DIS Shareholders and Stock Info ONLY

[clarker99]

Something over at DMED is costing bunches of money. And labor is usually the largest cost segment in any business.

Yeah, it is the Direct to Consumer division.

Iger’s cuts to SG & A are already showing positive signs. These cuts cost a lot of people their jobs.

 

[Jrb1979]

People will still save for a whole year to go to Disney, the price going will not deter people from taking their kids on their once in a lifetime trip to Disney. What it may slow down is the repeat visitors, as the number of people who go yearly may go down as prices climb.

IMO people will still go to the parks. Instead of resort stays and doing a lot of sit down restaurants. They will move to off site and quick service. We already are seeing the dining changing. How else do you explain the amount of availability for table service?

 

[ChipnDale79]

IMO people will still go to the parks. Instead of resort stays and doing a lot of sit down restaurants. They will move to off site and quick service. We already are seeing the dining changing. How else do you explain the amount of availability for table service?

i mean yeah. there are ways to cut cost and on these trips. i know we have. we've cut the amount of souvenirs we buy and cut back on the number sit downs we do.

Our trips used to include a sit down every day. The average cost for our family of 4 on a sit down meal in 2021 for us was almost $170. Yes, there were inflated costs like Chef Mickey's, but still.

we leave tomorrow for 4 days. we have one sit down meal scheduled, and its on our arrival day where we have nothing planned.

They're now way too expensive, and take too long. with shorter hours and lack of magic hours, they just simply arent worth it to us anymore. so we've cut way back on them.

I'm sure we arent the only ones.

By the way, there is plenty of dining availability the entire time we are there.

 

[wabbott]

By the way, there is plenty of dining availability the entire time we are there.

Just looked on the app. All sorts of openings for dinner next week. Can't recall seeing that phenomenon for our last three trips - Sept 20, April 21, Oct 22.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Just looked on the app. All sorts of openings for dinner next week. Can't recall seeing that phenomenon for our last three trips - Sept 20, April 21, Oct 22.

the only thing we want and cant really get; is Homecoming. to be fair, we can get it, i just dont want to eat dinner at 10PM

 

[Jwaire]

The prices increases announced today were in line with last year (in case of APs even less) and definitely in line with with continued inflation of ~3.5%.

The only difference is they pushed them out about a month early.

IMO people will still go to the parks. Instead of resort stays and doing a lot of sit down restaurants. They will move to off site and quick service. We already are seeing the dining changing. How else do you explain the amount of availability for table service?

I'm not sure on-site guests move off site all that much, but to your point, quick service is a great alternative for a family. Especially when you consider so many sit-down restaurants are still forcing you to purchase a pre-fixe meal.

There's also staffing. I know over the last year or so we've went, several of the table service restaurants were not even full including the coveted "Be Our Guest." They just didn't have the staff to take anymore reservations.

 

[jade1]

the only thing we want and cant really get; is Homecoming. to be fair, we can get it, i just dont want to eat dinner at 10PM

Not going to recommend you make a special trip, in case you fail.

But we have always stopped for Standby and gotten in.

Maybe just lucky?

Others may have results on here to share.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I dont know what the realities of the Fox deal are? They have $11B in cash on hand and are generating about $3b in free cash flow over the last 4 quarters. They are not in financial trouble.

The Fox deal only works for Disney's streaming strategy, but not so much for theatrical and linear TV. They have to contend with declining linear ratings for FX and National Geographic Channel (not to mention FXX and FXM got dropped from Charter Spectrum) and box office misfires like The Bob's Burgers Movie, Amsterdam, The King's Man, and (possibly after it finishes it's theatrical run) The Creator. (The Boogeyman, Barbarian, Avatar: The Way of Water, and A Haunting in Venice are interesting exceptions though.)

 

[ChipnDale79]

Not going to recommend you make a special trip, in case you fail.

But we have always stopped for Standby and gotten in.

Maybe just lucky?

Others may have results on here to share.

ive heard that too...its a gamble. i was willing to give up my reservation for Sanaa for a reservation at Homecoming. but i dont think im going to give it up for standby.

2 really great places to eat!

 

[wabbott]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/nbcuniversal-donna-langley-fears-sag-032617229.html

NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley Fears SAG-AFTRA Strike Will Cause a Dearth of 2024 Movies
by Loree Seitz
Wed, October 11, 2023 at 10:26 PM CDT

NBCUniversal’s chief content officer Donna Langley shared her fear that the extended SAG-AFTRA strike might result in a lack of movie releases during summer 2024, which could have a “lasting impact” on the industry.

