Amazon has acquired a minority stake in Spotter, a startup that provides capital, services and software to digital creators, and the two companies have forged a partnership to “expand access” to new business opportunities for Spotter’s roster of creators. The amount of Amazon’s investment in Spotter is not being disclosed. Other investors in L.A.-based Spotter […]

Skydance Media submitted an updated filing with the FCC to reflect that David Ellison, CEO of Skydance, will hold 100% percent of the Ellison family’s voting interests in the newly combined Skydance-Paramount. According to the amended FCC filing Tuesday, David Ellison’s role will be chairman and CEO of New Paramount, combining the assets of Skydance […]

YouTube generated a cool $8.92 billion in advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2024 as the world’s biggest video-streaming platform continues to turn in double-digit growth on already big numbers. YouTube’s ad revenue, reported as part of parent Alphabet’s Q3 earnings, was up 12.2% year over year. Wall Street analysts had forecast YouTube advertising […]

Despite market challenges in TV and film production, the six biggest global content companies — led by Disney — are projected to increase spending in aggregate by 9% in 2024, to a record $126 billion. That estimate comes from a new report by U.K.-based research firm Ampere Analysis. The spending across the six companies — […]

Netflix is looking to install a single exec to oversee its corporate communications and policy teams — and with that decision, chief communications officer Rachel Whetstone and VP of public policy Dean Garfield are leaving the company. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced the departures of Whetstone and Garfield to staff in a memo Tuesday. “For nearly […]

Political junkies will be able to pinch and zoom on real-time election results in CNN’s app — just like John King does on TV using the news network’s famous “Magic Wall” — on election night and beyond. CNN’s iconic Magic Wall election map, which debuted back in 2008, is now available on its native iOS […]

Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, asserted that “no quid pro quo of any kind” was involved in his paper’s decision to stop endorsing U.S. presidential candidates. Rather, Bezos said, the decision was intended to bolster consumers’ trust in the Post, he wrote in an article published Monday by the Washington Post. “Presidential […]

More than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the Washington Post — about 8% of its base — after Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner and founder of Amazon, barred the editorial board from running a presidential endorsement, according to a report. NPR, citing anonymous sources, cited the figure in a report and said the […]

Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social social-media network, has seen its stock soar in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 presidential election — and it is currently worth more than Elon Musk’s X, the social-media company formerly known as Twitter. On Monday, shares of TMTG, which trade under the […]

Donald Trump sat down with Joe Rogan to record a three-hour interview for “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast Friday. The episode was released later Friday evening. In the wide-ranging discussion, Trump said his biggest mistake during his time in the White House was hiring “bad people, or disloyal people.” The former president also repeated unsubstantiated […]

Media companies like News Corp that are suing generative AI companies are stuck in the past — and they risk getting left behind because “AI-enhanced search engines are not going away,” AI startup Perplexity said. On Monday, News Corp-owned Dow Jones & Co. (publisher of the Wall Street Journal) and the New York Post filed […]

Alcon Entertainment, producers of “Blade Runner 2049,” have accused Elon Musk and Tesla of infringing its copyrights — alleging the tech mogul blatantly copied an iconic scene from the movie with an AI-generated image intended to promote Tesla’s new self-driving taxi, after Alcon refused to grant any rights related to the 2017 sci-fi pic. Musk […]

Cindy Holland is stepping down as CEO of production company Sister to take on a role as senior adviser to David Ellison and Skydance Media, ahead of the expected close of Skydance’s deal to merge with Paramount Global in 2025. With the departure of Holland, a former long-time Netflix exec, Sister’s board has decided to […]

The trade group representing the U.S.’s largest cable operators and programmers is among three associations that sued the FTC, seeking to block the agency’s newly adopted “click-to-cancel” rule — which is designed to let consumers more easily cut the cord on subscriptions. NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, joined by the Electronic Security Association, […]

PLBY Group, the company that owns Playboy and related brands, announced that its board unanimously rejected an unsolicited $100 million-plus takeover offer from Cooper Hefner, son of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Hefner Capital — an investment firm led by Cooper Hefner (pictured above), a former executive of Playboy Enterprises — proposed acquiring Playboy’s brand assets […]

Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor is transferring several sports assets — including Professional Bull Riders — to TKO Group, the holding company of WWE and UFC. TKO announced it has reached a definitive agreement with Endeavor Group (which owns a majority stake in TKO) to acquire PBR, On Location, and IMG in an all-stock transaction valued at […]

Former president Donald Trump, with less than two weeks before the 2024 U.S. election, is scheduled to make an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” It will be Trump’s first time on the show hosted by the comedian. Trump will record the interview Friday, Oct. 25, at Rogan’s studio in Austin, Texas, […]

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos doesn’t have any interest in becoming the next chief exec of Disney. “Not even on my mind,” Sarandos said, speaking Tuesday at the WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, Calif. He was responding to a question by interviewer Emma Tucker, editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, about whether […]

Elon Musk, named as a defendant in a copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by the production company behind sci-fi movie “Blade Runner 2049,” had a three-word response to the litigation. “That movie sucked,” Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, posted on the X social-media platform Tuesday, responding to news of the lawsuit. Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. […]