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Olivia Michael | CNBC

Warner Bros. Discovery employees faced another round of layoffs this week, particularly those in the cable-TV network side of the business.

The layoffs affected the company’s vast portfolio of cable-TV networks including the Discovery Channel, Investigation Discovery and the Food Network. The Turner Classic Movie channel also was affected and saw a major leadership shakeup as a result, which prompted concern among cinema fans and people dedicated to film preservation.

Known as TCM, the network is recognized as a place for preservation of classic films and a carefully curated lineup of guest introductions, documentaries and non-English-language movies. Its offerings are among the movies and shows included on Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming app Max.

The shakeup at the network inspired Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to reach out to top filmmakers — including “Goodfellas” director and film preservation leader Martin Scorsese; Steven Spielberg, the filmmaker behind a trove of Hollywood masterpieces including “Schindler’s List;” and Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed acclaimed hits like “There Will Be Blood” — to reassure them the essence of TCM would not change under new leadership.

“Turner Classic Movies has always been more than just a channel. It is truly a precious resource of cinema, open 24 hours a day seven days a week,” the trio of filmmakers said in a joint statement. “And while it has never been a financial juggernaut, it has always been a profitable endeavor since its inception.”

Scorsese, Spielberg and Anderson added that Zaslav contacted them regarding the restructuring of TCM, adding they each spent time talking with the CEO, individually and as a group, “and it’s clear that TCM and classic cinema are very important to him. Our primary aim is to ensure that TCM’s programming is untouched and protected.”

Director Steven Spielberg.

Gilbert Flores | Variety | Getty Images

In April, Spielberg and Anderson had a discussion about film preservation efforts at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Zaslav joined them on stage, according to media reports.

A representative for Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment beyond pointing to the filmmakers’ statement.

The merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery in 2022 created the biggest portfolio of cable-TV networks under one roof during a time of substantial cord cutting as many consumers opt for streaming services. The merger also came when major streaming platforms like Netflix began to see their subscribers plateau and turned their focus from growth to profitability.

Warner Bros. Discovery has been grappling with a hefty debt load stemming from the merger, and has been looking for ways to lower its costs. It has undergone a number of layoffs – which will amount to thousands of employees losing their jobs – as well as other measures, such as reducing content spending.

In addition, the company recently rebranded its flagship streaming service as Max, a combination of its Discovery+ and HBO Max content. Content from its cable-TV networks, including TCM, is featured on the service.

“We are heartened and encouraged by the conversations we’ve had thus far, and we are committed to working together to ensure the continuation of this cultural touchstone that we all treasure,” Scorsese, Spielberg and Anderson said in the statement.

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Spotify says it paid nearly 1,500 artists $1 million or more in royalties for 2024 streams

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Spotify says it paid nearly 1,500 artists  million or more in royalties for 2024 streams

In this photo illustration, the Spotify music app is seen on a phone on June 04, 2024 in New York City.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Spotify is minting music millionaires.

Nearly 1,500 artists generated over $1 million in royalties from Spotify in 2024, the company said Wednesday in its annual Loud and Clear Report.

Spotify said more than 80% of the artists in that pool didn’t have a song reach the app’s Global Daily Top 50 chart.

“Spotify has helped level the playing field for artists at every stage of their careers,” read a portion of the report. “Success in the streaming era doesn’t require a decade-spanning catalog nor a chart-topping hit.”

The news comes about a month after the company reported a fourth-quarter earnings beat that saw the Swedish music streamer record its first full year of profitability. The company said it paid an all-time high of $10 billion in royalties to the music industry for the year.

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Salesforce pledges to invest $1 billion in Singapore over five years in AI push

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Salesforce pledges to invest  billion in Singapore over five years in AI push

Marc Benioff, Chairman & CEO of Salesforce, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22nd, 2025.

Gerry Miller | CNBC

Salesforce on Wednesday announced plans to invest $1 billion in Singapore over the next five years.

The cloud software giant said the investment is designed to accelerate the country’s digital transformation and the adoption of Salesforce’s flagship AI offering Agentforce.

Salesforce is among the many technology companies hoping to boost revenue with generative AI features.

The company launched the newest version of Agentforce last month. It has previously described the system — which it says can tackle sophisticated questions in Salesforce’s Slack communications app, based on all available data — as the first digital AI platform for enterprises.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is scheduled to speak at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE at around 9:25 a.m. Singapore time (9:25 p.m. ET) on Wednesday.

“We are in an incredible new era of digital labor where every business will be transformed by autonomous agents that augment the work of humans, revolutionizing productivity and enabling every company to scale without limits,” Benioff said in a statement.

“Singapore is at the forefront of this shift, and as the world’s largest provider of digital labor through our Agentforce platform,” he added.

Salesforce said Agentforce can help Singapore to “rapidly expand” its labor force in several key service and public sector roles at a time when the country is grappling with an aging population and declining birth rates.

Jermaine Loy, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, welcomed Salesforce’s investment, saying it will help to boost the country’s efforts “to build a vibrant hub for AI innovation.”

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

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Reddit rallies after three-day slump as analyst calls sell-off ‘excessive’

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Reddit rallies after three-day slump as analyst calls sell-off 'excessive'

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman stands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after ringing a bell on the floor setting the share price at $47 in its initial public offering (IPO) on March 21, 2024 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Reddit shares rose more than 10% on Tuesday, reversing a three-day slump that coincided with a broader decline among technology companies.

Despite Tuesday’s gains, Reddit shares are still roughly 30% below the close on Wednesday.

Reddit’s stock market upswing was likely bolstered by a Loop Capital analyst note published Tuesday that reiterated a buy rating and characterized the company’s shares as “extremely attractive.” The analyst note said that Reddit’s 50% drop on Wall Street in the past month “is excessive,” and that the social media company “has the biggest upside potential relative to Street estimates in our coverage universe.”

The company’s shares dropped more than 15% in February after the company reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter user numbers as a result of a Google search change that temporarily hurt its search-derived traffic. Although Reddit said at the time that it had recovered from the algorithmic shift, the user number miss spooked investors.

Reddit’s shares have since spiraled downward along with other tech companies like Apple, Nvidia and Tesla off of concerns related to President Donald Trump‘s tariffs and growing fears of a recession. The seven most valuable tech companies lost more than $750 billion in market value on Monday with Nasdaq experiencing its biggest decline since 2022.

Loop Capital managing director Alan Gould acknowledged in the note that investors are operating in a “risk-off market environment,” but he contended that Reddit “has been one of the top performing stocks over the past year,” aside from its most recent dip.

“RDDT wildly exceeded ours and Street estimates for 2024, which explains why the stock increased almost 7-fold from a $34 IPO price to a peak of $230 in less than a year,” Gould wrote, noting Reddit’s growing revenue and improved advertising tools, among other positive developments.

Reddit’s fourth-quarter sales grew 71% year over year to $428 million, which represents the fastest growth rate for any quarter since 2022.

“In our view, RDDT deserves the revaluation it had experiencing based on the growth it has shown in the recent earnings reports and future projected growth driven by the ability to narrow the ARPU gap, and data licensing possibilities,” Gould wrote.

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