Latest news with #GeethaRanganathan
Los Angeles Times
18 hours ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
‘Dune' studio Legendary weighs buying Lionsgate Studios
Legendary Entertainment, the independent film and TV studio behind the 'Dune' trilogy and 'A Minecraft Movie,' is considering a takeover of Lionsgate Studios, according to people familiar with the matter. Legendary, which is backed by Apollo Global Management, first approached the company after Lionsgate finalized its separation from the Starz Entertainment Corp. TV network and streaming service in May, said the people, who asked not be named as the information is private. Those talks centered on a potential partnership to produce a handful of films so that Legendary could gauge how the two companies worked together and whether it should ultimately proceed with a takeover offer, the people said. Representatives for Legendary and Lionsgate declined to comment. Lionsgate shares jumped 8.6% after Bloomberg reported the news and ended the day up 20%. Lionsgate, which currently has a market cap of $1.8 billion, owns the rights to popular film franchises including 'John Wick,' 'The Hunger Games' and 'Twilight,' and would provide Legendary with a theatrical distribution network. Lionsgate has also produced TV hits including AMC's 'Mad Men.' 'A Minecraft Movie,' which was co-produced by Legendary and released by Warner Bros. Discovery's film studio in April, is the highest grossing movie at the domestic box office so far this year, having sold $423.9 million worth of tickets in the US and Canada. Legendary's exploration of a Lionsgate takeover 'is sensible, given it's a pure-play studio,' Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan wrote in a note. A deep library of content accounts for a third of Lionsgate's revenue at a high profit margin, she noted. 'We suspect that Legendary's interest could spur others to potentially consider bids.' Josh Grode, Legendary's chief executive officer, said in a 2024 interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that he planned to tap Apollo's finances for takeovers in the entertainment industry that would collectively be worth billions of dollars. Last year, Legendary and Apollo were linked to a potential acquisition of the Paramount Pictures film studio, and were later involved in a potential acquisition of parent company Paramount Global. That business is instead being acquired by David Ellison's Skydance Media. Buckley and Shaw write for Bloomberg.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Trade Desk stock falls on Amazon-Roku partnership concerns
-- The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:TTD) stock fell 3% Monday as investors reacted to a new partnership between Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Ads and Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) that could pose a competitive threat to the digital advertising platform. The collaboration between Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) will create what the companies describe as the largest authenticated connected TV (CTV) footprint in the U.S., exclusively through Amazon's demand-side platform (DSP). This integration will reach an estimated 80 million U.S. CTV households, representing more than 80% of the total CTV market according to ComScore data. Early tests of the partnership showed advertisers reached 40% more unique viewers with the same budget while reducing ad frequency by nearly 30%, potentially delivering three times more value from ad spend. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan noted: "Fears about competitive threats to Trade Desk's ad budgets in 2H, especially from Amazon's DSP (demand-side platform) are only about to get stronger with a new pact between Amazon and Roku, which makes Roku's inventory available on Amazon DSP from 4Q. Though TTD remains the only scaled-up independent DSP, recent reports about marketers moving budgets to Amazon are clouding TTD's growth narrative, given the former's heft and full-funnel capabilities." The partnership enhances addressability across major streaming apps including The Roku Channel, Prime Video, and other leading CTV streaming services on Roku and Fire TV operating systems, as well as popular streaming services from Disney (NYSE:DIS), FOX Corporation, Paramount, Tubi, and Warner Bros Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD). Related articles The Trade Desk stock falls on Amazon-Roku partnership concerns Truist starts on diabetes device makers, sees glucose monitor, insulin pump growth Leerink starts coverage on Boston Scientific and Medtronic with bullish ratings Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
13-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
BI Weekend: Warner Discovery Splits, Walmart Credit Cards
Watch Alix and Paul LIVE every day on YouTube: Hosts: Paul Sweeney and Alix Steel On this podcast: - Geetha Ranganathan, Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst on US Media, discusses Warner Brothers Discovery splitting into two independent companies. - Ben Elliott, Bloomberg Intelligence Consumer Finance Analyst, discusses Walmart 's credit cards will once again being issued by Synchrony Financial. - Sam Fazeli, Bloomberg Intelligence, Director of Research for Global Industries and Senior Pharmaceuticals Analyst, discusses the latest in the biotech space. - Scott Levine Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Energy & Industrial Services Analyst, discusses the White House's goals for nuclear energy. - Janet Lorin, Bloomberg Higher Education Finance Reporter, discusses her Bloomberg story: 'Oil Rich University of Texas Cashes In on AI, Crypto, and Power.' - Oliver Metcalfe, BNEF Head of Wind Research, discusses BNEF's outlook for offshore wind. Bloomberg Intelligence, the research arm of Bloomberg L.P., has more than 400 professionals who provide in-depth analysis on more than 2,000 companies and 135 industries while considering strategic, equity and credit perspectives. BI also provides interactive data from over 500 independent contributors. It is available exclusively for Bloomberg Terminal subscribers.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Warner Bros. Discovery to Split Into Two Public Companies
Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting into two publicly traded companies: one with HBO Max, film, and TV business, and the other with its cable business. Geetha Ranganathan has more on "Bloomberg Open Interest." Sign in to access your portfolio
The Star
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Cox agrees to merge with Charter for US$35bil
New York: Charter Communications Inc has agreed to combine with closely held Cox Communications in a cash-and-stock deal that would unite two of the biggest US cable providers. The takeover values Cox at about US$34.5bil including debt, the companies said in a statement last Friday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. The deal includes about US$12.6bil of net debt and US$21.9bil in equity, the companies said. The combined company would be the top broadband operator in the United States, and increase Charter's subscriber base by more than 20%, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan. It also comes at a time when cable companies are facing increasing competition. Wireless providers, such as AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US Inc, are luring away broadband customers with their own Internet offerings. At the same time, streaming companies such as Netflix Inc have upended the traditional business of pay-TV. The Cox family will be the largest shareholder in the combined company, with a stake of about 23%, and will have seats on the board. Within a year of closing, the combined company will also change its name to Cox Communications. Charter shares have risen about 24% this year, giving the company a market value of roughly US$66bil. Billionaire John Malone – chairman of Liberty Broadband, Charter's largest shareholder – fuelled merger expectations when he said that the company should be allowed to merge with a media or telecom rival to stay competitive. Speaking at Liberty Media's investor day in New York last November, he named Cox among a number of possible merger candidates. Charter and Cox previously discussed a potential deal more than a decade ago. 'This combination will augment our ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced products, delivered with outstanding customer service, to millions of homes and businesses,' Chris Winfrey, president and chief executive of Charter, said in the statement. Malone's Liberty Broadband will cease its direct shareholding after the deal closes, and its directors will resign from the board. Cable companies like Charter, the largest pay-TV provider, rely on three main lines of business for their revenue: video service, Internet access and wireless phone service. Subscribers to two of those businesses, video and broadband, are shrinking. Cable providers have been selling their own mobile phone plans by leasing network access from major carriers. At the same time, phone carriers have been poaching home Internet subscribers from cable companies. The bet is that customers will in the future prefer to buy their Internet and mobile phone services from the same provider – a trend referred to as convergence. A combination of Charter and Cox would position them to better compete in that environment by allowing them to bundle offerings and more efficiently invest in infrastructure. 'Charter is aggressively marketing its converged mobile fixed bundles at competitive rates to improve subscriber acquisition and retention,' according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts. 'Regardless, the entire cable sector is being hurt by intensifying telecom competition from both fibre coverage and fixed wireless access.' For Cox, which has been viewed as a perennial takeover target, a tie-up with Charter would end more than 70 years of outright ownership by the Cox family. Cox Communications is the main division of Cox Enterprises, a conglomerate founded around the time of the Spanish-American War more than a century ago. The Cox family entered the cable business in the 1960s and has grown Cox Communications into the largest private broadband company in America, offering Internet to almost seven million customers. The company's systems and regional footprint are expected to complement those of Charter, increasing the chances of a deal passing muster with regulators. Even so, the deal could be a litmus test for US antitrust scrutiny under President Donald Trump's new administration. Operating under the Spectrum brand, Charter is the top cable TV company and the second-biggest broadband provider in the United States, according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence. It had more than 12 million video subscribers and about 30 million Internet customers as of the end of March, earnings show. Last year, Charter agreed to buy Liberty Broadband Corp in an all-stock transaction. That deal consolidated two public companies in which cable billionaire Malone held significant interests. Malone remains chairman of Liberty Broadband. — Bloomberg
