Focus Features

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Tianjia Zhang

Focus Features

[21] Focus Features Logo

Corporate Offices

LOS ANGELES OFFICE

1540 2nd St #200

Santa Monica, CA 90401

NEW YORK CITY OFFICE

c/o NBCUniversal

30 Rockefeller Plaza

Building 5TS – 10th Floor

New York, NY 10112Phone: (818) 777-8738
Fax: (818) 866-4579

http://www.focusfeatures.com

Key Executives

[19] Peter Kujawski, Chairman

[20] Robert Walak, President

About

Focus Features is an art film production and distribution subsidiary of Universal Pictures/NBCUniversal under Comcast Corporation. Focus and Universal Pictures together compose the film department of Universal Studios. [1] Merged of Universal Focus, USA Films and Good Machine on 2002, the company is moving forward with diverse ranges of film genres as well as releasing appealing to filmmakers. [2] Some of the most successful films of Focus includes Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earns $83 million domestically and $95 million from foreign markets, Burn After Reading (2008), which earns $163.7 million in worldwide film revenue, and the recent hit London has Fallen (2016) with a worldwide gross $182 million is one of the most selling features of Focus. Focus also participates in other good-reviewing features like The Danish Girl (2015), The Theory of Everything (2014), Pride and Prejudice (2003) and etc. [3]

Financials

Although Focus Features does not have a separate financial report from its parent company, the first quarter of 2016 is not a bad start for Focus. With four new 2016 releases and two 2015 ones (Suffragette and The Danish Girl still in theaters), Focus earned $120.2 million and bumped up the ranking on the top grossing film studios to the sixth place with a 3.7% market share up dated to April 17. [4] Focus Features and Universal together earned $372.8 million for their parent company with a market shared of 11.4%. Focus has already made up the gap comparing to 2015 with 728.1% more grossing this time. [5]

Leadership Changes

Focus Features has some breaking news in its major management shakeup this year.

Universal Pictures International Production (UPIP) is merging with Focus Features under Focus’ banner. The company’s former CEO Peter Schlessel, who replaced founder James Schamus in 2013, exited his position on April 1 as part of a drastic housecleaning by Universal Pictures. Current Focus COO Adrian Alperovich, Marketing President Christine Birch and President of Acquisitions Lia Buman will also be exiting Focus Features in April.[6] This merging is an attempt to make the unit more global and artistically relevant after a couple of awards-season pictures such as “The Danish Girl” and “Suffragette” collapsed at the box office. Universal depicted the move as “combining the resources of Universal Pictures International Productions with the highly respected creative legacy of Focus Features,” in order to “grow the specialty film sector both domestically and around the world.” The announcement came from Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley. [7] “Peter Schlemiel of Focus Features to Exit as CEO After Universal Pictures International Merger”

Peter Schlessel oversaw the release of the division’s upcoming releases of Race, London Has Fallen and The Young Messiah before his departure. Peter Kujawski, the formal managing director of Universal Pictures International Productions, became the chairman of of Focus Features that combined UPIP and Focus. Under his leadership, UPIP acquired rights to hugely successful films, including The Wolf of Wall Street, Room, which Universal released in select territories. UPIP Co-Managing Director Robert Walak, who came to Universal after serving as Managing Director Europe/President Production, Acquisitions and Television at The Weinstein Company, Alliance Films, where he led some great acquisitions, including Carol, The King’s Speech, Paddington and The Imitation Game, became Universal Pictures’ Executive Vice President of Film Strategy. Abhijay Prakash, joined Focus as Chief Operating Officer. [6][8]

Last year, only four Focus releases took in more than $10 million at the box office, while other studios began to play in the specialty film space. Focus is losing audience to its competitors like STX Entertainment, armed with financial backing from Chinese private-equity firm Hony Capital, Broad Green, fueled by mutual fund billionaire Gabriel Hammond, Fox Searchlight, intended in making films that can cross over beyond the art and international borders.[6]

“The independent world has been squeezed in the last ten years,” said Jason Squire, a professor at USC. “The question is whether Focus will continue to be an independent-style studio or will it fade?” [6]

Current News & Releases

Focus has released four new films during this semester time, including the second film of London vs Olympus series London has Fallen, horror movie The Forest, sports drama Race, and a Christian film The Young Messiah. The four new films together earned $113 million domestically. [10]

[9] London Has Fallen’ image courtesy of Focus Features

London Has Fallen, on a $60 budget, opened with just $22 million and bumped to $62m domestically. With the help from strong overseas which has made 66% of its box office, especially from China (where it has earned $45m and is still in theaters), the film’s worldwide total is now $182m. [9]

While London has Fallen brings Focus great possibilities, The Forest (closed with $26.6m) earned $16m more than its budget, The Young Messiah (closed on April 21, $6.4 million), Race (closed on April 21, $19 million) are doing ok under the studio’s expectation. [10]

[11] Alicia Vikander Winning Oscar for Best Supporting Actress

During the Award season, Alicia Vikander wins Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Focus’s The Danish Girl, a remarkable love story inspired by the real lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne [“The Theory of Everything”] and Alicia Vikander [“Ex Machina”]), directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech,” “Les Misérables”). [11]

Focus Future Releases

Following the upcoming release of an animation Ratchet & Clark on April 29, Focus has six new films in 2016. [12]

[17] Kubo and the Two Strings Poster

Laika and Focus Features are teaming again on Kubo And The Two Strings after their Oscar-nominated animation The Boxtrolls. the first film under Laika and the studio’s three-picture deal.[13] Focus Features has also announced a theatrical release for “Loving” on November 4 after paying a $9 million for the film directed by Jeff Nichols, which depicts the real-life story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple living in the state of Virginia in the 1960s, at the time that interracial coupling was illegal. [14]

[14] Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as Mildred and Richard Loving, on the set of the movie “Loving,” being shot in Richmond, Va.

Following the success of The Forest, the two years direction journey of Juan Antonio Bayona’s A Monster Calls finally will be in theaters on October 14. With Felicity Jones to star and Liam Neeson to voice the Monster. [15]

[18] A Monster Calls Poster

A Monster Calls Official International Teaser Trailer #1 (2016) – Liam Neeson Drama HD

Focus Features also partners with Time Inc. and The Advocate to display the new digital short film documentary series We’ve Been Around. The series tells previously untold histories of transgender pioneers, will premiere exclusively across three Time Inc. websites – People.com, EW.com, Essence.com. [16]

[1] Focus Features, About. Retrieved April 23, 2016. focusfeatures.com
[2] Focus Features, LLC. Retrieved December 2, 2015. focusfeatures.com
[3] Focus Features All Time Box Office Results. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Boxofficemojo.com
[4] Studio Market Share January 1-April 17. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Boxofficemojo.com
[5] Yearly Comparison. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Boxofficemojo.com

[6] “Why focus features is again getting a drastic reboot”. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Variety.

[7] “Peter Schlemiel of Focus Features to Exit as CEO After Universal Pictures International Merger”. Retrieved April 24, 2016. Variety.

[8] “Peter Schlemiel Out At Focus Features In Universal Shake-Up”. Retrieved April 24, 2016. Deadline.

[9] “Box Office: ‘London Has Fallen’ Tops’ Olympus Has Fallen,’ Triples Its Budget”. Retrieved April 24, 2016. Forbes.

[10] Box Office by Studios January 1-April 17. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Boxofficemojo.com.

[11] “‘Danish Girl’s Alicia Vikander Wins Oscar For Best Supporting Actress”. Retrieved April 24, 2016. Deadline.

[12] Focus Features Future Releases. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Boxofficemojo.com.

[13] “‘Kubo And The Two Strings’ Trailer: Laika Takes On Japanese Folklore”Retrieved March 20, 2016, Deadline.

[14] “Focus Features Picks Up Ruth Negga/Joel Edgerton ‘Loving’ Story”. Retrieved April 16, 2016. Blogs.indiewire.com

[15] “‘A Monster Calls’ Trailer: Felicity Jones & Liam Neeson Branch Out”.Retrieved April 23, 2016. Deadline.
[16] Focus Features Debuts Docuseries “We’ve Been Around”. MovieGeeks. Retrieved April 23, 2016. MovieGeeks.com

[17] Kubo and the Two Strings Movie Poster. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Focus Features.

[18] A Monster Calls Poster. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Focus Features.

[19] Peter Kujawski Profile. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Variety.

[20] Robert Walak Profile. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Variety.

[21] Focus Features Logo. Retrieved April 23, 2016. Deadline.

(Sorry, I tried to fix the format of my sources but failed.)

Disney Movies

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Suzanne El-Nabli

[1] Walt Disney Image Logo

HISTORY

In 1928, Disney created its first attempt at a motion picture called Steamboat Willie, which introduced the infamous Mickey Mouse. Later, in 1934, Walt Disney informed his animators of his intentions of creating the first ever Disney original movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was released three years later, in 1937. This movie was an extreme success and became the highest grossing film of its time until the release of Gone with The Wind. Later on, numerous other successes were released such as Cinderella (1950), Treasure Island (1950), Mary Poppins (1964), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and The Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994).

