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18

Aaron Sorkin Is Writing Some Kind of ‘Social Network’ Sequel Because ‘I Blame Facebook For January 6’ Riot at the U.S. Capitol

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Aaron Sorkin confirmed during a live recording of “The Town” podcast that he is currently working on some kind of sequel to “The Social Network,” David Fincher’s acclaimed 2010 drama about the creation of Facebook that won Sorkin the Oscar…

Comcast Chief Brian Roberts Earned $35.5 Million in 2023, Up 11%

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Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, had a compensation package worth $35.47 million in 2023, as he saw his pay rise 11% from the year prior. Roberts, who oversees the cable giant and NBCUniversal, had a salary of $2.5 million,…

17

TikTok Ban: ByteDance Denies Report That It’s Considering Selling App

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ByteDance said a report that it’s mulling the sale of a majority stake in TikTok’s American business — after the U.S. adopted a law forcing it to divest its ownership position or face a ban of the app — is “untrue.” The Chinese internet…

16

Poppy Harlow Parts Ways With CNN After Morning Show Exit

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Poppy Harlow and CNN are parting ways after the news outlet put the veteran correspondent through a whirlwind era as one of the co-anchors of an ill-conceived morning program that was ultimately scrapped. CNN executives “have been…

New AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan’s 2023 Pay Reaches $14.5 Million

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AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan’s compensation was $14.5 million in 2023, her first year in the top post at the cable channel giant. According to an SEC filing posted Friday, Dolan’s base salary for the year was $1.7 million. She had $8.8…

Brooklinen Is Having Their Biggest Sale of The Year With Bedding Up To 50% Off

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Brooklinen is celebrating their 10th birthday with their biggest sale of the year. For their 10-Year Anniversary Sale, which runs from April 23 through May 6, the entire website is 25% off and bestselling pieces up to 45% off with bundling…

15

The Onion Sold to Founder of Twilio, Who Taps Ex-NBC News Reporter Ben Collins to Lead Satire Site as CEO

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The Onion has a new owner: a company called “Global Tetrahedron,” which is a real thing based on a fake entity invented by the satire site more than two decades ago. G/O Media, a private-equity backed firm that has owned The Onion since…

Thursday, Apr 25

23

Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Pay Package Hit Nearly $84 Million in 2023, Up More Than Four Times the Year Prior

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Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel received a compensation package worth $83.9 million last year — more than four times his compensation in 2022. Emanuel’s 2023 pay at Endeavor included $4.9 million in salary, a $34.65 million bonus and $43.47…

Roku Stock Rises as It Bests Wall Street’s Q1 Earnings Forecast, Adds 1.6 Million Active Accounts to Reach 81.6 Million

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Roku reported its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing the company reached 81.6 million active accounts, an increase of 1.6 million from the previous quarter, and streaming hours rose to 30.8 billion, up from 29.1 million in Q4…

YouTube Q1 Ad Revenue Climbs 21% to $8.1 Billion, Well Above Wall Street Forecasts

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YouTube keeps eating up more share of the advertising pie: The Google-owned video giant posted $8.1 billion in ad sales for the first quarter of 2024, its highest Q1 total to date. The figure for YouTube ad sales, up 21% year over year,…

GKIDS and Anime Ltd. Acquire Global Rights to ‘The Colors Within’

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GKIDS and European animation distributor Anime Ltd. have acquired global rights to Naoko Yamada’s new film “The Colors Within.” GKIDS has acquired the film for North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, while Anime Ltd. has…

22

Sony Pictures Entertainment Names Disney’s Jill Ratner General Counsel

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Disney deputy general counsel Jill Ratner has exited the Mouse House to join Sony Pictures Entertainment as executive vice president and general counsel. Beginning in her new role May 28, Ratner will be overseeing all SPE’s legal functions…

19

Amazon MGM Studios’ Sue Kroll on Selling ‘Saltburn’ as a ‘Guilty Pleasure,’ Going With Gut Instinct and Listening to Fans

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Sue Kroll, head of global marketing for Amazon MGM Studios, has worked on the launch of every kind of movie under the sun, from blockbusters such as “Harry Potter” and “The Matrix” franchises to streaming originals such as the recent…

FCC Adopts Net Neutrality Rules (Again) in Replay of Fight Over Internet Regulation

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It’s déjà vu all over again for net neutrality. On Thursday, the Democratic-majority FCC voted along party lines to adopt an order that would largely restore the agency’s net neutrality rules from a decade ago. The move reignites the long…

16

‘Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza’ Docuseries Premieres on Paramount+ Next Month

