The Tesla CEO is scheduled to speak Saturday as reports suggest his Twitter takeover is in ”jeopardy“
“I’m not seeing a lot of concern about Musk and Twitter, outside of some clients that think he’s an egomaniac and/or a creep or weird guy,”One entertainment lawyer said that. “I don’t have a lot of clients that are personally regularly as active on Twitter anymore as they used to be.”
The $44 billion deal hit a speed bump as Musk’s team have raised concerns regarding the amount of data sold to corporate customers and the volume of spam accounts active on the social media platform, the Post reported. As Parag Agrawal, the current CEO of Twitter, is also visiting Sun Valley, it must have created a consternation that has caused a unique atmosphere. To be a fly on that wall…
These are just a few of the takeaways from this conference.
Live events are going great… for now
Julia Boorstin (CNBC reporter) on Thursday InterviewedMichael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation, stated that ticket sales and concert attendance are still strong despite recession fears and inflation. Certain live events, including sports and entertainment, have made a remarkable comeback since the dark early days of the pandemic. Endeavor’s surging quarterly revenue earlier this year was largely credited with the full return of the UFC, Super Bowl and NCAA. In May, StubHub’s Adam Budelli “This may be the busiest concert season on record.”
However, not all live events are as welcoming since the COVID-related shut downs were lifted. Due to the pandemic, hybrid film festivals like Sundance and Toronto have been created with both digital and in-person access. The Cannes Film Festival’s future as a relevant cultural epicenter appears to be waning rapidly. As a result, people’s behavior has changed. A general one-two punch in convenience and pricing just before another possible recession could burst the happy bubble.
“For most clients, we’re making plans assuming things will get worse on both the revenue and expense side, just to be safe,”The entertainment lawyer spoke of live events.
Skeptics point out that cost increases are a major concern. These include fuel and travel, as well as food and catering costs and salaries for crew and staff. COVID is still a major obstacle to the restoration of live events despite the relative recovery of daily life. “consistently back to normal,”They said.
The bottom line is: Enjoy the good times while it lasts. “Stranger Things”-esque ticking clockIndustry leaders are omnipresent.
What’s happening with Paramount Global?
Shari Redstone’s move to remerge Viacom and CBS in late 2019 into the recently rebranded Paramount Global was widely viewed as an effort to prepare the company for sale. Despite many years of speculation, however, no clear suitors have been identified and no deal is likely.
Sun Valley’s merger and acquisition talks are being discussed this week The Business podcast, Puck News co-founder Matt Belloni surmised: “Maybe the Paramount strategy is stay the course, have a streaming service, and milk these linear television networks. So the wheeling and dealing that we thought was going to happen in the next two to three years, maybe won’t.”
Despite a string of box office hits dating back to last summer, a growing portfolio of streaming subscribers across Paramount+ and Pluto TV, and a cascade of cash from CBS, Paramount Global’s share price has dropped 38% over the last 12 months.
Given external economic factors and Netflix’s subscriber losses creating uncertainty in the market, “It’s totally reasonable that Paramount Global is not going to be acquired in this merger wave, but it will be a viable target in the next wave,” David Offenberg, associate professor of entertainment finance at LMU’s College of Business Administration, told .
Some acquisition sales are borne out of desperation, but that isn’t the case for Paramount Global, which houses a very manageable $17 billion in debt as of March. “They don’t need a miracle to survive. They’re doing fine and don’t need to be acquired right now,” Offenberg said.
For the immediate future, staying on the same course seems to be the most sustainable strategy.