Over the years, Disney grew to become a worldwide success, and eventually, in 200, named Robert A. Iger the Walt Disney Studios president, and reached the $25 billion revenue threshold for the first time. He later became chief executive in 2005. Since then, Disney Movies has expanded into a wide scope of entertainment, reaching audiences of all ages. [27]

KEY EXECUTIVES

[2] Sean Bailey
President, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Productions

[3] Alan Horn
Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios

[4] Robert A. Iger
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

FINANCIALS

The 2015 Fiscal Year financial report for Disney has shown extraordinary success throughout the past year. Star Wars The Force Awakens has become the highest grossing movie in the history of the United States and has earned over $1.7 billion world wide. They are anticipating the sequel, Rogue One, to exceed expectations in 2016 and 2017. In fact, Disney Movies has already begun work on Episode VIII for its release in 2017.[5]

IN THEATRES

Zootopia

[6] Zootopia 2016
Release: March 4, 2016
Rated: PG

The Disney original movie, Zootopia, directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush,[7] did profoundly well in the Box Office opening weekend. Opening at number 1 on the weekend of March 4th, 2016, this movie earned an opening weekend gross of $75,063,401 domestically. Including international gross, Zootopia made a cumulative amount of $891,331,606.[8] The majority of the target audience was children, however, as a result of its popular cast, including, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, and Idris Elba, attracted an older audience between the ranges of 18-24.[9] The success of this movie has exceeded all expectations, breaking the record of Disney’s best ever opening for Disney animation as well as managing to dethrone The Lorax from being the record holder of the highest grossing animated movie. [10]

The Jungle Book

[11]The Jungle Book
Release: April 15, 2016
Rated: PG

This live-action remake of Disney’s classical animation of The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau, has just hit theatres this past weekend and has surpassed its budget with flying colors. Opening this past weekend on April 15th, 2016, The Jungle Book has earned a gross domestically of $147,054426. Including international gross of $246,700,000, the movie made its budget of $175,000,000 in its first week.[12] The Jungle Book has especially done well internationally because of its original success as an animated movie. In Germany, the movie has pulled $5.6 million its opening weekend, the best a Disney movie has done in Germany since the release of Alice in Wonderland in 2010. Despite this fact, however, the original Jungle Book had Germany in awe and captivated the audience more than this new remake, with the original 1967 movie captivating the audience more than any other movie released. [13] Aside from its successful income in Germany, The Jungle Book has reached a gross of $64 million in China, and in third place, $24.6 million in India, being India’s highest grossing Hollywood film in history.[14]

COMING FUTURE RELEASES

[15]Alice Through The Looking Glass
Release: May 27, 2016
Rated: PG

Alice Through The Looking Glass

Coming May 27, 2016, Alice Through the Looking Glass, directed by James Bobin, revolves around Alice returning to Wonderland to go on a journey back in time to save the Mad Hatter. When she awakens in Wonderland, she must travel to a new world to retrieve a magical sceptre that can stop the evil Lord of Time from turing Wonderland into a lifeless world. She must also stop the plans of putting the Queen of Hearts back on the throne. Starring celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman and Helen Bonham Carter, this movie will be attracting audiences of all ages. In addition, this movie is the last movie Alan Rickman worked on before passing this past January. [16][17]

Finding Dory

[18] Finding Dory
Release: June 17, 2016
Rated: PG

Finding Dory, starring Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks, revolves around the return of Dory to her loving friends, and the discovery of the true meaning of friendship and family on her quest to find her mother and father. Disney has not released any further information about the description of the movie to its fans. [19] This movie has been creating some major discussions about the expectations of the presentation of the movie, especially in the Arab world. Egyptians specifically are concerned that Disney will be presenting this movie in an Arabic dialect as opposed to an easy Egyptian dialect favoured by most. In fact, a petition has been growing online called “Return the Egyptian Dialect to Disney movies” where they are asking Disney to reconsider its decision to proceed with a standard Arabic dialect. This is campaign is not the first to voice this issue. In 2014, when Disney released Frozen in an Arabic dialect instead of Egyptian, many made similar calls of concern on the issue. Questions were raised as to why Disney continued dubbing its movies into 41 different languages, yet ceased to continue dubbing in the Egyptian dialect in favour of the modern standard Arabic. Disney has accommodated the different dialects of Spanish, Portuguese and French, yet stopped accommodating the different dialects of Arabic. [20]

LATER RELEASES

Moana Release Date: November 23, 2016 Rated: Not Yet Rated

[21] Moana
Release: November 23, 2016
Rated: Not Yet Rated

[22] Pete’s Dragon
Release: August 12, 2016
Rated: Not Yet Rated

[28] Rogue One
Release: December 16, 2016
Rated: Not Yet Rated

[23] The BFG
Release: July 1, 2016
Rated: Not Yet Rated

MAJOR NEWS

[24] Paper Magician Series
Author: Charlie Holmberg

Earlier this week it was announced that Disney just purchased the movie rights to the “Paper Magician” Series written by the Utah based author, Charlie N. Holmberg. Allison Shearmur, the producer of The Hunger Games, and Disney’s Cinderella and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is on board to work on and produce the story. Holmberg is quite excited to see where the story will go from now on. It is up to Disney to decide her part in the process, however, Holmberg seems on board for the steps Disney sees fit to take. [25] The Paper Magician, an adult historical fantasy, revolves around a nineteen year old paper magician, Ceony Twill, who is working to save the life of her love interest and teacher, Emery Thane. [26]

Sources:

Walt Disney Image Logo. Wallpaper Cave. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Sean Bailey Photo. Walt Disney Studios. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Alan Horn Photo. Walt Disney Studios. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Robert A. Iger Photo. The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Disney Annual Financial Report. Walt Disney Company. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Zootopia Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Zootopia. IMBD Media. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Zootopia (2016). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Zootopia. IMBD Media. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Schwerdtfeger, Conner. (Feb. 2016) “Zootopia Just Broke Disney’s Records, Get Details.” CinemaBlend. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
The Jungle Book Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
The Jungle Book (2016). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Roxborough, Scott. (April 22, 2016). “Why Disney’s Original ‘Jungle Book’ is Germany’s Biggest Film of All Time.” The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Rana, Preetika. (April 21, 2016). “Disney’s ‘Jungle Book’ Becomes India’s Highest-Grossing Hollywood Film.” The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Alice Through The Looking Glass Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Alice Through The Looking Glass. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016). IMDB Media. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Finding Dory Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Finding Dory (2016). IMDB Media. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
SyndiGate.info. (April 18, 2016). “Make Arabic Disney Magical Again: Egyptians Want Dubbed in their Dialect.” Albawaba Entertaiment. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Moana Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Pete’s Dragon Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
The BFG Photo. Disney Movies. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Paper Magician Series Photo. KSL.com. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Tholen, Celeste. (April 20, 2016). “Disney Purchases Movie Rights to Utah Author’s ‘Paper Magician’ Series.” KSL.com. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Holmberg, Charlie N. “The Paper Magician Summary.” Book Rags. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Disney History. Disney Studios. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.
Rogue One Photo. IMDB Media. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.

CBS Films

Posted on February 18, 2016 by smwarren

By Brooke Katz

[1] CBS Films Logo

Corporate Headquarters

11800 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90025

History

CBS Films was founded in March of 2007, which was convenient timing due to all the changes that were occurring for film businesses. The reconstruction of studios such as MiraMax Films along with the failure of others including Warner Independent Pictures promoted a speedy launch for CBS Films due to their lack of competition. However, their first few releases did not produce very promising results. In 2012, new executives took over and CBS was able to finally be considered mini-major studio. With their 2013 academy award nominated release Inside Llewyn Davis producing a total gross of $13,235,319, the company was headed for an upward trend [2]. They aim to release four to six movies a year and are in charge of handling development, financing, production, and marketing processes [3].

Key Executives

Terry Press- President

Steven Friedlander- Executive Vice President of Theatrical Distribution

Reid Sullivan- Chief Financial Officer

Rik Toulon- Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Scott Shooman- Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions

Click here for more information about key executives

Financials

CBS Films is a significant source of revenue for their parent company CBS Corporation. Based on the 2015 quarterly earnings, CBS’s entertainment revenues grew 9% in a year from $2.26 billion to $2.46 billion [4]. Their entertainment segment in comparison to the other divisions which include cable networks, publishing, local broadcasting, and eliminations is easily the number one source of income. However, being that there are multiple aspects under the entertainment segment the specific contributions of CBS’s Films are unclear.

In 2014, the company released 3 films that all brought undesirable results for the box office. Although the company got off to a rough start in 2007, these films brought CBS Films to an all time low. Afflicted, a 2014 horror film, brought in a total gross of just $121,179, which is the company’s worst outcome out of their 17 total releases [5]. Nonetheless, these results were definitely not what was expected based on the company’s history. Their 2013 comedy hit Last Vegas generated a total gross of $63,914,167, which is still a groundbreaking record for the company.

CBS Films Rankings

Although 2014 was an ineffective year for CBS Films, they demonstrated a steady comeback in 2015. The company carefully dealt with the prior issues by only releasing 2 films last year instead of the usual 4 to 6 [6]. It can be inferred that their new strategy is quality over quantity. In particular, they are not going to finance a movie that they deem will be unsuccessful.

News

In 2014, it was announced that CBS Films and Lionsgate would be forming a partnership together in which Lionsgate would take over the company’s distribution functions. This became active with CBS’s 2015 release The Duff and will continue for many years to come. The executives shared their enthusiasm for working with one and other and emphasized their strong relationship. Not only is Lionsgate in charge of CBS Films distribution functions, but they now also control exclusive international sales for the company’s releases. Terry Press, president of CBS Films, is confident in Lionsgate’s ability to successfully distribute their films across the many different forms in media [7].

Recent Releases

Get a Job

Just last month, on March 25th 2016, CBS Films released their new movie Get A Job. This comedy tells the story about two recent college graduates who struggle to find jobs and make it in the real world. They go through many adventures together in order to realize that things happen when you least expect them. Unfortunately, this movie turned out to be a huge failure. With a 5% rating on Rotten Romatoes, 5.2/10 on IMDb, and 2/5 on The Guardian it is obvious that very little revenue was generated. Although the information about this movie’s financial outcome is not yet available, the ratings tell enough. It is clear that the majority of audiences felt the same way after seeing this film. Many people found the overall concept of this movie to be tacky and unrealistic. According to critics, acting performances were not problem here. Instead, the main criticism was actually about the weak dialogue in each scene [8].

