10.23.14

Entertainment:

·         Paramount Television, in tandem with Anonymous Content, has signed a two-year, first-look deal with Kyle Killen, creator of ‘Lone Star’

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/kyle-killen-deal-paramount-tv-858745/

·         PalmStar Media Capital and Thunder Road Pictures have made an overall financing deal that will give Basil Iwanyk's production company more than $200MM annually

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/john-wick-palmstar-media-capital-thunder-road-200-million-slate-financing-deal-858043/

·         EuropaCorp, the French mini-major co-founded by Luc Besson in 2000, signed a five-year $450M credit facility deal

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/luc-bessons-europacorp-closes-450m-credit-facility-triples-financing-ability-857698/

·         Redbox has reported losses with its joint venture with Verizon

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/redbox-instant-verizon-losses-857904/

·         ABC has officially ordered the ‘Shark Tank’ spinoff ‘Beyond The Tank’, a companion series that will focus on what happens to entrepreneurs after they have struck deals with the sharks

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/shark-tank-spinoff-beyond-the-tank-abc-857725/

·         Please see below for Zach Galifianakis’ ‘Between Two Ferns’ with Brad Pitt

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/brad-pitt-squirms-between-two-ferns-2-858754/

·         Christian Bale to play Steve Jobs in Sony’s upcoming biopic penned by Aaron Sorkin

o   http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/aaron-sorkin-confirms-christian-bale-743302

·         NBCUniversal agrees to a $6.4MM settlement of intern lawsuit

o   http://www.thewrap.com/nbcuniversal-agrees-to-6-4-million-settlement-of-intern-lawsuit/

·         Sam Smith, 5 Seconds of Summer, and Mary J. Blige to perform at AMAs

o   http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6296325/sam-smith-5-seconds-of-summer-mary-j-blige-set-to-perform-at-amas

·         Microsoft has announced plans to shut down the free version of its music streaming service ‘Xbox Music Pass’ in December

o   http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6296322/microsoft-nixes-free-version-of-xbox-music-pass

Tech:

·         Ello’s founders and investors have signed a new charter that prohibits the company from selling user data or ads, and has raised $5.5MM

o   http://www.wired.com/2014/10/ello_pbc/

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/ello-raises-5-5-million-legally-files-as-public-benefit-corp-meaning-no-ads-ever/

·         Mark Zuckerberg surprises everyone as he answers a Q&A exclusively in Mandarin

o   http://www.wired.com/2014/10/mark-zuckerberg-speaks-mandarin-blows-everyones-mind/

·         5by, the video recommendation startup that became StumbleUpon’s first acquisition, is relaunching to encourage users to seek out videos for themselves, get a notification about the next viral videos, and chat with friends about the videos they’re watching in real-time

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/stumbleupons-5by-relaunches-as-an-app-for-chatting-about-online-videos-with-friends/

·         Tencent lead a $350MM investment in China’s Koudai Gouwou, a mobile focused rival of Alibaba

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/tencent-leads-350m-investment-in-chinas-koudai-gouwu-a-mobile-focused-rival-to-alibaba/

o   http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/koudai

·         Telegram, the security-focused messaging app with Snapchat-like hold to view media, now lets you add friends without necessarily knowing their phone number

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/secure-messaging-app-telegram-adds-usernames-and-snapchat-like-hold-to-view-for-media/

·         Vint offers a monthly subscription service for unlimited on demand fitness training

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/22/vint-launches-a-monthly-subscription-service-offering-unlimited-on-demand-fitness-training/

·         Twitter introduced Fabric, a set of APIs aimed at developers to encourage them to build apps and services on top of its platform

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/22/twitter-introduces-fabric-a-toolkit-for-developers-to-build-apps-on-its-platform/

·         Amazon’s Rewards Visa Card will support Apple Pay

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/22/amazon-rewards-visa-card-will-support-apple-pay-in-the-future/

·         The Matchstick is a new streaming dongle powered by Mozilla’s Firefox OS

o   http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/23/the-backed-pack-a-firefox-os-streaming-device-a-smart-security-system-a-slo-mo-camera/

·         Draftster.com, which operates an online fantasy sports service, has signed on former NFL player Terrell Owens in an endorsement deal

o   http://www.socaltech.com/draftster_com_signs_nfl_s_terrell_owens/s-0057522.html

·         One of the first Apple computers has sold at auction for $905k

o   http://mashable.com/2014/10/23/first-apple-computer-sells/

·         Twitter promises to make signing up for the service easier, and wants to change by promising to not share as much info as Facebook does

o   http://www.fastcompany.com/3037523/twitter-wants-to-be-your-gatekeeper

·         Please see below for a sneak peek of Yahoo’s new home page that will be rolled out next month

o   http://recode.net/2014/10/22/wanna-see-the-secret-new-yahoo-home-page-rolling-out-next-month-bokay/

Deals:

·         Progress Software, which helps companies build business software, announced it was buying Telerik for $262.5MM

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/22/progress-software-buys-telerik-for-262-5m-as-buying-spree-continues/

Business:

·         Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the VC firm who is defending itself against allegations of discrimination and retaliation, won’t have to disclose documents in the case

o   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/22/us-venture-lawsuit-kleiner-idUSKCN0IB28920141022

·         Caterpillar posted stronger-than-expected results for its Q3

o   http://online.wsj.com/articles/caterpillar-posts-strong-results-raises-outlook-1414064482?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Exec Moves:

·         Tesco Chairman Richard Broadbent is stepping down, as the company scrapped its full-year trading profit outlook due to last month's accounting error

o   http://online.wsj.com/articles/tesco-chairman-to-step-down-1414045625?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

·         Current head of Procter & Gamble’s $32B North America business, Melanie Healey, is leaving the brand giant next year

o   http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/10/22/pgs-internal-memo-on-management-shakeup/

·         Colin Callender has brought in All3Media executive Louise Pedersen as Managing Director of UK operations for his production company Playground Entertainment

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/colin-callender-playground-louise-pedersen-uk-managing-director-858487/

·         FremantleMedia has appointed Samantha Glynne as VP Branded Entertainment in the Digital & Branded Entertainment Division

o   http://deadline.com/2014/10/global-showbiz-briefs-top-gear-hosts-attacked-in-argentina-over-license-plate-samantha-glynne-named-vp-branded-entertainment-at-fremantlemedia-more-857615/

Retail:

·         Sears continues to downsize as it plans to lay off more workers and close stores

o   http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-plans-to-close-stores-2014-10

Startups:

·         Zignal Labs, a company that helps brands and organizations monitor online media to see who’s talking about them or about topics relevant to them, raised $10.7MM in new funding

o http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/23/zignal-labs-scoops-up-10-7m-because-brands-will-still-pay-for-social-media-monitoring-tools/

·         Boostable raised $2.6MM in a seed round to make advertising easy and effective for sellers on marketplaces

o http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/boostable

Government:

Other: