survival video game series that gave it a built-in younger audience. That helped it overcome generally awful reviews that left the film with a 26% “rotten” rating on movie-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

    Data firm EntTelligence said the movie accounted for 65% of foot traffic to theaters over the weekend. Audiences liked it, as well, giving it a strong A-minus rating, according to CinemaScore.

    The movie’s PG-13 rating no doubt helped parents decide to let their kids see it, vindicating director Emma Tammi’s decision to make it a “gateway” horror movie for youngsters. “Ultimately, the film embraced a PG-13 rating with the type of well-executed scares that left just enough to the imagination and were still befitting of the spirit of the games,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.

    Don’t count on an R-rated cut, either.

    Freddy Fazbear and director Emma Tammi on the set of “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”

    Patti Perret | Universal Pictures

    “The success of ‘Five Nights’ was the culmination of many factors not the least of which was making the film accessible to younger fans via the less restrictive PG-13 rating,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

    The “Five Nights” fanbase propelled it to the third-biggest domestic opening weekend for a horror movie, behind both chapters of Warner Bros.’ recent “It” movies. It also cleared the bar set by 2018’s “Halloween” as Blumhouse’s biggest opening, according to Universal.

    Fans also gave it the second-biggest weekend ever for a video game adaptation, behind Universal and Nintendo’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed more than $146 million in its first frame earlier this year.

    “Given the high level of interest by teen audiences, these key moviegoers were clearly inspired to migrate from their gaming small screens to the big screen to enjoy a communal, in-theater experience that drove weekend grosses to much higher-than-expected levels for ‘Freddy’s,’” Dergarabedian said.

    The movie scored success at theaters even as it premiered on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, at the same time. Universal said the movie is on pace to have the biggest-ever opening on the streamer.

    Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Pictures, Peacock and CNBC.

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  • 5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday

    5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday

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    Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

    1. Bond yield boost

    U.S. stock futures slid Monday morning as the 10-year Treasury note yield again ticked above 5% — a level it hit Thursday for the first time since 2007. Earnings and inflation data will help to shape whether equities bounce back from a down week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.4% and the Nasdaq Composite shed 3.2% last week. A string of major earnings reports are due Tuesday through Thursday. The personal consumption expenditures data out Friday will offer clues about whether the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates again this year. Follow live market updates here.

    2. Tech torrent

    The tech sector, which has largely driven market gains this year, will headline a busy stretch of earnings this week. Other key reports will come from the transportation and food and beverage spaces. Investors will focus on General Motors and Ford results as executives will answer questions about the effects of the more than month-long United Auto Workers strike. Here are the major reports this week:

    3. Aid arrives in Gaza

    The first humanitarian aid convoys since the start of the Israel-Hamas war arrived in Gaza over the weekend, and more shipments of food, water and medical supplies are expected Monday. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, and said there will be a “continued flow” of aid into Gaza. Israel intensified airstrikes on the besieged area in recent days, as it holds off on a potential ground invasion. Leaders around the globe are trying to prevent the conflict from turning into a broader war. Follow live updates on the conflict here.

    4. Oil consolidation ramps up

    5. More Google scrutiny

    Another country is probing Alphabet’s Google for potential anticompetitive practices. Japan’s Fair Trade Commission said it would investigate potential antitrust violations related to Google’s search engine and its apps and platforms. The move in Japan follows scrutiny over allegations of anticompetitive conduct in the European Union and United States. A Google spokesperson told CNBC that Android is an open platform that ensures “users always have a choice to customize their devices to suit their needs, including the way they browse and search the internet, or download apps.”

    – CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Ruxandra Iordache, Matt Clinch and Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

    — Follow broader market action like a pro on CNBC Pro.

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  • Writers reach tentative deal with studios to end strike after nearly 150 days

    Writers reach tentative deal with studios to end strike after nearly 150 days

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    Hollywood’s writers and studios have a preliminary labor agreement.

    Talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers resumed last week after months of starts and stops, ultimately leading to a tentative deal that would end the ongoing writers strike.

    The WGA and AMPTP are still drafting the final contract language.

    “What we have won in this contract — most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd — is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days,” the WGA negotiation committee wrote in a letter to members Sunday night. “It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.”

    Striking members of the Writers Guild of America and supporters march toward the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, June 21, 2023.

    Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

    Hollywood scribes initiated a work stoppage in early May as negotiations broke down with studios including Disney, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery. Television and film writers sought protections against the use of artificial intelligence, in addition to increases in compensation for streamed content.

    The WGA did not disclose what provisions ultimately made it into the preliminary contract, but told union members that “this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.”

    Once the WGA and AMPTP agree on the language within the contract, the negotiating committee will vote on whether to recommend the agreement and send it to the Writers Guild of America West Board and the Writers Guild of America East Council for approval. Then, the board and council will vote on whether to authorize a contract ratification vote by membership.

    WGA leadership noted that the strike is not over and no members of the guild are to return to work until the agreement is officially ratified. Members were encouraged to continue standing in solidarity with striking actors on the picket lines.

    President Joe Biden, who often touts his pro-union stances, cheered the agreement as he prepares to head to a United Auto Workers’ picket line Tuesday in Michigan.

    “This agreement, including assurances related to artificial intelligence, did not come easily,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Monday. “But its formation is a testament to the power of collective bargaining. There simply is no substitute for employers and employees coming together to negotiate in good faith toward an agreement that makes a business stronger and secures the pay, benefits, and dignity that workers deserve.”

    Following negotiations with writers, the AMPTP will need to turn its attention to SAG-AFTRA. The acting guild’s members have been on strike since mid-July and are seeking contract updates similar to those requested by the writers.

    Hollywood performers are looking to improve wages, working conditions, and health and pension benefits, as well as establish guardrails for the use of AI in future television and film productions. Additionally, the union is seeking more transparency from streaming services about viewership so that residual payments can be made equitable to linear TV.

    “SAG-AFTRA congratulates the WGA on reaching a tentative agreement with the AMPTP after 146 days of incredible strength, resiliency and solidarity on the picket lines,” the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists wrote in a statement Sunday. “While we look forward to reviewing the WGA and AMPTP’s tentative agreement, we remain committed to achieving the necessary terms for our members.”

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

    –CNBC’s Emma Kinery contributed to this article.

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  • Hollywood is paying a steep price for never really figuring out the streaming model

    Hollywood is paying a steep price for never really figuring out the streaming model

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    People carry signs as SAG-AFTRA members walk the picket line in solidarity with striking WGA workers outside Netflix offices in Los Angeles, July 11, 2023.

    Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Picket signs have lined the gates of Hollywood’s studios for nearly five months, as the industry’s writers and actors rally for AI protections, better wages and a cut of streaming profits.

    The problem is streaming isn’t yet profitable for many studios.

    Sparked by the creation of Netflix’s direct-to-consumer platform in 2007, streaming has upended the economics of the media industry. Yet, it’s still unclear whether it’s a sustainable business model for the future.

    “Without sounding hyperbolic, the change in the economics of the North American media industry in the last five years has been breathtaking,” said Steven Schiffman, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

    Legacy media companies like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and NBCUniversal scrambled to compete with Netflix when it began creating original content in 2013 and slowly pulled market share over the next five years. The studios padded their platforms with massive content libraries and the promise of new original shows and films for consumers.

    However, the subscription-based streaming model proves vastly different than the ad-revenue-fueled traditional TV bundle. High licensing costs and low revenues per subscriber quickly caught up with studios, which had previously placated shareholders with massive subscription growth.

    Netflix was the first streamer to report a loss in subscribers in 2022, sending its stock and other media companies spiraling. Disney has followed suit. Since then, both have set subscription numbers aside in favor of advertising, a password-sharing crackdown and raising prices.