Get A Job

Flight 7500

On April 12th 2016, CBS released another movie called Flight 7500. This is a horror and mystery film about a supernatural force that flight members must deal with on their way to Tokyo. While Flight 7500 has only been out for a total of just two weekends, it is difficult to evaluate the success of this film. Thus far, the total gross is $2,871,035, which is not a very promising result [9]. Although it will be in theaters for a few more weeks, critics are saying that this film was almost comical. While comedic value would normally be a positive aspect, this is not the reaction that the filmmakers were going for. They hoped that this would scare audiences, not make them laugh. Overall, many audiences are saying that this movie was unmemorable and confusing [10].

Flight 7500

Coming Soon

Middle School

CBS Films is currently working on a film called Middle School. The release date is October 7th, 2016. Steve Carr is in charge of directing this film which is based on Jame Patterson’s bestselling Middle School book series. Middle School tells the compelling story of a teenage boy who deals with various obstacles that most are faced with at this age. It displays the value of friendship and presents real-life such as bullying. With this series selling seven million copies worldwide, many audiences are looking forward to seeing Middle School come to life. This will also be a challenge for Steve Carr because of the high expectations that audiences will have when going into the theater [11].

Future for CBS Films

The future of CBS Films is headed in the right direction. CBS Films have received lots of positive press after announcing their upcoming film Patriots Day. This film is supposed to be extremely touching and powerful as it tells the story about the Boston Marathon bombings. In order to make this happen, Mark Wahlberg and CBS Films have purchased the rights to the film Boston Strong, another film about the bombings which was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Essentially, CBS Films did this so that they could combine the storyline of these two movies [12]. Additionally, CBS Films is planning to do a project with its sibling division 60 Minutes who will handle production and advertising processes for the film. Patriots Day will benefit from this partnership as producers will learn about the research done for the memorable 60 Minutes segment that aired after the bombings [13].

Sources

[1] CBS Films Logo. CBS Films, Retrieved. April 21st 2016

[2] Inside Llewyn Davis. Box Office Mojo, Retrieved. April 23rd 2016

[3] CBS Films- About. CBS Films, Retrieved. April 21st 2016

CBS Films Explained. Everything Explained, Retrieved. April 23rd 2016

[4] Q4 2015 CBS Corporation Earnings Release. CBS Corporation. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[5] CBS Films. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[6] Film Library. CBS Films. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[7] Deadline Team (November 13, 2014) Lionsgate Takes Over CBS Films’ Distribution & Global Sales. Deadline Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Get A Job. IMDb. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

Get A Job. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

Get A Job Review. The Guardian. Retrieved: April 23rd 2016

[8] Frosch, Jon (March 21st 2016) ‘Get a Job’: Film Review. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Get A Job Cover. CBS Films. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Flight 7500. IMDb. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[9] Flight 7500. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[10] Mintzer, Jordan (October 27th 2014) ‘7500’: Film Review. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Middle School. CBS Films. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[11] Ford, Rebecca (August 4th 2015) CBS Films Enrolls in ‘Middle School’ Based on James Patterson Book Series. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Middle School Trailer. Youtube. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[12] Juul, Matt (November 16th 2015) Mark Wahlberg’s Patriot’s Day Combining with Boston Strong. Boston Magazine. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

[13] Hipes, Patrick (February 25th 2016) J.K. Simmons Joins Boston Marathon Bombing Pic ‘Patriots Day’. Deadline Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News. Retrieved: April 24th 2016

Amblin Partners

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Paul Honnick

image sourced from AmblinPartners.com

by Paul Honnick

Amblin Partners

100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608

amblinpartners.com

Key Executives at Amblin Partners

Michael Wright – CEO

Steven Spielberg – Chairman

Holly Bario – President of Production

Jeff Small – President and Co-CEO

Kristie Macosko – Executive

Images sourced from AmblinPartners.com

Amblin Partners: A New Company Led by a Hollywood Legend

Amblin Partners, is a new film, television, and digital content creation company that develops and produces films using the Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures, and Participant brands to leverage their power and board awareness to tell stories that appeal to a wide range of audiences. The partnership was officially formed on December, 15, 2015, by Steven Spielberg of DreamWorks Studios, Jeff Skoll of Participant Media, Anil Ambani of Reliance Group, and Darren Throop of Entertainment One (eOne). [1]

Legendary director Steven Spielberg is the chairman of Amblin Partners, having invested $50 million of his own money into the venture. This is the first time Spielberg has invested his own funds into his brands since founding DreamWorks more than two decades ago, in 1994. [2]

Tech billionaire Jeff Skoll, former eBay executive and founder of Participant Media, made the single largest reported contribution, investing $200 million in the partnership. [2]

Reliance Group of India was a previous equity partner of DreamWorks Pictures and is continuing its seven-year relationship with Spielberg. [2] [5]

The fourth partner, Entertainment One (eOne) of Canada, initially discussed a $50 million investment, however, the final contribution was not disclosed. [2] eOne handles the direct distribution of Amblin Partners films in multiple territories outside of the U.S., including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Benelux. [1]

The partnership also secured a $500 million line of credit through half a dozen lenders arranged by J.P. Morgan Chase and Comerica Bank. J.P. Morgan Chase has financed DreamWorks Studios since its inception in 1994. [1] [2]

Amblin Partners is led by CEO Michael Wright, and President and Co-CEO Jeff Small, who previously served as CEO and COO of DreamWorks respectively. Wright joined DreamWorks Pictures in 2014 and signed a four-year contract extension in February. [8] Small, who has been with DreamWorks for the past nine years, was originally named COO when the partnership was formed in December, but was quickly promoted to President and Co-CEO in February. Small also signed a contract extension. [9]

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg and Skoll said that the partnership will produce films appealing to adults through the DreamWorks label, while focusing more on family entertainment through the Amblin label, and Participant will focus on projects with socially relevant themes and messages. While the partnership will release some Participant branded films, Participant Media will remain a separate company and continue making documentaries and some scripted films on its own. [1] [4]

Amblin Partners also struck a multi-year deal with Universal Pictures to market and distribute their films produced domestically and in select international territories. Under this agreement, Universal Pictures and Focus Features will handle four to seven films per year, the first film being “The Girl on the Train,” scheduled to be released in October 2016. [3] The Universal deal also represents a chance for director Steven Spielberg to continue doing business with the company where he launched his Hollywood career and defined the modern blockbuster with such films as “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park.” [3] [7] Spielberg has also maintained offices on the Universal Studios lot throughout his career. However, the deal with Universal is strictly for marketing and distribution. Universal did not invest in Amblin Partners, and reportedly charges a commission of more than 7% per film under the terms of the deal. [3] [4]

Amblin Partners’ distribution deal with Universal effectively ends Spielberg’s and DreamWorks Pictures’ previous partnership with Disney, which is set to expire in August. However, under the legacy deal, Disney will distribute two Amblin Partners productions, “The BFG,” and “The Light Between Oceans.” [1] [6] At the conclusion of the partnership, Disney will retain the library of films produced by Spielberg during his tenure with Disney, including the upcoming “The BFG.” [2]

Upcoming Films

Films in various stages of production include “The BFG,” “The Light Between Oceans,” “The Girl on the Train,” “A Dog’s Purpose,” which is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2017, and “Ready Player One,” a co-production between Amblin Partners and Warner Bros. Pictures that is scheduled to be released in December 2017. [1]

“The Girl on the Train,” scheduled to be released on October 7, is to be the first film distributed under Amblin Partner’s new deal with Universal. The film is based on the New York Times best seller novel by Paula Hawkins and stars Emily Blunt (Sicario), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation), Haley Bennett (The Equalizer), Justin Theroux (The Leftovers), Luke Evens (Furious 7), Allison Janney (Mom), Edgar Ramirez (Zero Dark Thirty), Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback) and Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie). The film is about a recently divorced woman who spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she witnesses something shocking and becomes entangled in a mystery. [10]

Principal photography began on “Thank You For Your Service” in February. It is based on a novel by David Finkel and stars Miles Teller (Whiplash), Haley Bennett (The Girl on the Train), Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders), Amy Schumer (Trainwreck), Beulah Koale (The Last Saint), Scott Haze (Child of God), Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Brad Beyer (42), Omar Dorsey (Selma) and Jayson Warner Smith (The Birth of a Nation). The film revolves around a group of soldiers returning from Iraq who struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life while dealing with the traumas of war. The film also marks the directorial debut of Jason Hall. [11]

Shooting is expected to commence this Spring for the upcoming holiday comedy “Office Christmas Party,” starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, TJ Miller, and Kate McKinnon. Will Speck and Josh Gordon are set to direct the film about a group of people who have to deal with a holiday office party gone awry. The film is expected to be released in December through Paramount. [12]

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/notes/paramount-pictures/paramount-pictures-and-dreamworks-pictures-ghost-in-the-shell-is-in-production-i/10154147848862072/

Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell.” Image sourced from Paramount Pictures official Facebook page

Production began in April on a live-action adaptation of the famous Japanese manga series “Ghost in the Shell” in Wellington, New Zealand. The film stars Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Age of Ultron), and is directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman). The film will also star Japanese actor Takeshi “Beat” Kitano in his first U.S. role since 1995’s “Johnny Mnemonic.” Johansson plays a special-ops, human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9 devoted to stopping dangerous criminals and extremists in the sci-fi adventure. The film, scheduled to be released March 31, 2017, is a co-production between Amblin Partners’ DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, with Paramount distributing the film. [13] [14]