“One of the reasons why I’m so focused on doing my part and our company’s part in bringing resolution to the strike is that… the films that had to shut down as a result of this fight need to be finished by a certain period of time for next summer,” Langley said at Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. “I’m not relishing the thought of a summer or a season without [a] volume of films.”

“If I learned anything during COVID [it] was the lack of volume — it really does impact the movie going cadence,” Langley continued. “We were just seeing recovery from that in 2023… [and] if we lose that, that’s going to have a really lasting impact on our industry.”

As the SAG-AFTRA strike stretches into its third month, Langley hesitated to reveal specific details about ongoing negotiations with the actors guild, but noted the studio’s commitment to reach a fair deal.

“The best way I can say it is that we’ve been spending time with the actors and we we want to spend as much time as it takes until we can reach resolution and get the industry back on its feet,” she said.

Langley’s comments followed a Screentime discussion with Endeavor and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, who took a different approach to guild negotiations.

“I just hope that they all get in the room, lock the door and don’t leave,” he said at his own conversation during the conference.

During her time in the new role as chief content officer, Langley was present during negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP in late September prior to the resolution of the writers’ strike. In an unprecedented move, Langley appeared at the meeting alongside fellow studio leaders, including Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav.

Langley was promoted to the NBCUniversal’s chief content officer, in which she oversees content across all of the conglomerate’s TV and film studios, in July amid a restructuring that elevated her from Universal Film Entertainment Group chairman. The restructuring also resulted in the promotion of Mark Lazarus to NBCUniversal Media Group chairman, while Susan Rovner exited the company.

While a new contract between the writers’ guild and the studios was ratified on Monday, the SAG-AFTRA strike still rages on since actors joined striking writers on the picket lines in mid-July.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...orts-betting-now-its-going-all-in/ar-AA1i7fhE



Disney Agonized About Sports Betting. Now It’s Going All In.

After years of internal debate, the entertainment giant did a deal with a gambling company and will launch an ESPN betting app next month. Can it draw a bigger sports crowd without alienating Mickey’s fans?

By Robbie Whelan, Katherine Sayre and Jessica Toonkel
Oct. 12, 2023 2:25 pm EDT

In early 2019, an analyst asked Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger if sports betting could coexist with the House of Mouse’s brand. He said he didn’t see the company facilitating gambling in any way.

Just four years later, the world’s most beloved name in family entertainment is going all-in on sports betting.

In August, the company struck a 10-year deal with sports-betting company Penn Entertainment to bring gambling to Disney’s ESPN sports network. Sports fans will be able to wager on games on their phones through a new app called ESPN Bet that accepts bets through Penn’s sportsbook.

The idea of gambling under the same roof as Disney has roiled some company executives and employees who feel it will damage the brand that is synonymous with princesses and talking cartoon ducks. In the last year, at least one large investor warned Disney that it might have to sell some of its Disney stake if the company embraced betting.

But for ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro and Iger, who saw his two adult sons glued to gambling apps on their smartphones, the chance to engage a younger male audience, and the money, were eventually too good to pass up. Penn will pay Disney $1.5 billion in cash while ESPN will receive warrants worth about $500 million to purchase shares in the gambling company. Penn will operate the app and Disney will help market it.

This is how sports in America works. Fans watch and they bet—particularly young men between the ages of 18 and 34—often making multiple complicated bets during a live sporting event. They can wager on how many 3-pointers a basketball player will sink or who will catch the final fly ball in a baseball game. It is huge on college campuses.

Wagering on games ballooned after a 2018 Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for states to adopt it. It is legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, online sports gambling generated $7.6 billion in revenue—the amount companies received after paying out winning bets. Next year, revenue is expected to grow to $11.8 billion, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, an industry consulting firm.

ESPN, like more traditional TV networks, is struggling with the decline in cable TV subscribers and the rising cost of sports-broadcasting rights. Sports leagues and legions of startups have embraced gambling, while large media companies have homed in on betting as one of the best ways to expand.

But Disney employees, more than most other workers, feel that their company stands for a set of wholesome ideals—something more than making money.

In mid-2022, Jenny Cohen, a Disney veteran who had been promoted to head of corporate social responsibility a year earlier, raised concerns about a potential foray into sports betting to top executives at Disney’s Burbank, Calif., headquarters and leaders at ESPN, urging them to reconsider their plan to strike a deal with a sports-betting operator.