    Media companies also have begun slashing content spending budgets. Disney CEO Bob Iger has promised the company will focus on quality over quantity when it comes to both its streaming and theatrical businesses, pointing to Marvel as an example of too much content.

    Yet streaming remains the focus for all of these companies as consumers rapidly cut the cord and opt for streaming. To make up for the losses, media organizations are now relying on methods that once made the traditional bundle so successful.

    “What’s the fundamental solution? In some way, shape or form, it’s everything brought together,” said CEO Ken Solomon of the Tennis Channel, owned by Sinclair, of the various business models in media. “It’s about understanding where to put a little more resources and how they all are glued together to satisfy the consumer.”

    A broken model

    Two strategies media companies long relied upon — windowing content to various platforms and creating more cable channels to reap higher fees from the bundle — proved lucrative and still reap profits.

    “This gun has been cocking itself for decades,” said Solomon, noting that the pay TV bundle was a good value proposition until it became too expensive for consumers. That gave Netflix an opening to upend how the entertainment industry makes and spends money.

    Legacy media companies scrambled to follow suit, unsure if the model actually worked. But they were desperate to keep up with changing consumer demand, and in the process they depleted other revenue streams.

    Now turmoil rules the industry. Companies like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are in the midst of reorganizations — slashing jobs and content costs while trying various ways to piece together profits.

    An image from Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

    Source: Netflix

    “All of these companies spent more money than they likely should have,” said Marc DeBevoise, CEO and board director of Brightcove, a streaming technology company.

    Netflix, with a considerable head start, is the only company to make a profit off of streaming. “For everyone else, it’s still dictated by linear TV,” said UBS analyst John Hodulik. “That’s a problem as the decline in customers accelerates and streaming is not a big enough opportunity to offset that.”

    Although subscriber growth initially ramped up streaming subscriber growth and bolstered many media stocks, it was short-lived. Fears of a recession, inflation and rising interest rates led Wall Street to reassess these companies and focus on profitability as subscriber growth slowed.

    A content arms race

    Netflix’s entrance into media signaled the beginning of a content arms race that, ultimately, hasn’t paid off for any media company.

    Content spending ballooned across the industry, with each company spending tens of billions of dollars for new shows and films in an effort to lure in new subscribers — and keep the ones they already had.

    “The networks had aligned with their streaming services and taken all the elasticity out of it. They were throwing money at a problem and hoping that it was going to solve itself,” said Solomon. “There was no economics behind it.”

    Race to launch

    • Netflix — launched streaming service in January 2007, first original content launched February 2013
    • Hulu — launched streaming service in March 2008
    • Paramount+ — launched as CBS All Access in October 2014, rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021
    • Disney+ — launched streaming service in November 2019
    • Peacock — launched streaming service in April 2020
    • Max — launched as HBO Max in May 2020, rebranded as Max in May 2023

    There were also massive one-off licensing deals for shows like “The Office,” “Friends” and “Seinfeld,” which viewers were actively watching on repeat.

    Studios even struck exclusive contracts with some of Hollywood’s biggest writer-producers — Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, J.J. Abrams, Kenya Barris and the duo of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — in the hope that they could create new projects that could capture the attention of audiences.

    Show budgets draw a lot of attention these days. But Jonathan Miller, a former Hulu board member and current CEO of Integrated Media, doesn’t recall that being a focus when it was just the four major broadcast networks creating all of the content.

    DeBevoise, a former ViacomCBS (now Paramount) executive, said he doesn’t remember greenlighting a show, including “Star Trek Discovery,” in the mid-2010s at CBS for more than $10 million an episode, noting many were “much, much less expensive.”

    Meanwhile, Solomon, who once ran Universal Studios Television, recalled when his budgets for top TV shows like “Law & Order” were below $2 million an episode. “I thought budgets were out of control back then,” he said.

    Shonda Rhimes attends 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 4, 2018 in Beverly Hills, CA. 

