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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: News. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio.
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Speaker 1: One story that constantly keeps creeping back into market news, market stories, also just business stories, media stories, and that is Paramount Skydance. And apparently it has outlined the executive leadership team that will helm the new company resulting from its acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery. It's amazing just about a year or so ago. all of this started and here we are. This is supposed to happen after the expected closing on Tuesday. Reporting it out for us is Bloomberg News media reporter. She's Hannah Miller. She joins us here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. Are we like there?
00:00:50
Speaker 2: Almost. Almost. We're almost there, yeah.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: But the closing is going to happen probably.
00:00:56
Speaker 2: Tomorrow's a big day.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: All right.
00:00:57
Speaker 1: So walk us through kind of then, because there's been stuff we've been hearing about leadership and so on and so forth. What'd you find out?
00:01:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we got a big leadership announcement today, kind of outlining the teams that will be overseeing Skydance. That is the name of the merged company, when Paramount and Warner Brothers combine. So they're gone.
00:01:18
Speaker 1: Paramount, Warner Brothers, gone.
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Speaker 2: It's the studios now. So they're still preserving some of that brand identity with the studio names. But yeah, overall, the company is Skydance. That was the name of David Ellison, who... CEO. That was the name of his media production company when he got started in Hollywood.
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Speaker 3: So, I mean, you talked about the pretty sprawling leadership team. Who are the most important people that we need to know?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no.
00:01:42
Speaker 2: So we have some people overseeing streaming. Casey Bloys, he comes over from HBO Warner Brothers. He is playing a pivotal role in overseeing streaming. We know that's a big play for David Ellison and Skydance. Obviously, we'll have the Paramount Plus streaming platform and the HBO Max streaming platform, two major services. We also know, you know, David Ellison has a co-CEO, you know, in Crites, who jumped over from Mattel Inc.
00:02:13
Speaker 1: This blows my mind. We've talked to him a lot on air here when he was running Mattel. Explain that to me.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So we know he has exposure to the film and entertainment space because of the Barbie movie. You know, he spearheaded that for Mattel, worked with Warner Brothers on that film, which was a huge box office success for them. So, you know, he recognizes the strengths of these brands, the strength of IP. And we know David Ellison wants to create more content. This is a huge goal for him. And we think that Crites will be a good asset on that.
00:02:48
Speaker 1: Because he wanted to do so much more with the IP of Mattel. There were just so many kind of cool brands. And if you think about it, it's very Disney-esque, right? If you think about the different brands there and what you could maybe turn it into. And Barbie, I think we're all assuming another movie... Is Happening coming? I don't know.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: We'll see. Dot, dot, dot.
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Speaker 1: We had heard, too, that there is kind of a global town hall at Paramount Skydance. So what does it mean for the employees who are there? We just came off of screen time. Casey Boyes of HBO spoke.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: You know that.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: But there were comments made about, you know, there's fewer and fewer studios. We just had Sarah Jessica Parker in here. And she, too, said, we talked about Hollywood. She goes, you know, it's good for some people, but not good for everybody.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see what happens. We know a lot of the employees are on edge.
00:03:38
Speaker 3: They're worried.
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Speaker 2: They know major changes are going to happen. And we know David Ellison is eyeing $ 6 billion worth of cost efficiencies post-merger.
00:03:47
Speaker 1: That's a lot.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: People are worried about their jobs. So we've seen, as news trickles out about who's going to be in charge, we've seen some reassurance for employees. Mark Thompson, he's the CEO of CNN. It got confirmed today that he will be staying on and overseeing the news network.
00:04:03
Speaker 1: That's a big deal. I think there was a lot of concerns about, right, with what's happened with CBS. There's certainly a change in terms of a news organization, whether or not that would happen at CNN.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he sent out a memo to employees today and was like, listen, you know, I know we've all had our trepidations, but I'm coming into this with a positive frame of mind. You know, he believes in what they're doing. And he also emphasized that he thinks CNN will be able to maintain editorial independence.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: He thinks.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker 3: Dot, dot, dot again. Well, I mean, as we were talking about CNN and CBS News, I feel like to your point, there's been so much conversation about what that's going to look like. But do we have any clarity yet about how these two news organizations will look under one roof?
00:04:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we know there's going to be that separate leadership with Mark Thompson over CNN and Barry Weiss continuing to oversee CBS News. We know as part of the settlement that Paramount reached with the 12 state attorneys general. that they are actually establishing an independent editorial board that will oversee both news organizations and work out issues related to news standards. Still need some more details on what that's going.
00:05:10
Speaker 3: To look like.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: Who's on that board? Journalists.
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Speaker 3: Right, right, right.