She told her colleagues, and Disney’s CEO at the time, Bob Chapek, that sports betting would tarnish the Disney brand, according to people familiar with the discussions. Consumers could start associating Disney with gambling addiction, she argued. As this discussion brewed, Disney was already managing a crisis with many employees who felt their employer didn’t take enough of a stand against a Florida bill that prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for young students, known by its opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Around the same time, BlackRock, the investment giant which uses socially-conscious environmental, social and governance—or ESG—criteria to guide some of its investing decisions, contacted Disney’s investor relations staff. It warned Disney that if the company did a deal with a sportsbook, ESG rules may require some of its European funds to reduce their Disney stakes, people familiar with the matter said.

Disney is also contending with a fresh push by activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management to secure multiple board seats, The Journal reported this week. Trian thinks Disney’s stock is undervalued and that Disney needs a board that is more focused and accountable. It is unclear what other changes the hedge fund plans to seek. Peltz and Trian haven’t publicly taken a position on ESPN and gambling.

There are Disney fans, Disney+ subscribers and theme park visitors that likely have no idea that ESPN is part of Disney, but internally, Disney’s businesses are perceived as interconnected parts of one overarching corporate brand: a place where dreams come true. The ESPN+ streaming service is offered as part of Disney’s streaming bundle, and ESPN promotes shows from other Disney-owned networks during its broadcasts, and vice versa. This week, for example, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel appeared on ESPN2’s football show the “Manningcast.”

“My job is to protect the brand at all costs,” said Pitaro, in an interview. “I am the custodian of the ESPN brand, and we needed to make sure that whoever we went with on this journey was someone that we could trust.”

Disney first began flirting with sports betting in March 2019, when it completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox’s major entertainment assets, which included a 6% stake in sports betting company DraftKings.

At the time, some of Iger’s top lieutenants urged him to take a bigger ownership stake in the gambling company, but Iger resisted, arguing that betting wasn’t on-brand for Disney. Without his blessing, sports-betting discussions stalled until Iger stepped down as CEO in February of 2020, and the board named his veteran head of parks, Chapek, to replace him.

Chapek had a much different view of gambling. He told associates that he was “not that precious about the Disney brand,” compared with his predecessor when it came to sports betting. He began exploring a potential partnership with a sportsbook, and Disney started up talks with DraftKings, which now has more than 30% share of the sports-betting market. At the time, DraftKings had a marketing arrangement with ESPN, by which it would link ESPN.com readers to make online bets through DraftKings.

Despite Cohen’s objections, Disney signaled that it was seeking a new deal worth around $3 billion over a decade, and Chapek and Pitaro gave news interviews, saying that ESPN customers wanted a “seamless” betting option as part of the sports-viewing experience. ESPN had already embraced sports betting within its programming, including in its “Daily Wager” show, which analyzes odds for sports matchups.

Pitaro intensified his matchmaking efforts with DraftKings, but from the outset, the two companies were far apart. Disney asked for tens of millions of dollars a year more than DraftKings was willing to pay, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Eventually, DraftKings offered around $100 million a year for ESPN to use its sportsbook, but DraftKings wanted its brand included on any app or marketing as part of the deal. That was a nonstarter for Pitaro. He wanted solo ESPN branding.

His team began negotiating with Rush Street Interactive, a smaller, Chicago-based gambling company. RSI offered ESPN more than $100 million a year, but a deal never came together.

Pitaro felt pressure to secure ESPN’s future, particularly among young male fans who increasingly expect betting to be a seamlessly-integrated part of the sports-watching experience. By this time, Iger had returned to Disney as its CEO after the board ousted Chapek in November of last year, and the company was hard at work on plans to remake ESPN as a streaming-focused platform. Iger had told interviewers that he had seen the writing on the wall for the traditional TV business, which was showing signs of being on its deathbed.

Overall, Disney was struggling. Its foundering share price had drawn attacks from activist investors including both Peltz and Dan Loeb’s Third Point, its streaming business was bleeding cash and its whole traditional television business, more than just ESPN, was suffering as more people dropped their cable TV subscriptions in favor of streaming. Disney is currently exploring potential strategic partners for ESPN and has had talks with major sports leagues about it.

Iger quickly set about trimming fat, announcing $5.5 billion in budget cuts and the elimination of 7,000 positions, around 3% of Disney’s total global workforce.

Soon, Iger warmed up to sports betting. His adult sons’ use of sports-betting apps opened his eyes to its popularity with a younger audience, he told associates. He said that it is “inevitable” that sports-watching and sports-betting will go hand-in-hand, and he blessed Pitaro’s efforts to find Disney a partner. Getting involved with gambling was the only way to ensure that ESPN is able to continue to attract younger audiences, he reasoned.