    Presley Ann | Patrick McMullan | Getty Images

    Disney sought to capitalize on the success of its Marvel Cinematic Universe by developing more than a dozen superhero shows for its Disney+ platform. Although the seasons were shortened, often only six to 10 episodes, each episode cost around $25 million. Similar production budgets were seen for the company’s foray into the new live-action Star Wars TV series.

    Netflix has poured money into multiple seasons of political drama “The Crown,” science fiction darling “Stranger Things” and a series based on The Witcher video game franchise. Production costs per episode for these series ranged from $11 million to $30 million.

    And Warner Bros. Discovery is adding more Game of Thrones series to its catalog of direct-to-consumer offerings with “House of the Dragon,” which cost around $20 million per episode, and the upcoming “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight,” which has not begun filming.

    Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Amazon shelled out a record $465 million on its first season of a Lord of the Rings prequel series, which was met with tepid responses from critics and fans alike.

    “The price of content isn’t always determinant of success. ‘The Simpsons’ were crudely animated initially, right? So, it’s not necessarily that if you go spend a lot of money, it works,” Solomon said.

    Bart Simpson plays esports in an episode of “The Simpsons” that aired on March 17, 2019.

    Fox

    At the same time the economics for actors, writers and the industry as a whole changed.

    “The problem is that the cost increases don’t make sense given the revenue models. Something got broken in this part of the business if that kind of increase happened and actors and writers don’t feel like they got their fair share,” DeBevoise said.

    A growing disconnect

    While many of Hollywood’s biggest studios are publicly traded and must share quarterly financial reports, there are no rules about providing streaming-viewership data. This lack of transparency has made recent contract negotiations between studios and the industry’s writers and actors especially contentious.

    “There’s a frustration about how these people can get together and share this information and come up with something that is reasonable for both sides,” said Schiffman, the Georgetown professor. “But until that happens, in my view, this thing goes on until next year.”

    Streaming studios, in particular, have long been reluctant to share data around viewership and don’t want compensation to be tied to the popularity of shows, including those that have been licensed from other studios.

    This is in stark contrast to how linear television has handled popular shows. Traditionally, studios pay residuals, long-term payments, to those who worked on film and television shows after their initial release. Actors and writers get paid every time an episode or film runs on broadcast or cable television or when someone buys a DVD or Blu-ray Disc.

    When it comes to streaming, there are no residual payments. Studios that get a licensing fee pass on a small sum to actors and writers, but no additional compensation is given if the show performs well on the platform. Actors, in particular, are looking to change this.

    “Why I think the streaming model has been a difficult model for the actors and writers, and I was part of helping that model, is that there was a fundamental shift of long-term versus short-term economics that likely wasn’t properly understood or explained,” said DeBevoise.

    Back to the future

    Media companies’ effort to make streaming profitable is drawing out many of the old business models that were successful in the past.

    The subscription streaming model is being subsidized now by tried and true models like advertising, licensing content to other platforms, cracking down on password sharing, and windowing content to different platforms with longer stretches of time in between.

    “Netflix understood finally, because of the Street, that subscriber numbers don’t mean jack, if the economics don’t pencil out,” said Peter Csathy, founder and chair of advisory firm Creative Media.

    Even the pay TV bundle, despite rampant cord cutting by consumers, remains a reliable source of revenue.

    The recent dispute between Charter Communications and Disney highlighted this fact, and led to Disney+ and ESPN+ being bundled with some pay TV subscriptions.

    The consumer is ultimately the winner in the Disney-Charter deal, says media mogul Tom Rogers

    “We, the distributors, are funding the streaming experience. And it’s frankly a better content experience on streaming than what is provided to us on linear TV,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV. “These companies will cease to exist without the funding of distributors’ licensing fees. Perhaps this is a moment of awakening.”

    Disney and even Netflix, which long resisted ads, are among the companies relying more on ad-supported offerings to boost subscriber growth and bring in another revenue stream, even as the ad market has been soft.