Sources

Amblin Partners. Dreamworks Studios, Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment and Entertainment One Form Amblin Partners, A New Film, Television and Digital Content Creation Company. Retrieved April 23, 2016. http://www.amblinpartners.com/dreamworks-studios-participant-media-reliance-entertainemt-one-amblin-partners/
Rainey, James. Variety. December 30, 2015. Steven Spielberg Puts His Own Big Bucks Into the New Amblin Partners (Exclusive). Retrieved April 23, 2016. http://variety.com/2015/film/news/steven-spielberg-amblin-investment-1201669720/
Lang, Brent and Rainey, James. Variety. December 16, 2015. Steven Spielberg, Jeff Skoll Bring Amblin Partners to Universal. Retrieved April 23, 2016. http://variety.com/2015/film/news/steven-spiellberg-universal-1201662956/
Masters, Kim. Hollywood Reporter. Steven Speilberg, Jeff Skoll Talk Amblin Partners Deal: “We Are Hitting the Ground Running” (Exclusive). Retrieved April 24, 2016. https://edit.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-jeff-skoll-talk-849554
Lang, Brent and Rainey, James. Variety. December 10, 2015. Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks to Reboot with $200 Million From Participant and Universal Deal. Retrieved April 23, 2016. http://variety.com/2015/film/news/participant-dreamworks-universal-200-million-deal-1201658060/
Masters, Kim. Hollywood Reporter. September 2, 2015. Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks to Split From Disney, In Talks With Universal (Exclusive). Retrieved April 23, 2016. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielbergs-dreamworks-split-disney-819594
McClintock, Pamela. Hollywood Reporter. Steven Spielberg, Jeff Skoll Team to Form Amblin Partners, Strike Distribution Deal With Universal. Retrieved April 23, 2016. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-jeff-skoll-team-849249
Rainy, James. Variety. February 2, 2016. Michael Wright Re-Ups as CEO of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. Retrieved April 24, 2016. http://variety.com/2016/film/news/michael-wright-amblin-partners-deal-1201694796/
Busch, Anita. Deadline. February 3, 2016. Amblin Promotes Jeff Small To President & Co-CEO. Retrieved April 24, 2016. http://deadline.com/2016/02/amblin-jeff-small-president-co-ceo-promotion-steven-spielberg-1201695827/
DreamWorks Pictures. November 11, 2015. Principal Photography Begins for New York Times Best Seller ‘The Girl on the Train’. Retrieved April 24, 2016. https://dreamworkspictures.com/news/principal-photography-begins-for-new-york-times-best-seller-the-girl-on-the-train
DreamWorks Pictures. February 9, 2016. Principal Photography Begins on ‘Thank You For Your Service’. Retrieved April 24, 2016. https://dreamworkspictures.com/news/principal-photography-begins-on-thank-you-for-your-service
Kit, Borys. Hollywood Reporter. February 19, 2016. Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman to Star in ‘Office Christmas Party’ (Exclusive). Retrieved April 24, 2016. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jennifer-aniston-jason-bateman-star-867614
Paramount Pictures. April 14, 2016. Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures’ “Ghost in the Shell” is in Production in New Zealand. Retrieved April 24, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/notes/paramount-pictures/paramount-pictures-and-dreamworks-pictures-ghost-in-the-shell-is-in-production-i/10154147848862072
DreamWorks Pictures. March 3, 2016. Japanese Icon Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano Boards ‘Ghost in the Shell’. Retrieved April 24, 2016. https://dreamworkspictures.com/news/japanese-icon-takeshi-beat-kitano-boards-ghost-in-the-shell

20th Century Fox (film)

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Rachel Kucharski

20th Century Fox Logo [1]

10201 W Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-FOX-INFO
http://www.foxmovies.com/

History

20^th Century Fox is one of the six biggest film studios in America and is owned by 21^st Century Fox Corporation. The company has released a number of successful films including The Sound of Music, Star Wars, Die Hard, Ice Age, and X-Men. They also distributed the two highest-grossing films of all-time, Avatar and Titanic. [1]

Avatar movie poster [1]

20^th Century Fox was founded in 1935 when Fox Films, owned by William Fox, merged with Twentieth Century Pictures. Joe Schenck took on the role of chief executive while Darryl F. Zanuck became the head of production. The company enjoyed success after the release of The Sound of Music in 1965 and Star Wars in 1977. In 1981, Marc Rich and Marvin Davis took over the company, who then sold it to News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s company, in 1985. In 2013, News Corporation split into two companies. News Corporation became the publishing arm of the company while 21^st Century Fox became its own television/film company. 20^th Century Fox came under this company. [2]

Executives

Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO [3]

Emma Watts, Production President [4]

Finances

This past February, 21^st Century Fox released their second quarter earnings report for October to December of 2015 and reported revenues of $7.38 billion. Although this was a decrease of 1% ($49 million) from the prior year, this was partially offset by the success of The Martian, which had grossed over $600 million in worldwide box office by December 31, 2016. The Martian continued to grow and ended with $630 million in worldwide box office revenue with its close date on March 17, 2016. Films released during this quarter that carried over at the box office into 2016 were The Revenant, Joy, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, and The Peanuts Movie. [5] [6]

Going into 2016, 20^th Century Fox saw strong box office revenues. The Revenant debuted with $38 million at the domestic box office that weekend. This was an unexpectedly strong open. The film was only predicted to open to less than $25 million. The revenue that opening weekend brought them close to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, grossing at $41.6 million its fourth weekend in theaters. [7] The Peanuts Movie also finished strong with worldwide revenues reaching $246 billion. [8] Another hit for 20^th Century Fox at the box office was Kung Fu Panda 3, which has grossed $504 million worldwide since its release in January. [9]

On April 25, 2016, 21^st Century Fox share prices were listed at $31.00. This is up from $22.50 on February 9^th when share prices fell by as much as 4%. This was likely due to the earnings report released on this day, which predicted that profits would fall due to the strong dollar [5]. Since then, share prices have seen a steady increase and are predicted to continue to rise. The third quarter fiscal report for 21^st Century Fox will be released on May 4, 2016. [10]

Awards Season

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio win three Golden Globe Awards for The Revenant [11]

20^th Century Fox studio releases did well during the 2016 awards season. At the Golden Globes, Jennifer Lawrence won best actress in a Comedy or Musical for Joy. The Martian won Best Motion Picture for a Comedy or Musical and Matt Damon also won best actor for his role in the film. The Revenant took home the Best Motion Picture award for a Drama. Leonardo DiCaprio and Alejandro G. Iñárritu won best actor and best director, respectively. [12]

At The Academy Awards, The Revenant counted twelve nominations, the most of any film nominated. Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar for Best Actor. The Revenant also won Best Cinematography and Directing. [13] The nominations and wins resulted in a boost of box office revenue for those films that were still in theaters, particularly The Revenant, that’s ticket sales increased more than 80 percent after The Academy Award nominees were announced. Between the announced nominations and Oscar Night, The Revenant brought in $113 million. The film closed with a total of $523 million worldwide. [14]

The New Superhero

20^th Century Fox’s current film in theaters is Deadpool. The film stars Ryan Reynolds and was directed by Tim Miller. Deadpool is Marvel’s new R-Rated superhero movie that features a former Special Forces operative with accelerated healing powers and an attitude problem. [15]

Deadpool has broken records since its release on February 12, 2016. It became 20^th Century Fox’s largest opening ever with $132.4 million. It also had the largest opening weekend ever for an R-rated film and the biggest opening day in February with $47.5 million. [16] So far, the film has grossed a total of $760 million thus far and is approaching its eleventh week in theaters. [17] Deadpool has been a game changer for the superhero genre. As one of the first high-budget R-rated superhero films in recent years (alongside Watchmen and Kick-Ass), there was high-risk for 20^th Century Fox in the box office. But the film was widely received and praised for its snarky humor, romance, and characters rather than big-budget action scenes. [18] Following this success, 20^th Century Fox will likely make Wolverine 3 R-rated. The film’s current release date is March 3^rd, 2017. [19]

20^th Century Fox has already confirmed Deadpool 2 for production. Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds will return for the sequel as well as the creative team. The film is said to mimic the original in tone, keeping the same snarky humor and attitude. The film is currently rumored for release in 2017. [20]

Coming Soon

Independence Day: Resurgence movie poster [23]

This summer, 20^th Century Fox is releasing four films. X-Men: Apocalypse will open on May 27, 2016 as the ninth installment in the X-Men series with Bryan Singer as director and a host of famous cast members. To market the film, 20^th Century Fox released an X-Men Movies app as well as an “Apocalypse timeline” on their website. [21]

Independence Day: Resurgence, the sequel to the highly acclaimed Independence Day, will open on June 24, 2016 starring Liam Hemsworth and Jeff Goldblum. Ice Age: Collision Course and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates are also set to release in July. [22]

Sources

[1] Foxmovies.com. 20^th Century Fox. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
[2] 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
[3] Yamato, Jen. (May 16, 2014). Fox’s Jim Gianopulos Delivers USC Film Commencement Speech; Marvel’s Kevin Feige Celebrates Rejection: Transcript. Deadline. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[4] Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 14, 2014). Fox’s Emma Watts Re-Ups For Three Years After Robust Summer. Deadline. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[5] Earnings Release for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2015. (February 8, 2016). 21st Century Fox. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
[6] The Martian. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
[7] Fritz, Ben. (January 11, 2016). ‘The Revenant’ has surprisingly strong box-office debut. MarketWatch. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
[8] The Peanuts Movie. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
[9] Kung Fu Panda 3. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
[10] Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. CI A. MarketWatch. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
[11] Robehmed, Natalie. (January 11, 2016).‘The Revenant’ Wins Best Picture At The 2016 Golden Globe Awards. Forbes. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
[12] Sharf, Zack. (February 24, 2016). The Indiewire 2015-16 Awards Season Winners Guide. The Indiewire. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
[13] Donnelly, Jim. (February 29, 2016). Oscar Winners 2016: See The Complete List. The Oscars. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
[14] Brueggemann, Tom. (March 11, 2016). Oscar Box Office Winners and Losers 2016. Indiewire. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[15] Deadpool. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[16] Garreffa, Anthony. (February 17, 2016). Deadpool becomes largest opening ever for 20th Century Fox. TweakTown. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[17] Deadpool. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[18] VanDerWerff, Todd. (February 15, 2016). Deadpool’s box office unexpectedly broke records. Here’s what Hollywood should learn from it. Vox. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[19] Siegal, Jacob. (February 16, 2016). Deadpool’s success could lead to an ‘R’ rating for Wolverine 3. BGR. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[20] Mccarthy, Tyler and Rebecka Schumann. (April 4, 2016). ‘Deadpool 2’ Confirmed By 20th Century Fox; Director And Creative Team Returning. International Business Times. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[21] X-MEN: Apocalypse (2016). 20th Century Fox. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[22] Coming Soon. 20th Century Fox. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
[23] Perry, Spencer. (March 8, 2016). The Aliens are Back in New Independence Day: Resurgence International Poster. ComingSoon.net. Retrieved April 26, 2016.