Along came Penn, the Wyomissing, Pa.-based casino operator turned sports-betting company that also needed a makeover after it got into regulatory and reputational trouble over its ownership of sports-media company Barstool Sports, founded by Dave Portnoy. Several women have accused Portnoy of sexual misconduct—allegations he has denied.

Penn runs casinos and racetracks in smaller regional markets like Lake Charles, La., Biloxi, Miss., and York, Pa., and its CEO Jay Snowden wanted to remake the company into a digital gambling powerhouse.

Snowden first met Pitaro in his office for about a 90-minute meeting earlier this year. Pitaro left thinking Snowden was “a straight shooter” who knew what he was doing, the ESPN executive said.

Pitaro quickly deployed teams working on ESPN’s sports-betting, tech, strategy and marketing into parallel talks with Penn to flesh out what a potential partnership could look like. He said Penn’s technology, including the functionality and design of the app, stood out. In addition, Disney views Penn’s tiny market share as an advantage because ESPN can have more control over branding the app and not have to share the spotlight with a better-established player, according to people familiar with Disney’s stance.

There was a key requirement to move forward with a Disney deal. Penn had to dump Barstool.

When Penn began acquiring Barstool in a series of transactions starting in 2020, the gambling company hoped it would help it build a young customer base. Barstool runs an extensive sports-content operation that has drawn criticism for sexism and some of its employees’ crude behavior. Gambling regulators ultimately fined Penn for violating rules about marketing to people under the age of 21 and scrutinized advertisements that appeared to promise financial success. Barstool said it was being sarcastic.

Pitaro informed Iger of the talks in an early June meeting, and the CEO liked the idea of a partnership with Penn. Pitaro had long held out hope that Disney could fashion a deal with DraftKings, a market-leading online gambling company that was seen by some inside Disney as a natural fit, but the negotiations had become bogged down. Pitaro suggested that they end talks with DraftKings. Iger, who felt that the negotiations had gone on too long and DraftKings’ demands weren’t reasonable, agreed. Besides, Penn was offering a better price. It was time to move on. In June, Pitaro presented the Penn deal to Disney’s board at a meeting in Anaheim, Calif., and in early August, the day before Disney was set to announce third-quarter financial results, Disney announced the $2 billion deal.

Penn needed to rebrand the Barstool Sportsbook app into ESPN Bet under the new deal. To quickly make room for Disney, the company sold Barstool back to Portnoy for $1, just six months after fully acquiring the company. Penn kept the database of 1.5 million online betting customers it has accrued, which the company aims to retain under the ESPN name.

ESPN and Penn have the option to walk away from the partnership in three years if the venture hasn’t captured a minimum market share target. Snowden declined to say the exact target, but said it was around 10%.

“There’s only one ESPN,” Snowden said. “If we were going to make a pivot, there was really one option to do that, and that was with what is the only name that is truly synonymous with sports in the United States.”

ESPN sports programming won’t be pushed into the betting app when it launches in November so as not to slow down the betting experience, Snowden said. Instead, the goal is for ESPN viewers and readers to easily switch back and forth between sports and the betting app.

Pitaro said that many on-air stars are eager to get involved with ESPN Bet, and the company plans to announce an expanded talent lineup to host and promote its gambling-related products and shows. ESPN forged a partnership with former NFL punter and foul-mouthed YouTube star Pat McAfee, who is known for hosting broadcasts in sleeveless T-shirts and making occasional off-color jokes. He will promote ESPN Bet to his audience.

ESPN is also considering alternative broadcasts of games focused on betting, similar to the popular version of Monday Night Football hosted by former NFL stars and brothers Eli and Peyton Manning that airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+, and plans to promote betting to its growing fantasy-sports audience. Pitaro said its fantasy platform is expected to reach more than 12 million users this year, a 10% increase from the previous year.

“Getting into sports betting is a perceived business necessity for ESPN,” said John Kosner, a former ESPN executive who now runs Kosner Media. “I think this decision has to do more with ESPN’s manifest destiny than Disney’s position on branding.”

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com, Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com and Jessica Toonkel at jessica.toonkel@wsj.com

 

[wabbott]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/12/comcast-disney-hire-morgan-stanley-jpmorgan-to-value-hulu.html

Comcast, Disney hire investment banks to value Hulu as sale process makes progress
Published Thu, Oct 12 20232:28 PM EDT
Alex Sherman@sherman4949

Key Points

• Comcast and Disney have hired investment banks to appraise Hulu.
• On Nov. 1, Comcast and Disney can both trigger an option that will kick off a sale process where Disney will acquire Comcast’s minority stake in Hulu.
• Hulu has a minimum valuation of $27.5 billion, as set in 2019; Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said last month he believes Hulu is ‘way more valuable today.’