    This is especially true as free, ad-supported streaming services like Fox Corp.’s Tubi and Paramount’s Pluto — which are likened to broadcast networks — have also exploded. Besides the parent companies leaning on the ad revenue from these platforms, other media companies, like Warner Bros. Discovery, are funneling content there for licensing fees.

    “In terms of the business models, they all ‘work,’” said DeBevoise. He noted paid tiers for the more expensive, timely content will remain, while free and options with commercials will support the older library shows and movie. “There are going to be hybrid models that reincarnate the dual-revenue cable TV model with both a subscription fee and ads. It’s all going to be about price-to-value and time-to-value for the consumer.”

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

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  • Disney asset sales won’t break the bank, but they will move legacy media forward

    Disney asset sales won’t break the bank, but they will move legacy media forward

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    Chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger and Mickey Mouse look on before ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), November 27, 2017 in New York City.

    Getty Images

    Usually when a person or company sells something, the primary motivation is getting back as much money as possible.

    Disney‘s motivation to potentially sell ABC and its owned affiliates, linear cable networks and a minority stake in ESPN isn’t predicated on what these assets will fetch in a sale. It’s about signaling to investors the time has come to stop thinking about Disney as old media.

    Disney’s market capitalization is about $156 billion. The company has about $45 billion in debt. Selling assets can help the entertainment giant lower its leverage ratio while buffering the continued losses from its streaming businesses.

    Still, that’s not the prime rationale for why Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told CNBC in July he’s contemplating selling off media assets — something he’s long resisted. Rather, a sale of ABC and linear cable networks would be a message to the investment community: The era of traditional TV is over. Disney is ready for its next chapter.

    “Disney almost has a good bank and a bad bank at this point,” Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall said in a CNBC interview. “Streaming is its future. It’s its strongest asset, next to the parks. The linear business is something Disney has clearly signaled is going to be in decline. They’re not looking to necessarily protect it. If they can move some of that lower, negative-growth business off of the books and to a better, more logical operator, we think that’s good for the stock.”

    Nexstar has held preliminary conversations with Disney to acquire ABC and its owned and operated affiliates, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Media mogul Byron Allen has made a preliminary offer to pay $10 billion for ABC and its affiliates along with cable networks FX and National Geographic, according to a person familiar with the matter.

    Disney released a statement Thursday saying “while we are open to considering a variety of strategic options for our linear businesses, at this time The Walt Disney Company has made no decision with respect to the divestiture of ABC or any other property and any report to that effect is unfounded.”

    Declining values

    The value of broadcast and cable networks has significantly declined from the 1990s and early 2000s as tens of millions of Americans have canceled cable in recent years.

    Cahall values ABC and Disney’s eight owned affiliate networks at about $4.5 billion. That’s a far cry from the $19 billion Disney paid for Capital Cities/ABC in 1995 — the deal that brought Iger to the company.

    ESPN has a valuation of about $30 billion, according KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel, “though we view it as a melting iceberg,” he added in a September note to clients. LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield values ESPN at closer to $20 billion.

    Disney would like to keep a majority stake in ESPN, Iger told CNBC. It currently owns 80% of the sports media business, and Hearst owns the other 20%.

    About 10 years ago, analysts valued ESPN at around $50 billion.

    SportsCenter at ESPN Headquarters.

    The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images

    Selling ABC

    Disney’s most interesting decision may be deciding what to do with the ABC network. The company can easily sell off its eight owned and operated affiliate stations — located in markets including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles — without changing the trajectory of the media industry.

    But divesting the ABC network would be a bold statement by Disney that it sees no future in the broadcast cable world of content distribution.

    Selling ABC would be particularly jarring given Iger’s comments both to CNBC and in Disney’s last earnings conference call that he wants the company to stay in the sports business.

    “The sports business stands tall and remains a good value proposition,” Iger said last month during Disney’s third-quarter earnings conference call. “We believe in the power of sports and the unique ability to convene and engage audiences.”

