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Kevin Spacey was one of the few low points for Netflix in its generally upbeat fourth-quarter earnings presentation. Deadline Hollywood reports that the $39 million write-down included in that presentation was at least partly related to two projects that involved Spacey—the final season of the streamer’s hit series House of Cards and the feature Gore, which he starred in as Gore Vidal. The House of Cards set was shut down following the charges made against Spacey in October and the already-completed Gore was shelved. While Netflix CFO David Wells noted that write-downs are not that unusual for the company, “we just hadn’t had one of this magnitude.” Despite that setback, there was much for Netflix to be happy about—including 8.3 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter despite a price hike, and profits of $186 million. That performance brought the company’s shares up 8 percent, to a record price of $246.
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Digital media company Funny or Die is letting go of its entire editorial staff, according to a report on Paste. Founded by Creative Artists Agency and Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy, with Judd Apatow a principal partner, the company previously laid off about 30% of its staff during a restructuring in the summer of 2016. “Like a lot of other digital media companies, we’re facing tough challenges that we can no longer ignore, and so we must adapt,” Funny or Die CEO Mike Farah wrote in a memo to employees. The cuts are said to be part of a strategy by the company to move away from online content and toward producing shows for television.
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Comcast’s fourth-quarter financials, reported yesterday, show that streaming services aren’t the only companies benefiting in the current media environment. While Comcast saw more than 33,000 video customers head for the exits in the fourth quarter, the blow was softened by the addition of 350,000 high-speed internet customers. The company now boasts more than 29.3 million subscribers overall. In addition, Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit showed record profits for 2017. Universal Pictures brought in $5 billion in revenue for the year, while theme parks, broadcast and cable networks also saw increases. The cable networks segment boosted its revenue by 7.5 percent, and content licensing and other revenue were up 34.5 percent.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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