00:05:13
Speaker 2: Yes. And it's interesting. They have to be of different political affiliations. There can be no more than two journalists on the board of the same political affiliation. which seems quite odd. I mean, journalists are supposed to be unbiased and it's unclear how they're going to figure that out and how they're going to measure that.
00:05:29
Speaker 1: But it's interesting in a world, you're absolutely right, right? Objectivity and every news story, you make sure you cover both sides, but it is interesting in this world where we live in echo chambers and there are certain affiliations that are certainly take a certain position that you can, you're right, but it's interesting to hear that. When you think about this company, you have been following it for a long time.
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Speaker 3: It's expensive.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: This was an expensive deal. And we've seen some concerns over paramount debt. So what is it that investors need to kind of be watching out for as this company now is one company?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there's a massive pile of debt that's being taken on here. And the concern is that how are you going to balance paying that off with investing in new content, investing in new technology, which we know are top of mind for David Ellison? So it remains to be seen how they're going to achieve their goals and their requirements under the settlement to produce 30 films theatrically every year. There's actually a financial penalty if they don't meet that goal.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: That's right. They made a commitment, right?
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Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:06:33
Speaker 1: To do so.
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Speaker 3: So is that really an ambitious goal or is this feasible?
00:06:40
Speaker 2: I've heard differing opinions on it. When I'm talking to analysts, some of them say, yeah, this is doable. David Ellison has talked about this from the beginning. And others are saying, hey, they're forming this massive company. There are so many challenges ahead here. Hollywood is already struggling. This is going to be a tough goal for them to meet. So the industry is divided over what this will look like.
00:07:00
Speaker 3: And what about the quality, though, of the work as well? I'm curious. For those that are maybe a little bit bearish and they're saying that this isn't really possible, do they talk about sacrificing quality to make the quantity work?
00:07:10
Speaker 2: That's definitely a concern. You know, people want good movies. That's what's going to bring folks into theaters. And that's a huge goal for everyone in the industry is to get people back into theater seats. So if the films aren't good, nobody's going to come in and it doesn't matter whether or not you're meeting this requirement if it's not good content.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: We still look at the weekend box office receipts, right? And you certainly mark when something didn't do well and kind of who was behind it and who was in it and all that good stuff. Thank you so much. Covered all the ground. So tomorrow's a big day.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: Definitely.
00:07:40
Speaker 1: All right. Hannah Miller, thank you so much. She is Bloomberg News media reporter joining us in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: News. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: One story that constantly keeps creeping back into market news, market stories, also just business stories, media stories, and that is Paramount Skydance. And apparently it has outlined the executive leadership team that will helm the new company resulting from its acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery. It's amazing just about a year or so ago. all of this started and here we are. This is supposed to happen after the expected closing on Tuesday. Reporting it out for us is Bloomberg News media reporter. She's Hannah Miller. She joins us here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. Are we like there?
00:00:50
Speaker 2: Almost. Almost. We're almost there, yeah.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: But the closing is going to happen probably.
00:00:56
Speaker 2: Tomorrow's a big day.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: All right.
00:00:57
Speaker 1: So walk us through kind of then, because there's been stuff we've been hearing about leadership and so on and so forth. What'd you find out?
00:01:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we got a big leadership announcement today, kind of outlining the teams that will be overseeing Skydance. That is the name of the merged company, when Paramount and Warner Brothers combine. So they're gone.
00:01:18
Speaker 1: Paramount, Warner Brothers, gone.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: It's the studios now. So they're still preserving some of that brand identity with the studio names. But yeah, overall, the company is Skydance. That was the name of David Ellison, who... CEO. That was the name of his media production company when he got started in Hollywood.
00:01:35
Speaker 3: So, I mean, you talked about the pretty sprawling leadership team. Who are the most important people that we need to know?
00:01:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, no.
00:01:42
Speaker 2: So we have some people overseeing streaming. Casey Bloys, he comes over from HBO Warner Brothers. He is playing a pivotal role in overseeing streaming. We know that's a big play for David Ellison and Skydance. Obviously, we'll have the Paramount Plus streaming platform and the HBO Max streaming platform, two major services. We also know, you know, David Ellison has a co-CEO, you know, in Crites, who jumped over from Mattel Inc.
00:02:13
Speaker 1: This blows my mind. We've talked to him a lot on air here when he was running Mattel. Explain that to me.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: Yeah. So we know he has exposure to the film and entertainment space because of the Barbie movie. You know, he spearheaded that for Mattel, worked with Warner Brothers on that film, which was a huge box office success for them. So, you know, he recognizes the strengths of these brands, the strength of IP. And we know David Ellison wants to create more content. This is a huge goal for him. And we think that Crites will be a good asset on that.