    There’s clear value, at least for the next few years, in keeping a large broadcast network for major sports leagues. NBCUniversal executives hope ownership of the NBC network will convince the NBA that it should be cut into a new rights agreement to carry NBA games. NBC is a free over-the-air service and can increase the league’s reach, they plan to argue. Even if the world is transitioning to streaming, millions of Americans still use digital antennas to watch TV.

    Currently, ESPN and ABC split sports rights. Selling ABC may trigger certain change-of-control provisions that force existing deals with pay TV operators or the leagues to be rewritten, according to people familiar with typical language around such deals.

    Moving on from the network also may obstruct ESPN’s ability to land future sports rights deals. Without ownership of ABC, leagues may choose to sell rights to other companies, thus further weakening ESPN.

    If Iger is true to his word and Disney stays in the sports broadcasting business, the company will have to weigh the negative externalities of losing ABC with the positive gains of showing investors it’s serious about shedding declining assets.

    “Obviously, there’s complexity as it relates to decoupling the linear nets from ESPN, but nothing that we feel we can’t contend with if we were to ultimately create strategic realignment,” Iger said last month.

    The way forward

    If Disney does land a deal to sell ABC, and investors cheer the move, it may also function as a catalyst for other large legacy media companies to sell their declining assets. NBCUniversal, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery all have legacy broadcast and cable networks in addition to their flagship streaming services.

    Disney may become the leader in pushing the industry forward.

    “We see this as a real bullish sign at Disney.” said Cahall. “There’s a lot going on now at Disney, between ESPN and partnerships and divesting some of this stuff. Disney is suddenly feeling a little more catalyst-rich than it was recently.”

    – CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this article.

    Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

    WATCH: Nexstar could ‘no doubt’ take ABC and monetize it really well, says Wells Fargo analyst

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  • It will be more confusing than ever to watch an NFL game this season | CNN Business

    It will be more confusing than ever to watch an NFL game this season | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    You’re going to need a play-call sheet to keep track of where to watch the National Football League on television this season.

    The NFL season kicked off Thursday night with the Detroit Lions winning a surprise upset over the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.(NBC and its Peacock app aired the game under its “Sunday Night Football” rights.)

    Long gone are the days when NFL games were shown on one or two networks. The league is showing more games across broadcast networks, cable, and digital streaming platforms this season than ever before, and more games exclusively on streaming.

    NBC, Fox, CBS, ESPN/ABC — as well as their streaming apps — and Amazon will all broadcast some games this year. The NFL’s own streaming app and YouTube TV will also stream some games.

    Here’s why there are so many different channels and streaming services, which many people might not even have, to watch the NFL.

    It’s all happening now because the NFL is television’s most valuable product, especially as the media and tech industries face turmoil and more people than ever end their pay-TV subscriptions. The NFL in 2021 signed more than $100 billion in media deals over 11 years, which included the rights to more games on streaming services.

    The owners of CBS, ESPN, ABC and NBC -— Paramount, Disney, and Comcast, respectively -— are pouring billions of dollars into their streaming services, which they see as the future of their businesses. They are showing more NFL games on streaming platforms, including games exclusively, to try to entice people to sign up.

    The decline in traditional broadcast and cable television viewership is accelerating, and the NFL is the “glue” holding the pay-TV bundle together, media analysts at MoffettNathanson said in a report Thursday.

    Last season marked the first-time people were able to watch three of the five NFL game packages through streamers.

    This season will also feature a few firsts: NFL Sunday Ticket offered on YouTube; a streaming-only playoff game on Peacock; and Amazon Prime Video’s Black Friday game.

    ESPN+ will air an international NFL game exclusively on its platform for the second time later in the year, and Amazon has exclusive rights again this season to Thursday night games. Amazon’s Thursday Night Football was the first NFL package to be shown exclusively on streaming.

    Football is the rare event that millions of people still watch live and advertisers will pay up for as viewership for TV other than sports rapidly declines.