Spotify by Daniel Rakow

Posted on February 18, 2016 by smwarren

(5)

Executives

Daniel Elk Martin Lorenzton

History

Spotify was developed in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded by the former CTO of Stardoll, Daniel Elk and the co-founder of TradeDoubler, Martin Lorentzon. They officially launched the music streaming service in October of 2008 for paid subscribers and in 2009 they made their service available for free subscriptions. The free subscriptions opened up the service to a bigger audience while slightly hindering their income. In 2011 Spotify crossed over into the United States market and also introduced the Spotify App for devices. (1)

More About Spotify

Since 2011, Spotify has solidified its spot as one of the top music streaming services along with Apple Music and Tidal. Today, Spotify features curated playlists that are made by their employees for paid subscribers. They have radio stations that allow the user to discover new music based on artists that are similar to the ones the user listens to. Along with that, they have a huge library of music consisting of 30 million songs. Their premium service allows users to access all of their songs and provides weekly curated playlists called Discover Weekly. Currently, they have over 75 million users with 30 million of those users being paid subscribers. (2)

Potential Change of Location

(Swedish Flag)

As of recent, Spotify has been hinting at a change of location for its headquarters. Since they started the company, they have been based in Stockholm, Sweden. However, recent circumstances have lead them to reconsider their choice to remain in their hometown. As Elk wrote in an open letter that he posted online, “We love Sweden and believe that this is basically the best environment for us. But at the same time we cannot magically remove the political obstacles. Thousands of Spotify jobs could go to the U.S instead of Sweden.” Spotify is frustrated with the Swedish governments inability to let businesses in their country grow. To start, Spotify believes the housing situation needs to be revisited. It’s extremely difficult to rent apartments in Stockholm because such a large amount are controlled by housing associations. It could take over 10 years to get a rental apartment which makes it extremely difficult for Spotify to bring in foreign talent. Another area Spotify argues needs change is their education system. They argue that the country doesn’t focus at their schools enough on technology. This leads to a lack of programmers for them to hire. The lack of knowledge causes them to have to train more workers, which could be avoided. Lastly, Spotify hopes to change Sweden’s stock options. The country’s rules don’t allow Spotify to grant their employees stock options which would attract brighter employees. (6) (7)

Competition

In the last month Spotify has had to deal with more competition than ever. Not only have they been going head to head with Apple’s streaming service Apple Music, they have also seen a few new players enter the streaming world. To start, Apple has signed exclusive contracts with big artists. These artists’ new albums debut on Apple Music and take a few weeks before they are available on Spotify. Artists like Drake have Spotify users growing impatient when he drops new content. He has 24 million monthly listeners and is the 7th most played artist on Spotify. This could hurt them eventually if it doesn’t change. Jay-Z music streaming service Tidal is another competitor with Spotify. In early February Rihanna took to Tidal to release her new album Anti. While it is now available on Spotify, for months it had users converting to Jay-z’s service to access it. Similarly, Kanye West exclusively released his new album The Life of Pablo on Tidal. However, The Life Of Pablo was recently made available on Spotify as well. Soundcloud, in the last month, has also entered the subscription space. They created Soundcloud Go which will also directly compete with Spotify. Even with all these competing services, Spotify has a loyal user base of over 75 million people that will be hard to take away from them. (8)

Spotify x Billboard

(Billboard)

On April 21 Billboard announced it’s partnership with Spotify for 2016. This is a huge win for Spotify over Apple Music. Billboard will bring all of its users to Spotify instead of Apple Music. Billboard’s charts are turning to Spotify to make it easier for its users to access today’s hits by streaming songs directly from their weekly charts. Now, when viewing the Hot 100 or Billboard 200 the user is able to listen to the songs they are analyzing. There are 30 second previews directly next to the song on the chart that also give the option to stream the full version on Spotify. Billboard will also be publishing 3 new spotify driven charts on billboard.com. One will be a 30 song Velocity Chart which will include the 30 most trending songs on Spotify. The next will have a Viral 50 chart which will consist of the 50 most shared songs across social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Lastly there will be a Velocity Chart with 30 songs with 5 songs for each decade (1960-2000). To take a look at the Billboard Hot 100 with Spotify streaming click here. (9)

Money

Spotify recently has raised over 1 billion dollars in debt financing. This is a substantial amount especially for a company that is financially stable. It is no doubt that Spotify now has money to spend but the question is: what will Spotify decide to do with all this extra money? forbes.com went into detail with ways that Spotify is planning on improving. Firstly, they are expected to get into the video space. Apple and Tidal already both have video content on their service. Spotify, being their number one competitor, will definitely start exploring music videos, behind the scenes, artist episodes, tour videos, and live footage. One major area they will have to work on is their payment rates. Their current rate per stream is .004. This rate tends to anger artists because they believe they are not being compensated for their art. This has lead artists like Taylor Swift and Adele to not allow their catalog of music to be included on their streaming service. With the extra money Spotify is planning to start working in these areas. (10)

Sources

(1) Streatfield, Brooke. Rise of a Tech Giant: The History of Spotify. The Telegraph. Retrieved: April 25, 2016

(2) Person, Adam Pasick. The Magic That Makes Spotify’s Discover Weekly Playlists so Damn Good. Quartz. Retrieved: April 25, 2016

(3) Bertoni, Steven. Spotify’s Daniel Elk: The Most Important Man In Music. Forbes. Retrieved: April 24, 2016

(4) Sloan, Paul. The Future of Music. CNET. Retrieved: April 24, 2016

(5) Spotify. Vulcan Post. Retrieved: April 25, 2015

(6) McIntrye, Hugh. Spotify May Soon Leave Sweden. Forbes. Retrieved: April 23, 2016

(7) Swedish Flag. Eduniversal. Retrieved: April 23, 2016

(8) Apple Music’s Biggest Swipe at Spotify Yet. Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved: April 24, 2016

(9) Billboard Staff. Billboard Announces Spotify as Exclusive Playback Partner of The Charts. Billboard. Retrieved: April 24, 2015

(10) McIntrye, Hugh. What Can Spotify Do With The $1 Billion It Just Raised? Forbes. Retrieved: April 24, 2015

Singleton, Micah. Spotify Hits 30 million Subscribers. The Verge. Retrieved: April 25, 2016

Sirius XM Radio – Joshua Weisleder

Posted on February 18, 2016 by smwarren

1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

James E. Meyer | Chief Executive Officer, SiriusXM

Scott Greenstein | President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM

Dara Altman | Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, SiriusXM

About

SiriusXM delivers quality ad-free satellite radio programing to its subscribers ever since its early inception in Washington, DC in the early 90’s. The broadcasting company transmits satellite radio services like Sirius Satellite Radio, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius XM Radio anytime and and anywhere for its subscribers in North America. Users can access the service in their car, computer, and smartphone and tablet devices. Sirius also has constructed deals with every major automaker while also providing weather and traffic updates for automobiles, trucks, boats, RVs and aircrafts. In regards to content, Sirius offers musical stations from various genres and time periods, sporting entertainment from all major professional leagues and top notch talk show programming across its hundreds of channels. SiriusXM also allows users to individualize their content by using MYSXM which lets users listen to hours of on-demand programing so they will never miss a beat. In regards to revenue, SiriusXM is the biggest in the market and recently reached 30 million subscribers during its first quarter of 2016(1). The American based company also has a Canadian subsidiary called SiriusXM Canada, which has a user base of 2 million users.

New Programming

This past year, SiriusXM has added more quality programs to its already impressive collection of stations. Some of their new content includes SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, SiriusXM Comedy Greats, FOX News Headlines 24/7, Velvet (a vocalist curated station for the likes of John Legend and Adele), SiriusXM Fly (Hip/Hop and RnB from the 90’s and early 2000’s) and KIDZBOP Radio(2).

SiriusXM also schedules in limited time channels throughout the year to test out potential ratings or to celebrate particular events or musical artists. In anticipation for the acclaimed music festival, Sirius launched Coachella Radio on April 11 to feature music by artist that are scheduled to perform(3). Last January, recently after his death, Sirius added a commemorative David Bowie station on channel 30 to celebrate his legendary career(4). As well, with the recent passing of Prince, they created a station in his honor on channel 50(5).

