Monday, February 2, 2015

2.2.15

Entertainment:
·         Netflix today said it plans to offer $1B in senior notes and plans to use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes, which may include content acquisitions and investments
·         NBC brought the Super Bowl to the internet for free offering a live stream of the big game
·         Hulu has been featuring the ads on the Hulu AdZone and ranking them based on popularity again this year, currently showing Budweiser's "Lost Dog" follow-up as the most liked spot
·         The British Board of Film Classification has given Universal and Focus Features’ ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ an 18 rating — meaning no one under that age will be admitted to the movie
·         Warner Bros.’ IMAX presentation of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ made $1.5MM from 205 playdates for a per-theater of $7,323
·         Screenwriter Graham Moore and author Andrew Hodges have won the 27th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award for ‘The Imitation Game’
·         Celeb-driven “Access Hollywood” has launched a new video series — distributed exclusively on Facebook — that promises a behind-the-scenes look at how producers decide what stories to put on TV
·         Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications has struck a deal with Dish Network’s over-the-top Sling video distribution service. Sling’s rights will include both live and video-on-demand content.
·         German broadcast group ProSiebenSat.1 has extended its existing content licensing agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution
·         Spotify has pumped the brakes on its planned launch in Russia, citing a growing list of negative factors in the country
·         Spotify is working with Goldman Sachs to raise $500MM at a valuation in the $7-8B range, although the company has no takers just yet
·         NBC also scored big with the Super Bowl earning its highest overnight ratings in history - it delivered a 49.7 overnight rating
·         Please see below for links to all of the Super Bowl ads
·         ESPN will sell live and on-demand access to the Cricket World Cup, a 49-game, six-week tournament, over the Web for $100
·         Viacom International Media Networks has announced that Spain's Comedy Central will now be available on Samsung smart TVs through a new app
Tech:
·         Nest revealed that it had been quietly studying the energy- and cost-saving benefits of its smart thermostats since 2013, and it has saved its users 10-12% on their heating bills and 15% on their cooling bills
·         Verizon Wireless says it will soon allow customers to sidestep the mysterious “perma-cookie” it has placed on at least some phones to track user behavior and help target ads
·         Facebook is currently running a focus-group-like program that asks people direct questions about News Feed items in an effort to improve post relevance
·         Alibaba announced that it has created a $129MM non-profit organization to help young people who want to start businesses on the e-commerce giant’s online marketplaces
·         Select Android users are reporting they’ve happened upon a new voice calling feature in their Whatsapp mobile application, indicating that the now Facebook-owned company is testing the addition ahead of its expansion into territory currently dominated by apps like Skype and Viber
·         Ad tech firm Inneractive hopes to advance the use of the format for apps as it launched what it describes as the first programmatic platform for inserting native video ads into content feeds of apps
·         Pebble plans to carry its momentum through 2015 with new products and a new software platform that is unlike anything else used on smartwatches to date
·         50% of 2015 Super Bowl ads carried hashtags, a bit of a slip from the record 57% during the 2014 game and Facebook was the social network most mentioned, though mentions of specific social networks were again very sparse
Deals:
·         Moving deeper into the Internet of Things, Intel has acquired smart home startup Lantiq for $280MM
·         Monotype Imaging Holdings, a publicly traded company focused on fonts and other creative tools, just announced that it has acquired New York City-based ad startup Swyft Media for $27MM
·         Ticketea has acquired TodayTickets, the German last-minute ticket booking app, as a means to further expansion in Germany
Business:
·         Over the last 72 hours the youngest bank CEO in China - Mao Xiaofeng - has stepped down, been accused of corruption, and seen his company's stock tumble over 10% on Hong Kong's stock exchange
·         Stephen A. Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of the Blackstone Group, has a sobering message for any junior financiers hoping to emulate his success: Think twice
·         Morgan Stanley is shopping its oil-trading and storage business again after an earlier deal with Rosneft, valued at $700MM dollars, fell through last month
·         Investors are furious at the way Euro Disney has been run - the Paris-listed firm has recorded losses in 16 of its 23 years, despite owning Europe's top tourist destination with about 14 million visitors per year
·         U.S. consumer spending recorded its biggest decline since late 2009 in December, with households appearing to save the extra cash from cheaper gasoline, which could support future consumption
·         Jack Ma, the cofounder and chairman of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, is now wealthier (at least on paper) than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to data collected Friday from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
·         FCC commissioner has called out Dish for taking $3B in small business discounts
·         Please see below for why Ericsson took a legal action against Xiaomi. It's learnt that the Indian companies Micromax, Intex and Chinese Gionee are also under the radar
Exec Moves:
·         Razmig Hovaghimian, who founded Web video site Viki and sold it to Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce giant, is leaving his CEO post
Retail:
Startups:
·         Brazilian mobile phone taxi hailing application developer 99Taxis has raised what investors and the company’s chief executive are calling a “significant” new round from the international investment management firm, Tiger Global Management
·         Coursmos, a web and mobile micro-learning platform for learning and teaching micro-courses raised $600k in seed funding
Government:
·         President Obama released an ambitious 2016 budget on Monday that's more about what he would do than what he can do on the $4T budget
Other:
·         The New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks to win the Super Bowl 28-24
·         Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel entered rehab last week after a season of well-documented hard partying


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