    Excluding the Super Bowl, the NFL made up more than half of Fox’s viewership last season and around one-third of CBS and NBC’s, according to the MoffettNathanson report.

    “The NFL is the biggest driver of network ratings and advertising dollars during the fall TV season,” the analysts said. “The NFL remains an outlier when compared to all other forms of linear content.”

    So, NBC will show “Sunday Night Football” on primetime TV and Peacock. Fox will show National Football Conference games on its broadcast network. CBS will show American Football Conference games on its network and Paramount+. (CBS, which has the rights to the Super Bowl in February, will also show the game on Nickelodeon.) ESPN will air “Monday Night Football” games on ESPN and ESPN+. And Amazon holds the rights to Thursday night games, shown on Amazon Prime Video.

    The NFL itself is also betting on streaming.

    The NFL Sunday Ticket package, which broadcasts all out-of-market NFL games to fans, is moving to YouTube TV, owned by Google, this year after nearly 30 years at satellite provider DirecTV.

    “We have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last year.

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  • Disney set to report earnings after the bell. Here’s what to expect

    Disney set to report earnings after the bell. Here’s what to expect

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    Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild walk the picket line outside of Disney Studios in Burbank, California, on July 18, 2023. 

    Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images

    When the markets close Wednesday, all eyes will be on Bob Iger.

    The Disney CEO has a laundry list of issues to address during the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call.

    Linear advertising and television subscriptions are down, its movie studio has been hit or miss at the box office, Hollywood’s actors and writers are on strike and streaming losses continue to escalate.

    Iger has hinted that Disney’s TV networks, excluding ESPN — which has been searching for strategic partners and on Tuesday announced a sportsbook partnership with Penn Entertainment — “may not be core” to the business anymore.

    Here is what analysts expect from Disney’s quarterly report:

    • EPS: 95 cents per share expected, according to a Refinitiv consensus survey
    • Revenue: $22.5 billion expected, according to Refinitiv
    • Disney+ total subscriptions: 151.1 million expected, according to StreetAccount

    Ahead of Disney’s earnings call, investors are looking for more clarity on how Iger plans to fix Disney’s TV business and juggle the decline of subscribers at Disney+.

    Separately, Iger is lookin to take full control of Hulu, which Disney shares ownership of with Comcast. Buying out the remaining one-third stake is expected to cost at least $9 billion before negotiations.

    The only bright spot for Disney appears to be its theme park division, which has more than rebounded after pandemic-related closures and is expected to post revenue of around $8.1 billion, a nearly 10% jump year over year, according to StreetAccount estimates.

    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

    This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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  • Morgan Stanley says stock picking will matter more in coming weeks so buy these quality stocks

    Morgan Stanley says stock picking will matter more in coming weeks so buy these quality stocks

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  • ESPN held talks with NBA, NFL and MLB in search for strategic partner, sources say

    ESPN held talks with NBA, NFL and MLB in search for strategic partner, sources say

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    LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers at a game against the LA Clippers at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on July 30, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

    Mike Ehrmann | Getty Images

    As Disney considers a strategic partner for ESPN, Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro have held early talks about bringing professional sports leagues on as minority investors, including the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, according to people familiar with the matter.

    ESPN has held preliminary discussions with the NFL, NBA and MLB about a variety of new partnerships and investment structures, the people said. In a statement, an NBA spokesperson said, “We have a longstanding relationship with Disney and look forward to continuing the discussions around the future of our partnership.”

    related investing news

    CNBC Pro

    Spokespeople for ESPN, the NFL and MLB declined to comment.

    Talks with the NFL have occurred in conjunction with the league’s own desire for a company to take a stake in its media assets, including the NFL Network, NFL.com and RedZone, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks have been private.

    The NBA and Disney have broached many potential structures around a renewal of media rights, the people said. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have exclusive negotiating rights with the NBA until next year.