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Paramount+ today announced that the upcoming docuseries “Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza” will premiere exclusively on the service in the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday, May 21 and on Wednesday, May 22 in the UK, Australia, Latin America,…

TelevisaUnivision Is Latest to Adopt Technology That Lets TV Viewers Shop

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Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision is the latest TV company trying to turn its viewers into rabid shoppers. The company has struck a partnership with the technology company Shopsense AI that will make the latter’s retail platform…

MSNBC Will Use Virtual-Reality Supreme Court Bench During Trump Insurrection Arguments

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The average person won’t be able to see the nation’s Supreme Court justices contemplating arguments Thursday over whether Donald Trump’s efforts to undo his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden can be prosecuted as a crime. But…

Comedian Matt Friend to Launch Podcast on Bill Maher’s Club Random Network (EXCLUSIVE)

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Matt Friend, known for his red-carpet celebrity interactions and spot-on impressions of Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Mitch McConnell, is bringing his bite-sized comedy to a longform podcast. “Friend in High Places” will launch later this…

15

Michael Cera Christmas Movie Boarded by Magnify Ahead of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

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Magnify, the rebranded international sales arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” in the run up to its world premiere at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Directed and co-writer…

14

Imax Q1 Revenue Drops 9%, Earnings Beat Wall Street Estimates on Lift From ‘Dune 2’

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Imax fans turned up in droves to see “Dune 2” on the really big screen, helping the company cruise past analyst earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2024. Despite the sandworm bump, it was a tough compare with the year-ago period…

Comcast Ekes Out Q1 Profit Gain Despite Cord-Cutting, Tepid Ad Spending

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Comcast notched a small first-quarter profit despite continued erosion in its core cable operations and a lack of new spending from advertisers at its NBCUniversal operations. The Philadelphia owner of NBC, USA and the Peacock streaming…

TelevisaUnivision Posts Q1 Loss but Projects Streaming Profits in Second Half of 2024

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Continued investment in streaming contributed to a first-quarter loss for Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision, which is seeing the bulk of its growth come from its Mexican operations while U.S. revenue stays flat with year…

13

Wondery U.K. Taps Spotify’s Chris Baughen for Head of Podcasts

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Wondery U.K. has hired Spotify exec Chris Baughen as its new head of podcasts. He joins the company on April 29 and will be based in London. Baughen steps into the role recently vacated by Rich Knight, who has moved to BBC Studios. Baughen…

01

Ari Emanuel Earned $65 Million Pay Package in 2023 as CEO of TKO Group, Parent of WWE and UFC

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Ari Emanuel, in his capacity as CEO of TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of UFC and WWE — had a compensation package last year that hit nearly $65 million. TKO granted Emanuel, who also is CEO of Endeavor, a base salary of $911,538,…

Wednesday, Apr 24

23

Meta Q1 Revenue Jumps 27% and Profit Doubles to $12.4 Billion, Stock Falls on Weak Sales Outlook and AI Spending Forecast

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Social-media powerhouse Meta punched in huge sales growth for the first quarter of 2024, as Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” job cuts last year paid off with net income more than doubling. The company, parent of Facebook, Instagram…

22

Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema Guns for India’s Top Streamer Spot With Cheap Premium Plans, Free IPL Cricket

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s streamer JioCinema is making a play to become India’s top streaming service by introducing cheap premium tier plans. From April 25, the service’s existing INR999 ($12) annual plan for international premium…

21

Will TikTok Be Banned in the U.S.? What the New Law Means for the App’s Users

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TikTok could be banned in the U.S. as soon as January 2025. Here’s what the new law means for users of the popular short-form video app. Did the TikTok Ban Bill Become a Law? Yes. On Wednesday, President Biden signed the TikTok bill into…

Wrangling the Regulators: Hollywood’s Urge to Merge Is Dampened by Antitrust Policy Debate in Washington

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A raging policy debate in Washington is forcing Hollywood to curb its enthusiasm for mergers and acquisitions — for now. Federal regulators and some legal scholars are moving to radically overhaul how the nation enforces antitrust laws.…

20

Ubisoft Promotes Cécile Russeil to Executive Vice President

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After spending more than 30 years at Ubisoft, Cécile Russeil has been promoted to executive vice president, starting Wednesday. In her elevated role, Russeil will bring her experience in the company to lead Ubisoft’s functions and teams.…

AMC Theatres Building Distribution Team With New VP Hire After ‘Eras Tour,’ ‘Renaissance’ Box Office Success

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AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, is leaning into distribution. The company is expanding its distribution team with a key hire and promotion, underscoring its committment to releasing its own movies in addition to showcasing…