00:02:48
Speaker 1: Because he wanted to do so much more with the IP of Mattel. There were just so many kind of cool brands. And if you think about it, it's very Disney-esque, right? If you think about the different brands there and what you could maybe turn it into. And Barbie, I think we're all assuming another movie... Is Happening coming? I don't know.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: We'll see. Dot, dot, dot.
00:03:09
Speaker 1: We had heard, too, that there is kind of a global town hall at Paramount Skydance. So what does it mean for the employees who are there? We just came off of screen time. Casey Boyes of HBO spoke.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: You know that.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: But there were comments made about, you know, there's fewer and fewer studios. We just had Sarah Jessica Parker in here. And she, too, said, we talked about Hollywood. She goes, you know, it's good for some people, but not good for everybody.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see what happens. We know a lot of the employees are on edge.
00:03:38
Speaker 3: They're worried.
00:03:39
Speaker 2: They know major changes are going to happen. And we know David Ellison is eyeing $ 6 billion worth of cost efficiencies post-merger.
00:03:47
Speaker 1: That's a lot.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: People are worried about their jobs. So we've seen, as news trickles out about who's going to be in charge, we've seen some reassurance for employees. Mark Thompson, he's the CEO of CNN. It got confirmed today that he will be staying on and overseeing the news network.
00:04:03
Speaker 1: That's a big deal. I think there was a lot of concerns about, right, with what's happened with CBS. There's certainly a change in terms of a news organization, whether or not that would happen at CNN.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he sent out a memo to employees today and was like, listen, you know, I know we've all had our trepidations, but I'm coming into this with a positive frame of mind. You know, he believes in what they're doing. And he also emphasized that he thinks CNN will be able to maintain editorial independence.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: He thinks.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker 3: Dot, dot, dot again. Well, I mean, as we were talking about CNN and CBS News, I feel like to your point, there's been so much conversation about what that's going to look like. But do we have any clarity yet about how these two news organizations will look under one roof?
00:04:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we know there's going to be that separate leadership with Mark Thompson over CNN and Barry Weiss continuing to oversee CBS News. We know as part of the settlement that Paramount reached with the 12 state attorneys general. that they are actually establishing an independent editorial board that will oversee both news organizations and work out issues related to news standards. Still need some more details on what that's going.
00:05:10
Speaker 3: To look like.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: Who's on that board? Journalists.
00:05:12
Speaker 3: Right, right, right.
00:05:13
Speaker 2: Yes. And it's interesting. They have to be of different political affiliations. There can be no more than two journalists on the board of the same political affiliation. which seems quite odd. I mean, journalists are supposed to be unbiased and it's unclear how they're going to figure that out and how they're going to measure that.
00:05:29
Speaker 1: But it's interesting in a world, you're absolutely right, right? Objectivity and every news story, you make sure you cover both sides, but it is interesting in this world where we live in echo chambers and there are certain affiliations that are certainly take a certain position that you can, you're right, but it's interesting to hear that. When you think about this company, you have been following it for a long time.
00:05:50
Speaker 3: It's expensive.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: This was an expensive deal. And we've seen some concerns over paramount debt. So what is it that investors need to kind of be watching out for as this company now is one company?
00:06:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there's a massive pile of debt that's being taken on here. And the concern is that how are you going to balance paying that off with investing in new content, investing in new technology, which we know are top of mind for David Ellison? So it remains to be seen how they're going to achieve their goals and their requirements under the settlement to produce 30 films theatrically every year. There's actually a financial penalty if they don't meet that goal.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: That's right. They made a commitment, right?
00:06:33
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:06:33
Speaker 1: To do so.
00:06:34
Speaker 3: So is that really an ambitious goal or is this feasible?
00:06:40
Speaker 2: I've heard differing opinions on it. When I'm talking to analysts, some of them say, yeah, this is doable. David Ellison has talked about this from the beginning. And others are saying, hey, they're forming this massive company. There are so many challenges ahead here. Hollywood is already struggling. This is going to be a tough goal for them to meet. So the industry is divided over what this will look like.
00:07:00
Speaker 3: And what about the quality, though, of the work as well? I'm curious. For those that are maybe a little bit bearish and they're saying that this isn't really possible, do they talk about sacrificing quality to make the quantity work?
00:07:10
Speaker 2: That's definitely a concern. You know, people want good movies. That's what's going to bring folks into theaters. And that's a huge goal for everyone in the industry is to get people back into theater seats. So if the films aren't good, nobody's going to come in and it doesn't matter whether or not you're meeting this requirement if it's not good content.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: We still look at the weekend box office receipts, right? And you certainly mark when something didn't do well and kind of who was behind it and who was in it and all that good stuff. Thank you so much. Covered all the ground. So tomorrow's a big day.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: Definitely.
00:07:40
Speaker 1: All right. Hannah Miller, thank you so much. She is Bloomberg News media reporter joining us in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio.