This past march, SiriusXM provided all users access to every second of every game of the 2016 NCAA March Madness on their satellite radios and internet connected devices. They provided extensive coverage for both mens and women’s basketball with insight analysis from Mike Krzyzewski, Bobby Cremins, Tom Brennan, Steve Lappas and Mateen Cleaves(6). In addition, at the beginning of April, SiriusXM expanded its broadcasting coverage for Golfs biggest event, The Masters. There programing included commentary and hours of live play-by-play coverage from Augusta National(7). As well, Sirius will broadcast all the NBA and NHL playoff action this postseason while also providing MLB and NFL regular season and playoff games throughout the rest of 2016 and beyond.

Finances

Currently, Sirius XM Holdings Inc. has a share price of $3.96 on NASDAQ(8)

In 2015, the company recorded its highest revenue at $4.6 billion while having their Net Income reach $510 million(9). Their Net Subscriber base grew by 2.3 million in the previous year, which helped them propel to 30.1 total users in 2016. In addition, their EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization(10)) surged 13% to an all time high for the company by reaching $1.66 Billion at the end of 2015 which eclipsed its 2014 mark of $1.47 Billion. For 2016, the company projects a 1.4 million net subscriber increase, $4.9 Billion rise in revenue, an EDBITDA of roughly $1.78 Billion and a Free Cash flow of around $1.4 billion. In addition, highly regarded financial analysis and TV personality for Mad Money, Jim Cramer, publicly stated earlier in April that: “When you see a lot of cars being sold — and we have a remarkable number of cars being sold — you want to own Sirius(11).” With SiriusXM having market control of satellite radios with the main automobile manufactures, its safe to say that SiriusXM will continue to be profitable.

Howard Stern

The king of SiriusXM’s programing is unquestionably Howard Stern. He has two stations on the service, Howard 100 and Howard 101, attracts millions of listeners and has generated huge earning for the company. As the highest paid radio broadcaster in the country, there was speculation if Stern would leave SiriusXM to purse a new distribution medium like Apple Music or Netflix(12). However, he decided to renew his contract with SiriusXM last November to give him a 5 year $90 Million per year deal, which is an annual increase from his previous $80 million yearly salary. By locking him up, SiriusXM can ensure that there biggest star is happy and still an integral part of their growing business(13).

Broadcasting Partners

Despite having several fantastic musical stations, SiriusXM has established great partnerships with several sports, news and talk programming corporations. Some of their partners are BBC, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, CNN, the Dave Ramsey Show, ESPN, NPR, Playboy, Radio Disney, and the Weather Network(14). By having a strong group of media corporations available for users within the Sirius ecosystem, it gives users tons of options to recieve quality news and talk.

Automobile Partnerships

With a major source of listenership generated from car owners, SiriusXM has partnered with almost every major car manufacture in the market. They have existing deals with Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Harley Davidson, Honda, Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Toyota, and many more manufacturers(15). By having SiriusXM accessible with both American and non-American automobiles and in both luxuries and more affordable cars, the company is allowing all drivers the opportunity to subscribe to their service and its setting themselves up to be the go to place for in car audio entertainment in North America.

Closing Statements

SiriusXM provides a service unmatched in the industry. Despite heavy competition in the streaming market, SiriusXM is the only provider of ad-free satellite radio with a multitude of stations to entertain any kind of listener. From your favorite pop songs on Hits 1 to breaking news on CNN, you have 100’s of channels to choose from. After following another successful fiscal year, locking up their biggest entertainment asset in Howard Stern and continuously locking down automobile partnerships, theres nothing slowing down the satellite radio giant.

Sources

Billboard – April 23rd, 2016
SiriusXM: Channel Update – April 23rd, 2016
SiriusXM: Investor Update – April 22nd, 2016
SiriusXM Blog: David Bowie – April 24th, 2016
SiriusXM Blog: Prince – April 24th, 2016
SiriusXM: Investor Update Golf – April 22nd, 2016
Marketwatch – April 23rd, 2016
SiriusXM Investor Update – April 22nd, 2016
SiriusXM 2015 Financial Report – April 15, 2016
Investopedia – April 24th, 2016
The Street – April 22nd, 2016
TechTimes – April 22nd, 2016
Today – April 23rd, 2016
SiriusXM Partners – April 24th, 2016
SiriusXM Automobile Partners – April 24th, 2016

Radio One

Posted on February 18, 2016 by smwarren

RADIO ONE, INC.

– Radio One Logo [1]

COMPANY

Radio One, Inc. is a multi-media company that primarily targets urban consumers. While the company primarily focuses on radio broadcasting, it also has ownership in TV One, Reach Media, and Interactive One, which are digital resource outlets that provide users with

-Interactive One logo [3]

information and news. With fifty-five broadcast stations in sixteen United States markets primarily geared towards African-American listeners, Radio One is the largest radio broadcasting operation [2].

Radio One has also branched out in television media. It recently acquired a controlling interest in TV One, which produces cable programming that like the radio network is designed to target a primarily African American audience [4].

KEY EXECUTIVES

Alfred C. Liggins – CEO, Radio One [5]

Linda Vilardo – Executive Vice President, Radio One [6]

Peter D. Thompson – Chief Financial Officer, Radio One [7]

BACKGROUND

– Catherine Hughes – Founder, Radio One [8]

Radio One is targeted at minority audiences and was itself founded by an African American woman, who continues to own a majority stake in the company. Catherine Hughes began her career in gospel radio in Washington DC, before eventually buying her first station with the help of bank loans, her own savings, and a loan from the African American venture capital firm Syncom, which funded African American media start-ups. Hughes’ overcame constant struggles with debt, eventually hosting her morning drive show herself as the bank refused to allow her to pay a salary for someone to host the slot. Gradually, Hughes’ venture achieved profitability and expanded, though she still had to contend with banks that insisted she programmed her stations to include white music for white audiences. Hughes was convinced that black programming was the way to profitability, and the entire history of her company vindicated her insight and self-belief. Hughes retired in 1993 and was replaced by her son Alfred C. Liggins III, who oversaw the massive expansion of the station in the 1990s, following the relaxation of ownership rules. Ironically, Hughes had feared that relaxing ownership rules would concentrate ownership in the hands of a few large corporations: Radio One has become the largest African American owner of stations in the United States [9].

In 2012, Radio One was expected to generate revenues of $433 million dollars. When asked how she had the vision to start such a venture, Hughes pointed to her need to take care of her son. She did not want him to become another statistic as part of the loss of African American youth in our society [10].

In 2013, Radio One acquired a majority stake in Reach Media. This allowed the company to expand its black talk radio programming, designed to offer an alternative voice to white conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh. The network features the Reverend Al Sharpton and other popular African American hosts and commentators [11].

However, before gaining success, Radio One faced financial difficulties in the mid 2000s and was forced to abandon its black audience formatting in some of its stations. In 2007, Radio One changed its format in Houston, Columbus and Cincinnati to cater to mainstream white audience because of the difficulties of generating sufficient revenue. At the same time, black radio stations in New York City were forced to merge because of falling revenues [12].

ADVERTISEMENTS

-Vision Critical Logo [13]

Part of Radio One’s success has arisen from its ability to get customers to advertise on its shows by convincing them that they can connect with African American audiences and give them the tools they need to do so. Vision Critical, a marketing organization, has been instrumental in helping Radio One develop the systems it needs to connect with its advertisers and inspire new companies to advertise on its stations [14].

RESTRUCTURING

Deon Levingston, General Manager [15]

Recently, Radio One has restructured certain facets of itself in order to target the modern African-American. On March 1, 2016, Radio One reported that Deon Levingston would return to the company as the General Manager of Indianapolis and Regional Vice President of Detroit and St. Louis. Since leaving Radio One, he played a role in the success of mainstream hit African American shows such as The Steve Harvey Morning Show, The Wendy Williams Experience, and Circle of Sister [14]. This experience has given Levingston the tools to create strategies to more accurately target modern urban consumers.

FINANCIALS

Since its first radio station was acquired in 1980, Radio One has hired 1,740 employees and has accumulated a sales revenue of $303.2 million [16]. Radio One held a revenue increase each year since the start of the company until 2014 when its revenue decreased by 2% from 2013’s fiscal of $448.7 million to 2014’s fiscal of $441.4 million [17]. As of April 24th, 2016, Radio One’s stock is steady at a high of 1.8300 and a low of 1.8300 with a declining 7.11 per cent change. Radio One holds an Avg Vol (3m) at 42,237 and a market cap of 92.36 million [18]. While Radio One’s stations have received higher ratings in the first quarter of 2016 than the fourth quarter of 2015, Alfred Liggins, the CEO of Radio One, reported in February 2016 that the company’s revenue has decreased. Radio One’s revenue decreased by 4.3% in the first quarter of 2016 since the fourth quarter of 2015 because of a decrease in listeners in the Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Indianapolis markets. Liggins explains that Radio One’s strategy to increase ratings have worked; however, the company is still searching for ways to increase revenue. Liggins feels that one of the issues the company faces is that there are not enough young account executives employed [19]. While many Radio One listeners are of the 18-24 demographic, some Radio One executives are not young enough to execute appropriate strategy plans targeted towards a younger demographic. In addition to the company’s decline in overall revenue, Radio One saw an advertising revenue decrease of 5.2% between the fourth quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2014 [20].

DEBT

Despite its success, Radio One carries around $1 billion dollars of debt that it chose to refinance in May of 2015. CEO Liggins is confident that Radio One can continue its profitability in the light of increasing minority audiences and the increasing spending power of underrepresented groups. As he stated, “In the continuingly browning America, multicultural advertising continues to rate strong and move forward and I think that we’re right at the epicenter of it. We’ve got some more exciting announcements and initiatives in the coming months as it relates to really firming up and filling out this platform.” [21]

FUTURE

Company executives have had the chance to examine the reasons behind the company’s revenue declined and are prepared to set up a strategy to increase revenue for the next quarter. Radio One’s plan for the next quarter is to develop its cross-platform sales and marketing strategy through One Solution which offers advertisers more opportunities to reach Radio One’s urban consumers [22].