Comcast and Disney have hired investment banks to value Hulu, the next step in what’s been a nearly five-year process to put the streaming service under one owner.

Comcast, which owns one-third of Hulu, has hired Morgan Stanley, and Disney, which owns the other two-thirds, has hired JPMorgan Chase. Each bank is tasked with providing a fair value for Hulu — a condition of an agreement set up in 2019 that allows either Disney or Comcast to trigger an option forcing Disney to buy Comcast’s 33% stake.

Spokespeople for Comcast, Disney, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan declined to comment.

Nearly five years ago, Comcast and Disney set up an unusual agreement after Disney acquired the majority of Fox’s assets in a $71 billion deal, including Fox’s minority stake in Hulu. That deal gave Disney majority control over Hulu, because Disney already owned one-third of the streaming service.

Comcast didn’t want to sell its stake in Hulu to Disney right away because it believed the value of streaming video would increase between 2019 and 2024. Still, Comcast executives also understood the company would no longer have operational control over the future of the company. Consequently, Disney and Comcast worked out a deal where Comcast could participate in the assumed appreciation of the business while also setting a time where Disney could eventually unify ownership and integrate Hulu into its long-term streaming strategy.

Initially, the companies set an option strike date of January 2024. Last month, the two companies agreed to move up the deadline at which Hulu will be valued from January 2024 to Sept. 30. That deadline represents the final date at which Hulu’s valuation will be assessed by both Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase.

On Nov. 1, Comcast can force Disney to acquire its 33% stake in Hulu and/or Disney can trigger its option to acquire the stake from Comcast. That’s expected to happen, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said at the Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference last month.

“We are excited to get this resolved,” Roberts said at the conference. “The company is way more valuable today than it was [in 2019]. And we are looking forward to seeing how that process [plays out].”

Once the option is triggered, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan will begin their assessments of Hulu’s value. If the two banks’ final valuations are within 10% of each other, the average of the two banks’ determinations will be the price at which Hulu is valued. Disney would then pay Comcast 33% of that value for its stake. The 2019 deal set a floor valuation for Hulu at $27.5 billion.

If the two banks’ assessments aren’t within a 10% range of each other, then Disney and Comcast would agree to hire a third investment bank to make another valuation conclusion. To set the sale price, that third valuation would then be averaged with the previous assessment that’s closest to it.

The valuation calculation process isn’t straightforward. Hulu has 48.3 million subscribers. A pure-play streaming service at its scale has never been sold before. Roberts argued during the Goldman conference that a fair appraisal would also have to include synergy value. Disney’s ownership of Hulu helps prop up Disney+ and ESPN+ subscribers because Disney bundles all three streaming services together.

There is no timetable for how long the valuation process will take or when a deal will get done, but Roberts acknowledged Disney and Comcast both want a resolution sooner rather than later, which is why they agreed to move the option strike date forward several months.

“It will take a little time for this to play out,” Roberts said. “But both companies wanted to get it behind us. So we pulled the date forward.”

Roberts said at the conference Comcast plans to return proceeds from a sale to shareholders.

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

 

[Scalemaster34]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/12/comcast-disney-hire-morgan-stanley-jpmorgan-to-value-hulu.html

Comcast, Disney hire investment banks to value Hulu as sale process makes progress
Published Thu, Oct 12 20232:28 PM EDT
Alex Sherman@sherman4949

Key Points

• Comcast and Disney have hired investment banks to appraise Hulu.
• On Nov. 1, Comcast and Disney can both trigger an option that will kick off a sale process where Disney will acquire Comcast’s minority stake in Hulu.
• Hulu has a minimum valuation of $27.5 billion, as set in 2019; Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said last month he believes Hulu is ‘way more valuable today.’

Comcast and Disney have hired investment banks to value Hulu, the next step in what’s been a nearly five-year process to put the streaming service under one owner.

Comcast, which owns one-third of Hulu, has hired Morgan Stanley, and Disney, which owns the other two-thirds, has hired JPMorgan Chase. Each bank is tasked with providing a fair value for Hulu — a condition of an agreement set up in 2019 that allows either Disney or Comcast to trigger an option forcing Disney to buy Comcast’s 33% stake.

Spokespeople for Comcast, Disney, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan declined to comment.

Nearly five years ago, Comcast and Disney set up an unusual agreement after Disney acquired the majority of Fox’s assets in a $71 billion deal, including Fox’s minority stake in Hulu. That deal gave Disney majority control over Hulu, because Disney already owned one-third of the streaming service.