    Iger said last week in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber that Disney is looking for a strategic partner for ESPN as it prepares to transition the sports network to streaming. He didn’t elaborate on what exactly that meant beyond saying a partner could bring additional value with distribution or content. He acknowledged selling a stake in the business was possible.

    Disney owns 80% of ESPN. Hearst owns the other 20%.

    “Our position in sports is very unique and we want to stay in that business,” Iger said to Faber. “We’re going to be open minded about looking for strategic partners that could either help us with distribution or content. I’m not going to get too detailed about it, but we’re bullish about sports as a media property.”

    Theoretically, a jointly owned subscription streaming service among multiple leagues could eventually give consumers new packages of games and other innovative ways to take in content.

    The move would be a logical one for Disney as it tries to move past the traditional cable subscriber model and underscores how badly the company wants to find a solution for the sports network as its linear subscribers decline. Still, ESPN ratings have climbed in recent years on major sporting events. There’s no better partner for sports content than the leagues, themselves.

    Superficially, it may make less sense for the NBA, NFL and MLB which sign lucrative media rights deals with many media partners that fuel team revenue and player salaries with a range of media companies.

    Professional sports leagues could face conflicts of interest if they take a minority stake in ESPN. Owning a stake in ESPN may irritate Disney’s competitors, such as Comcast‘s NBCUniversal, Fox, Amazon, Paramount Global and Apple, who help make the leagues billions of dollars by participating in bidding wars for sports rights. Taking an ownership stake in ESPN could give leagues the incentive to boost the value of that entity rather than striking deals with competitors.

    There would also be hurdles for Disney. ESPN also employs hundreds of journalists that cover the major sports leagues. Selling an ownership stake to the leagues could cloud the perception of objectivity for ESPN’s reporting apparatus.

    Still, the leagues are already business partners with ESPN. It’s possible ESPN could put measures in place to ensure reporters can continue to cover the leagues while minimizing conflicts, but it adds another layer of complexity to any deal.

    A streaming-first ESPN

    ESPN is trying to forge a new path as a digital-first, streaming entity. Disney realizes ESPN won’t be able to make money like it previously has in a traditional TV model.

    Selling a minority stake in ESPN to the leagues could mitigate future rights payments, allowing Disney to better compete with the big balance sheets of Apple, Google and Amazon. It would also guarantee ESPN a steady flow of premium content from the leagues.

    Until last quarter, Disney’s bundle of linear TV networks still had revenue growth because affiliate fee increases to pay-TV providers — largely driven by ESPN — made up for the millions of Americans who cancel cable each year. That trend finally ended last quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. Accelerating cancellations have now overwhelmed fee increases, and linear TV revenue outside of advertising has begun to decline.

    “A lot has been said about renting [sports right] versus owning,” Iger said last week in his CNBC interview. “If you can rent it and continue to be profitable from renting, which we have been and we believe we will continue to be, then there’s value in staying in it. We have great relationships with Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League, and various college conferences, and of course the NFL and the NBA. It’s not just about the live sports coverage of those leagues, those teams, it’s also about all of the shoulder programming it throws off on ESPN and what you can do with it in a streaming world.”

    ESPN would like to morph itself into a streaming hub for all live sports. Management would like to launch a feature allowing ESPN.com or the ESPN app to funnel users to games no matter where they stream, CNBC reported earlier this year.

    While striking a deal with professional sports leagues wouldn’t be easy, Disney appears to be pushing the envelope on its thinking to prepare for a streaming-dominated world that includes its full portfolio of sports rights.

    “If [a partner] comes to the table with value, whether it’s content value, distribution value, whether it’s capital, whether it just helps derisk the business — that wouldn’t be the primary driver — but if they come to the table with value that enables ESPN to make a transition to a direct-to-consumer offering, we’re going to be very open minded about that,” Iger said.

    WATCH: Disney CEO Bob Iger talks to CNBC’s David Faber about ESPN and its future

    Disney CEO Bob Iger on ESPN: Bullish on sports but open to finding a new strategic partner

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