SOURCES

[1] Radio One Logo. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.earlboston.com/testimonials/

[2] Radio One: The Urban Media Specialist. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://home.radio-one.com/about-us/

[3] Interactive One Logo. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.frequencynews.com/wordpress/urban-music-formats/interactive-one-presents-its-all-black-music/

[4] Radio One: The Urban Media Specialist. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://home.radio-one.com/about-us

[5] Alfred C. Liggins Headshot. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://soba.iamempowered.com/content/alfred-c-liggins

[6] Linda Vilardo Headshot. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.directwomen.org/alumnae/alumnae-biographies/linda-j-vilardo

[7] Peter D. Thompson Headshot. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://thesoundla.com/2014/12/mark-thompson-host-new-mark-morning-show-beginning-february-2015/

[8] Catherine Hughes Headshot. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.mbda.gov/blogger/mbda-agency/women-history-month-profile-catherine-l-hughes

[9] Radio One, Inc. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Radio One, Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/40/Radio-One-Inc.html

[10] Cathy Hughes, Radio One: From Teen Mom To Media Mogul. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/17/catherine-hughes-radio-one_n_1798129.html

[11] Radio One, Reach Media Launching Urban Talk-Radio Network. Retrieved April 25, 2016. https://www.targetmarketnews.com/storyid10310501.htm

[12] A Radio Merger in New York Reflects a Shifting Industry. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/business/media/a-radio-merger-in-new-york-reflects-a-shifting-industry.html

[13] Vision Critical Logo. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.lisagoller.com

[14] Radio One Announced Changed in Local Leadership. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/radio-one-announced-changes-in-local-radio-leadership-300228791.html

[15] Deon Levingston Headshot. Retrieved April 26, 2016. http://www.insideradio.com/features/insider_interviews/q-a-deon-levingston-gm-emmis-communications-nyc-cluster/article_4ed43390-7369-11e5-8d0c-ff558f527f8a.html

[16] Radio One, Inc. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Radio One, Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/40/Radio-One-Inc.html

[17] Radio One, Inc. Rankings & Reviews. Retrieved April 26, 2016. http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/radio/radio-one,-inc/company-overview.aspx

[18] Yahoo! Finance: Radio One. Retrieved April 26, 2016. http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ROIAK

[19] FMQB Thinking Ahead. Retrieved April 26, 2016. http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=2993698

[20] FMQB Thinking Ahead. Retrieved April 26, 2016. http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=2993698

[21] Radio One Gears Up For TV One Deal. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.insideradio.com/free/radio-one-gears-up-for-tv-one-deal/article_4de2e636-cecb-11e4-9469-0701768ec384.html

[22] Radio One Gears Up For TV One Deal. Retrieved April 25, 2016. http://www.insideradio.com/free/radio-one-gears-up-for-tv-one-deal/article_4de2e636-cecb-11e4-9469-0701768ec384.html

Pandora Radio

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Rachel Blackman

By Rachel Blackman

Company

Pandora Radio is an online and mobile personalized radio model that utilizes the Music Genome Project.

Pandora Logo [6]

The Music Genome Project is an algorithm set by music analysts that matches people to other music they may like based on their taste in artist or song [1]. Essentially, the listener may pick an artist/band, genre, or song and, based on the characteristics and technical elements of their choice, music that has similar traits will be played in accordance in a channel format. Comedy has also recently been added to the Pandora portfolio, so there is the option to explore that realm in the same streaming/radio hybrid system.

Pandora also has a blog section and benefits such as exclusive presale opportunities for concerts as well as premade stations for those who just want to listen to a less narrow selection.

There is a freemium version of the service with advertisements between songs, and a premium subscription service, Pandora One, that costs $4.99 a month for no ads.

Brief History

Pandora Radio is, in many ways, looked at as the originator of the personalized streaming service craze that is so prominent in the world today. Founded in 2000 by Tim Westergren and Jon Kraft, the company began humbly as just the idea of the Music Genome Project.

Come 2005 and beyond, Pandora was fully formed and blew up with popularity[2]. People were discovering music and finding the ease of having it on demand and tailored to their own tastes, a model that every competitor has been utilizing since.

Pandora x Ticketfly Merger [13]

As Spotify exploded and streaming services grew, the attention faded a bit from Pandora, but it is on its way back. At the end of last year, Pandora purchased the concert ticketing entity Ticketfly for $450 million in one of its biggest moves ever[3]. With this merger, Pandora is going to be able to sell tickets through its service, adding to its attraction and uniqueness.

Rdio Logo [14]

Next, Pandora purchased the streaming service Rdio’s assets for $75 million in efforts to make it into the digital streaming world as direct competition to players like Spotify and Apple Music[4].

The company is currently in a transition period where it is implementing these new acquisitions in order to get ahead of the game in streaming in 2016 and beyond.

New Features

Browse Graphic [5]

January 28, 2016, Pandora launched a new feature for their app: Browse. Browse recommends and assists people in discovering artists they may like based on their music taste. There is also an analysis level to the feature where listeners can view how many others are enjoying an artist they love, a useful resource for both the creators and the fans. Along with Browse, the app was redesigned to look cleaner and be easier to use[5].

Another exciting and innovative new idea Pandora implemented March 8^th is their AMPcast service. AMPcast allows artists to speak to their followers through audio messages they can record on their cell phones and upload to their music channel[6], a valuable form of connection for the artists to their fan base that has not yet been utilized anywhere else.

Live Music

Pandora Discovery Den [15]

Pandora has been making huge strides in the live music game this year as well. For example, this was their first year as the official streaming partner to the popular and forward-thinking music festival/conference, South By Southwest in Austin, TX. This year, their fittingly named stage Discovery Den hosted hot up-and-coming acts from March 16-19. From hip-hop artists like Kevin Gates and Anderson .Paak to electronic like Louis the Child[7], Pandora was thoughtful and current in its choices and tapped into young, hip audiences in the perfect setting to do so.

Concert poster for The ATL [8]

April 6^th, Pandora announced the lineup for its leap into the hip-hop world via their Pandora Presents: The ATL concert taking place May 5^th. Featuring wildly popular rap and hip-hop acts Young Thug, K Camp, and Dej Loaf, Pandora is targeting a key young and musically active audience that they have not been as present with until now[8]

Company structure

The company has been going through some executive changes in 2016, including naming cofounder Tim Westergren as CEO March 28^{th [9]}. Westergren is a musician himself and has always seen the importance in discovering new talent, something Pandora is putting a lot of attention into currently and a concept that will keep them relevant.

Along with this change, there was a restructuring of the upper offices including instating Mike Herring as President and CFO, promoting Sara Clemens from CSO to COO, and putting Chris Phillips in the Chief Product Officer seat [9].

Revenues

Pandora’s 2016 first quarter financial review has not yet been released, but will be made public April 28. Given the numbers from last year, it would appear as though the company is on an upward trend. Their fourth quarter revenue at the end of 2015 was up 25% year-over-year at $336.2 million, and their total revenues for all of 2015 were $1.164 billion, a growth of 26% year-over-year[10]. It is reasonable to expect that this years numbers will be even greater, especially given their acquisitions of Ticketfly and Rdio and their movement into live music.

As for right now, Pandora Media’s stock has gone up 0.04 since its last close with a volume of 9.06m[11].

Finally, Pandora just hit the $2 billion mark on April 18^thfor artist and songwriter royalties[12].

Overview/Looking to the Future

Pandora is making big moves towards being a powerful player through their innovative new streaming updates, their live music target on hip-hop in particular, and their company restructuring. It should be fascinating to watch how effective their strategies prove to be in execution.

Sources

[1] “About The Music Genome Project®.” (n.d.): n. pag. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[2] “Origin Story: The Founding of Pandora Radio.” Startup Grind. N.p., n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[3] Sisario, Ben. “Pandora Buys Ticketfly, a Competitor to Ticketmaster.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 2015. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[4] “Pandora’s Rdio Acquisition Sets Stage for Epic Streaming Music Battle.” Variety. N.p., 2015. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[5] “Pandora Debuts New Personalized Destination to Discover Music.” Press Release Distribution, EDGAR Filing, XBRL, Regulatory Filings. N.p., n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[6] Lunden, Ingrid. “Pandora Raises Its Social Media Game with AMPcast, DIY Audio Messaging For artists.” TechCrunch. N.p., 2016. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[7] “Pandora Reveals Initial Lineup in Its First Year as the Official SXSW Streaming Partner – NASDAQ.com.” NASDAQ.com. N.p., n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[8] “Young Thug, K Camp & DeJ Loaf To Perform At Pandora ATL Concert.” Vibe. N.p., 2016. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[9] “Pandora Brings Back Founder Tim Westergren As Newest CEO.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[10] “Pandora Reports Q4 and Full Year 2015 Financial Results.” Press Release Distribution, EDGAR Filing, XBRL, Regulatory Filings. N.p., n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[11] “Pandora Media Inc.” P Stock Quote. N.p., n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[12] “Pandora Hits $2 Billion in All-Time Royalties for Artists and Songwriters.” Press Release Distribution, EDGAR Filing, XBRL, Regulatory Filings. N.p., n.d. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2016.