Comcast didn’t want to sell its stake in Hulu to Disney right away because it believed the value of streaming video would increase between 2019 and 2024. Still, Comcast executives also understood the company would no longer have operational control over the future of the company. Consequently, Disney and Comcast worked out a deal where Comcast could participate in the assumed appreciation of the business while also setting a time where Disney could eventually unify ownership and integrate Hulu into its long-term streaming strategy.

Initially, the companies set an option strike date of January 2024. Last month, the two companies agreed to move up the deadline at which Hulu will be valued from January 2024 to Sept. 30. That deadline represents the final date at which Hulu’s valuation will be assessed by both Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase.

On Nov. 1, Comcast can force Disney to acquire its 33% stake in Hulu and/or Disney can trigger its option to acquire the stake from Comcast. That’s expected to happen, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said at the Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference last month.

“We are excited to get this resolved,” Roberts said at the conference. “The company is way more valuable today than it was [in 2019]. And we are looking forward to seeing how that process [plays out].”

Once the option is triggered, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan will begin their assessments of Hulu’s value. If the two banks’ final valuations are within 10% of each other, the average of the two banks’ determinations will be the price at which Hulu is valued. Disney would then pay Comcast 33% of that value for its stake. The 2019 deal set a floor valuation for Hulu at $27.5 billion.

If the two banks’ assessments aren’t within a 10% range of each other, then Disney and Comcast would agree to hire a third investment bank to make another valuation conclusion. To set the sale price, that third valuation would then be averaged with the previous assessment that’s closest to it.

The valuation calculation process isn’t straightforward. Hulu has 48.3 million subscribers. A pure-play streaming service at its scale has never been sold before. Roberts argued during the Goldman conference that a fair appraisal would also have to include synergy value. Disney’s ownership of Hulu helps prop up Disney+ and ESPN+ subscribers because Disney bundles all three streaming services together.

There is no timetable for how long the valuation process will take or when a deal will get done, but Roberts acknowledged Disney and Comcast both want a resolution sooner rather than later, which is why they agreed to move the option strike date forward several months.

“It will take a little time for this to play out,” Roberts said. “But both companies wanted to get it behind us. So we pulled the date forward.”

Roberts said at the conference Comcast plans to return proceeds from a sale to shareholders.

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

Big gap between what both say it's worth... a third party makes sense.

I really don't know how you value streaming services in today's world...

 

[wabbott]

Big gap between what both say it's worth... a third party makes sense.

I really don't know how you value streaming services in today's world...

I did a Google search on the definition of fair market value and there is actually a US Supreme Court case that addresses the issue.

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/411/546/

United States v. Cartwright, 411 U.S. 546 (1973)

"The fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts."

 

[clarker99]

Big gap between what both say it's worth... a third party makes sense.

I really don't know how you value streaming services in today's world...

I have Hulu churning bw $2.5B-$3B in net income above its own programming expenses. And that has been steady for the last 2years.

I have no idea how Hulu got valued at $27.5B to begin with and I have no idea how it could be worth more today.

 

[wabbott]

Here's an article from 2019 that talks about how the original deal came about.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/comcast-has-agreed-to-sell-its-stake-in-hulu-in-5-years.html

Disney to take full control over Hulu, Comcast has option to sell its stake in 5 years
Published Tue, May 14 2019 - 9:01 AM EDT
Lauren Feiner@lauren_feiner
Christine Wang@in/christinejwang@christiiineeee
Alex Sherman@sherman4949

Key Points

• Disney will take “full operational control” over Hulu from Comcast, effective immediately, the companies announce.
• Comcast also has an agreement to enforce an option to sell its 33% stake in Hulu to Disney in 2024 at a valuation of at least $27.5 billion.
• NBCUniversal has reconsidered the pricing of its upcoming streaming service after Disney’s announcement that Disney+ will cost $6.99 per month.

 

[wabbott]

https://variety.com/2023/scene/news...-award-ucla-neurosurgery-ball-abc-1235753844/

Oct 12, 2023 5:34pm PDT
by Jaden Thompson
Byron Allen Says Buying ABC Would Be a ‘Real Possibility,’ Vows to ‘Chase It Down’ When Disney Is Ready

After making it known in September that he’s interested in acquiring ABC from Disney for a price tag of $10 billion, Byron Allen assures Variety he still has his eyes set on ABC and promises he’s ready play ball when Disney is ready to sell.

“I think ABC’s a real possibility. They say they’re not ready,” Allen said at the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery’s Visionary Ball on Wednesday night. “When they’re ready I’m going to chase it down like a lion chases down a gazelle.”

Allen’s original bid was targeted at ABC, eight local TV stations and Disney-owned cable networks FX and National Geographic Channel. But, he’s since considered downsizing the ask.

“The one thing that needs to be in the shopping cart to keep my interest is ABC and the ABC owned-and-operated stations — and I wouldn’t mind if they threw in ‘Kelly and Mark’ and ‘Tamron Hall,'” Allen told Variety.

The entertainment mogul’s longtime friend, Jeffrey Katzenberg, was also in attendance as he presented Allen with UCLA’s Visionary Award.

In his acceptance speech, Allen thanked many of his peers in the entertainment industry as well as his family, calling his mother his “very first blessing.”

“When we first got here, we slept on a lot of floors and we slept on a lot of sofas. We slept in a lot of spare bedrooms for several years,” he shared. “Over time, we were able to get our own place, and this amazing organization, UCLA — this unbelievable institution — opened the doors. They let my mother become a student in 1971 and that changed the game…So I want to thank UCLA for changing our lives for the better.”

Allen continued to express gratitude for his mother. When she convinced NBC to start an internship program for her, Allen was exposed to the world of comedy, watching Johnny Carson, Flip Wilson and Redd Foxx perform their comedy specials; he was inspired to also become a comedian.

UCLA Children’s Hospital also helped Allen when he had a severe infection in his leg as a child. “They kept me alive, they kept my leg, they didn’t charge me one penny. It is my greatest honor to raise as much money as they ever need. And I’ve always said, call me every day. We must give back. Always give back,” he said.

Allen concluded his speech by sharing that his passion and motivation comes from a conversation he had with Coretta Scott King. She told him that it wasn’t Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech that led to his assassination, but his 1968 speech at Stanford when he said there are two Americas, highlighting economic inequality and warning that this division would lead to the country’s implosion.

Allen was inspired by this story and his path became clear: “I knew I wanted to build the world’s biggest media company. Because media is power.” His vision for unity includes what he calls the “5 E’s”: education, equal justice, economic inclusion, environmental protection and empathy.

A performance by Smokey Robinson concluded the night. He sang several hits from his extensive catalogue including “Tracks of My Tears” and “Tears of a Clown.” Robinson closed out the night with fan-favorite “My Girl.”
“I’m very happy for Byron. I’m here for him, basically,” Robinson told Variety. “I’ve known him since he was a little boy, and I’m just proud of him. I’m very happy for the things that he’s accomplishing in his life.”

 

[Elijah Abrams]

https://variety.com/2023/scene/news...-award-ucla-neurosurgery-ball-abc-1235753844/

Oct 12, 2023 5:34pm PDT
by Jaden Thompson
Byron Allen Says Buying ABC Would Be a ‘Real Possibility,’ Vows to ‘Chase It Down’ When Disney Is Ready

After making it known in September that he’s interested in acquiring ABC from Disney for a price tag of $10 billion, Byron Allen assures Variety he still has his eyes set on ABC and promises he’s ready play ball when Disney is ready to sell.

“I think ABC’s a real possibility. They say they’re not ready,” Allen said at the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery’s Visionary Ball on Wednesday night. “When they’re ready I’m going to chase it down like a lion chases down a gazelle.”

Allen’s original bid was targeted at ABC, eight local TV stations and Disney-owned cable networks FX and National Geographic Channel. But, he’s since considered downsizing the ask.

“The one thing that needs to be in the shopping cart to keep my interest is ABC and the ABC owned-and-operated stations — and I wouldn’t mind if they threw in ‘Kelly and Mark’ and ‘Tamron Hall,'” Allen told Variety.

The entertainment mogul’s longtime friend, Jeffrey Katzenberg, was also in attendance as he presented Allen with UCLA’s Visionary Award.

In his acceptance speech, Allen thanked many of his peers in the entertainment industry as well as his family, calling his mother his “very first blessing.”

“When we first got here, we slept on a lot of floors and we slept on a lot of sofas. We slept in a lot of spare bedrooms for several years,” he shared. “Over time, we were able to get our own place, and this amazing organization, UCLA — this unbelievable institution — opened the doors. They let my mother become a student in 1971 and that changed the game…So I want to thank UCLA for changing our lives for the better.”

Allen continued to express gratitude for his mother. When she convinced NBC to start an internship program for her, Allen was exposed to the world of comedy, watching Johnny Carson, Flip Wilson and Redd Foxx perform their comedy specials; he was inspired to also become a comedian.

UCLA Children’s Hospital also helped Allen when he had a severe infection in his leg as a child. “They kept me alive, they kept my leg, they didn’t charge me one penny. It is my greatest honor to raise as much money as they ever need. And I’ve always said, call me every day. We must give back. Always give back,” he said.