[13] Dufree, Rachel. “Pandora and Ticketfly Join Forces to Create the World’s Most Powerful Music Platform.” Ticketfly. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

[14] “Rdio Adds Free Streaming With Nearly 500 Live Broadcast Stations – Next Geekers.” Next Geekers. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

[15] “Discovery Den at SXSW 2016: Four Days of Your New Favorite Music.” South by Southwest 2016 Music, Film and Interactive Festivals. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

iHeartMedia

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Clelia Ryan

iHeartMedia Logo -Source iheartmedia.com

Headquarters

iHeartMedia, Inc.
200 East Basse Road
San Antonio, Texas 78209-8328

Corporate Structure

Bob Pitman: Chairman and CEO [3]

Richard J. Bressler: President, CFO and COO [3]

Wendy Goldberg: Executive VP & Chief Communications Officer [3]

John Sykes: President of Entertainment Enterprises [3]

About

[source – Electro Area Youtube Channel]

iHeartMedia has become a major force in the mass media industry. It was founded under Clear Channel Communications when they purchased their first radio station in 1972. Today, iHeartMedia Inc. is the parent company of iHeartMedia Capital I, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (CCO) as well as iHeartMedia (IHRT) [14].

iHeartMedia has the largest impact of any media platform in America, reaching 245 million monthly listeners through radio. Their reach expands to 150 different markets and ownership of 850 stations. iHeartRadio is a digital platform to listen to all iHeartMedia stations [1]. The company proves to be very successful in the digital radio space. In 2014, Clear Channel Media formally changed its name to iHeartMedia. CEO Bob Pittman states, “The new name will reflect the company’s multi-platform presence and ability to embrace innovation and new technology” [9]. This name change allows the company to align itself with the iHeartRadio name that consumers are familiar with. iHeartRadio is responsible for many live music events throughout the year, such as the Jingle Ball national tour, iHeartRadio Music Festival and iHeartRadio Awards.

Radio

Radio is a still huge media outlet and continues to reach 91% of Americans ages 12+ each week [23]. As of January 2016, iHeartRadio has 80 million register users and total listening hours grew by 30% [18]. iHeartRadio has coined deals with some of the most well known on-air personalities such as Ryan Seacrest and Elvis Duran of New York’s Z100. Seacrest hosts of LA’s number one morning stations, 102.7 KISS-FM. He also hosts nationally syndicated programming with the broadcasts of On Air with Ryan Seacrest and American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest [16].

Ryan Seacrest [16]

The iHeartRadio website and app provides “Live Radio“, allowing listeners to listen live to over 858 stations. They also provide “For You“, a feature that suggests stations based on the users preferred selection of genres. Finally, “Artist Radio” is a custom made station with songs by an artist selected by the listener and related music [17].

Right Here, Right Now: Financial Woes

Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw Reports on iHeartMedia’s Debt [20]

Click here to view a Bloomberg video summarizing iHeartMedias debt crisis [20].

Recently, iHeartMedia has been making headlines for their massive debt reported at the end of 2015. The company is reported to have approximately $20.6 billion of debt [2]. In 2008 the company was bought by private equity firms Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $28 billion in a leveraged buyout. The buyout came during the economic recession and it was expected that in the coming years iHeartRadio would profit greatly [10]. However since 2008, iHeartMedia has been battling to pay off debt.

In response to the news, it was announced on March 8th that iHeartMedia Inc. hired Moelis & Co. as a financial advisor [4].

Also on March 8th, many bondholders became displeased with iHeartMedia’s executive decision to move $500 million in assets to a subsidiary. As a result bondholders filed notices of default. These bondholders argue that in transferring their shares of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. to Broader Media LLC, iHeartMedia violated debt agreements. This was done in an attempt to clear up some of their massive debt [5].

In a press release issued on March 8th, iHeartMedia announced they filed a lawsuit in State District Court in Bear County Texas to prove their transfer of shares was done legally [6]. On behalf of the company, Chief Communications Officer Wendy Goldberg states, “We believe our recent contribution of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. stock to our subsidiary Broader Media LLC constituted a permitted investment under, and fully complied with, our financing agreements” [5].

On March 10th, iHeartMedia was granted a temporary restraining order which rescinds the default noticed filed against the company. Moving forward, iHeartMedia and the bondholders, who issued the default notices, will have a court hearing before a judge. This hearing may determine how iHeartMedia will move froward in paying off their $20.6 billion in debt [11].

The trial regarding this matter is set to take place in a Texas state court on May 16, 2106. The shares in question are valued at $1.2 billion [12] .

Click for updating stock prices [19]

On April 25, 2016. iHeartMedia Inc.’s stock (IHRT) closed at $1.18 per share. This is a major drop in price compared to June 2015, when it was selling for $7.50 per share. Subsidiary, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings also saw a drop in stock price from a year ago. It closed at $4.88 as opposed to its price of $11.21 seen in April 2015 [19]. In their Fourth Quarter and Full Year Report iHeartMedia stated a 3% revenue increase to $1.8 billion [18].

iHeartMedia’s Place in Political Advertising

Brendon DelToro [22]

On February 16th, iHeartMedia announced Brendon DelToro has been appointed to Vice President For Political Strategy. DelToro will aid in managing iHeartMedia’s relations with candidates and other political organizations. This year the company plans to have an iHeartMedia Campaign 2016 Command Center to keep track of over 2,000 elections in 150 markets. Brendon’s role will be to merge the political sales teams across iHeartMedia’s broad market reach [7]. The goal of iHeartMedia’s engagement with the political campaign is to allow political and advocacy groups to have access to iHeart’s 80 million users.

iHeartMedia is also planning on capitalizing on the 2016 election by having advertisers pay to place ads via radio rather than the traditional TV route. Candidates strive to target specific demographics, which is getting more difficult to do through traditional TV. Digital radio platforms, specially iHeartMedia can provide campaigns with data that is relevant for targeting the key audiences [8].

Continuing Their Place in the Entertainment Industry

Despite their well known debt and pending court hearings, iHeartMedia continues to hold their place in the music and entertainment industry.

iHeartMedia celebrated their 3rd annual iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 3rd. This award show is primarily driven by fans and users of the iHeartRadio app to vote for nominees.

iHeartRadio Music Awards Promotional Ad [13]

On social media the iHeartRadio Awards generated 115 billion impressions. This number includes the promotional period of the show throughout the television broadcast. This massive number of engagements far exceeds that of other popular award shows such as the MTV Video Music Awards. Chris Williams, Chief Product Officer credits the shows success to the fan engagement and radio personalities involvement [13].

Photo from the 2015 iHeartRadio Pool Party [15]

This summer, iHeartRadio will also be hosting their iHeartRadio Summer Pool Party. Tickets to this exclusive event at Miami’s Fontainebleau will be given to listeners across the country through on-air contests. This years lineup will feature Kygo, Flo Rida, DNCE and Jason Derulo [15]. Seasonal concert events such as the iHeartRadio Pool Party and Jingle Ball Tours are proven to boost listenership across iHeartRadio stations nationwide.

Summary

iHeartMedia is a well respected entertainment company but struggles with being profitable, due to its burdensome debt servicing obligations. Looking ahead, iHeartMedia’s debt crisis and battle with bondholders will have an effect on the financial future of the company. Overall, iHeartMedia remains competitive in the digital radio industry against companies such as Spotify and Pandora providing similar services.

Works Cited

[1] iHeartMedia Corporate. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[2] “The Largest U.S. Radio Operator Is Saddled With $20 Billion Debt”. bloomberg.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[3] iHeartMedia Our Team. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[4] “iHeartMedia hires Moelis to tackle debt burden”. newsdaily.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[5] “iHeartMedia, Lenders in Fight Over Disputed Share Transfer”. bloomberg.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[6] “iHeartMedia, Inc. Responds to Lender Group Allegation”. Businesswire.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[7] “iHeartMedia Names Brandon DelToro Vice President for Political Strategy”. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[8] “Inside iHeartMedia Strategy to Steal Presidential Ad Dollars From TV” adage.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[9] “Clear Channel Rebrands As iHeartMedia” adage.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[10] “Coming, the collapse of radio’s iHeartMedia”. Medialifemagazine.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[11] “Court Rescinds Default Notices Against iHeartMedia”. Insideradio.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[12] “iHeartMedia Default Fight Set to Go to Trial” wsj.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[13] “2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards Social Engagement Captures 115 Billion Impressions Across U.S.” broadwayworld.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[14] “iHeartMedia Loses A Director, Gets More Time To Resolve Its Massive Debt Problems” billboard.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[15] “iHeartRadio Is Throwing Miami’s Biggest Pool Party of the Year With Flo-Rida, Kygo and More” miaminewtimes.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[16] “Ryan Seacrest Inks New Mega Deal with iHeartMedia” hollywoodreporter.com, retrieved April 23, 2016

[17] iHeartRadio. iheartradio.com, retrieved April 23, 2016

[18] iHeartMedia Investors. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[19] iHRT Stock Price. Google.com/ihrt+stock+price, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[20] “Has iHeartMedia Defaulted on Debt?” uk.finance.yahoo.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[21] iHeartMedia Sizzle Reel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6pQXJ0jHO8P9ih4rPRh8Kg, Retrieved April 24,2016

[22] Photo Brendon DelToro. allaccess.com, Retrieved April 24, 2016

[23] “Why Radio Fact Sheet”. rab.com, Retrieved April 24, 2016

Principles & Practices

Website by the students of TRF235

Focus Features

Disney Movies

CBS Films

Amblin Partners

by Paul Honnick

Amblin Partners

100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608

amblinpartners.com

Key Executives at Amblin Partners

20th Century Fox (film)

History

Executives

Finances

Awards Season

The New Superhero

Coming Soon

Sources

Spotify by Daniel Rakow

Sirius XM Radio – Joshua Weisleder

Radio One

Pandora Radio

iHeartMedia