Allen concluded his speech by sharing that his passion and motivation comes from a conversation he had with Coretta Scott King. She told him that it wasn’t Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech that led to his assassination, but his 1968 speech at Stanford when he said there are two Americas, highlighting economic inequality and warning that this division would lead to the country’s implosion.

Allen was inspired by this story and his path became clear: “I knew I wanted to build the world’s biggest media company. Because media is power.” His vision for unity includes what he calls the “5 E’s”: education, equal justice, economic inclusion, environmental protection and empathy.

A performance by Smokey Robinson concluded the night. He sang several hits from his extensive catalogue including “Tracks of My Tears” and “Tears of a Clown.” Robinson closed out the night with fan-favorite “My Girl.”
“I’m very happy for Byron. I’m here for him, basically,” Robinson told Variety. “I’ve known him since he was a little boy, and I’m just proud of him. I’m very happy for the things that he’s accomplishing in his life.”

Byron doesn’t care about the future, which is streaming. He needs to wake up, or get torn to shreds in this new age.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Best Buy to End DVD, Blu-ray Disc Sales

The consumer-electronics retailer will phase out sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs both in-store and online in early 2024, according to industry sources familiar with the company’s plans. Best Buy made the initial decision to end DVD sales nine months ago, according to one source.

Best Buy confirmed Friday that it is ending sales of DVDs. “To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago,” a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.”

Best Buy will continue to sell movies and TV shows on physical discs through the 2023 holiday shopping season online and in stores, before discontinuing sales in the new year. The company will continue to sell video games. As of mid-2023, Best Buy had 1,129 store locations, with 969 of those in the U.S.

News of Best Buy’s ending DVD sales was first reported by home-entertainment blog The Digital Bits.

The move comes as Netflix, 25 years after launching its pioneering DVD-by-mail service, shipped out its last DVDs to customers on Sept. 29(and let them keep their final discs if they chose to).

Best Buy’s exit from the market will leave Walmart, Amazon and Target as the top retailers in the U.S. stocking DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Also still in the physical-disc game is Redbox, now owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which maintains a network of about 29,000 DVD rental kiosks nationwide.

Amid the ascent of streaming video, sales of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs have been shrinking for years. U.S. physical media revenue in the first half of 2023 dropped 28%, to $754 million, compared with $1.05 billion in the year-earlier period, according to data from trade association DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.

Ingram Entertainment, a leading DVD distributor, recently announced that it would wind down operations after more than 35 years in business. The company said it will “continue to provide catalog product” to customers into the fourth quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, Walmart has been in talks with DVD distributor Studio Distribution Services (SDS), a joint venture of Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., to assume management of portions of its physical-media operations, Media Play News reported this summer.

 

[BrianL]

Best Buy to End DVD, Blu-ray Disc Sales

The consumer-electronics retailer will phase out sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs both in-store and online in early 2024, according to industry sources familiar with the company’s plans. Best Buy made the initial decision to end DVD sales nine months ago, according to one source.

Best Buy confirmed Friday that it is ending sales of DVDs. “To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago,” a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.”

Best Buy will continue to sell movies and TV shows on physical discs through the 2023 holiday shopping season online and in stores, before discontinuing sales in the new year. The company will continue to sell video games. As of mid-2023, Best Buy had 1,129 store locations, with 969 of those in the U.S.

News of Best Buy’s ending DVD sales was first reported by home-entertainment blog The Digital Bits.

The move comes as Netflix, 25 years after launching its pioneering DVD-by-mail service, shipped out its last DVDs to customers on Sept. 29(and let them keep their final discs if they chose to).

Best Buy’s exit from the market will leave Walmart, Amazon and Target as the top retailers in the U.S. stocking DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Also still in the physical-disc game is Redbox, now owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which maintains a network of about 29,000 DVD rental kiosks nationwide.

Amid the ascent of streaming video, sales of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs have been shrinking for years. U.S. physical media revenue in the first half of 2023 dropped 28%, to $754 million, compared with $1.05 billion in the year-earlier period, according to data from trade association DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.

Ingram Entertainment, a leading DVD distributor, recently announced that it would wind down operations after more than 35 years in business. The company said it will “continue to provide catalog product” to customers into the fourth quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, Walmart has been in talks with DVD distributor Studio Distribution Services (SDS), a joint venture of Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., to assume management of portions of its physical-media operations, Media Play News reported this summer.

It was inevitable, but there is still a market for high-end collector's sets and such, usually the 4K types. That's a niche audience though.