May 8 2023 - Disney, WGA & Vice

👋Happy Monday friends. Earnings mania isn't over yet and we've got a roundup on some Friday news. All that and more below –

Quick Take

• Earnings, still got some big ones this week: Disney, PayPal, Airbnb, EA, Fox, Twilio, Roblox, Unity, among others
• Vice bankruptcy deal is close
• Read this Taylor Sheridan piece in the WSJ  

Disney has told showrunners for Disney shows that they are required to come to work "even if the WGA attempts to fine you" during the ongoing writers' strike, according to a memo obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. The memo has been criticized for putting pressure on employees to prioritize loyalty to the corporation over the union and setting fire to goodwill. Showrunners are multi-hyphenate writer-producers, who both write and produce, and are in the WGA themselves. The memo includes a FAQ written as if writers are not already unionized.

Apple is turning its focus to emerging markets, with CEO Tim Cook highlighting record sales in countries such as India, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia during the company's recent earnings call. While sales fell in established markets such as the Americas, Japan, and China, Cook said he sees potential in India as more people enter the middle class. Apple has opened its first retail outlets in India, but has avoided selling lower priced phones and instead hopes to add customers to its platform and monetize on services in the longer term.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a surprise profit in its streaming TV business in the first quarter, earning $50 million, while analysts expected a $49 million loss. The company's global direct-to-consumer subscribers also increased by 1.6 million to 97.6 million. However, the parent company of HBO and CNN still posted disappointing results, as its sales, at $10.7 billion, were in line with Wall Street forecasts, but it posted a net loss of 44 cents a share, steeper than the expected 4-cent loss.

Vice Media is nearing a $400m deal for Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management to acquire the company out of bankruptcy. If the deal goes ahead, all Vice stockholders, including private-equity firm TPG Group, Sixth Street Partners, and media mogul James Murdoch, would be wiped out under the proposed reorganization. The final purchase price could also change as part of negotiations between the company and the lender group. Vice is preparing to run a court-supervised sale in a chapter 11 case that could be filed as soon as next week.

• Amazon quietly acquired New York-based audio content discovery engine Snackable AI in December 2022 to boost its podcast features. Snackable AI specialized in using AI to add structure and metadata to video and audio with AI-generated chapters, highlights, and more. Its founder and CEO, Mari Joller, is now an AI and machine learning product leader at Amazon Music, where she leads a team to build AI-powered products for Amazon Music Podcasts customers. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Netflix is launching a remastered version of the indie developer game "World of Goo" exclusively for mobile, which will be available to all members with no ads or in-app purchases starting May 23. Netflix is continuing to expand its gaming library and aims to offer titles that appeal to users, including recognizable games and those that encourage daily play.
• DDB North America CEO, Justin Thomas-Copeland, is leaving the agency after assuming the role in 2020. Under his leadership, the agency achieved consecutive years of growth and won new clients, but has also experienced departures of other leaders in its North American offices. Thomas-Copeland aimed to transform the North American DDB network into a future-forward integrated creative powerhouse. He is seen as an executive who could infuse data thinking into the traditionally traditional agency, but the agency's stature in the US has still yet to recover from past losses of key clients.
• Amazon's Inspire shopping feed, is now available to all US customers. It allows consumers to shop and explore products from content created by influencers, brands, and other customers. Creators enrolled in the Amazon Influencer Program can post content to Inspire and earn commission when customers shop from their content. Brands can also post to Inspire.

• Oatly has challenged the dairy industry to show its carbon footprint, by taking out full-page ads in major US newspapers and billboards in Times Square and Hollywood Boulevard. Oatly is requesting the dairy industry to answer 68 questions and reveal their own carbon footprint; if they agree, Oatly is offering to pay for ad space for their brands.
• Employment in the US advertising, public relations, and related services industry increased by 2,100 jobs in April, marking the biggest monthly gain since the summer of 2022. Although the industry's employment level remained essentially unchanged since August 2022, there have been ebbs and flows in monthly employment since last fall, with layoffs at tech companies, major non-tech firms, and agencies.
• Instacart's growth slowed to 5-10% in Q1 2023 compared to 16% for 2022, which could delay its planned public debut. However, Instacart still holds a 74% market share among online grocery intermediaries and has over $1 billion on its balance sheet.
• Google Design asks

“What if form did not just follow function, but also followed feeling?” Without compromising the functional foundations of our apps, Material You seeks to create designs that are personal for every style, accessible for every need, alive and adaptive for every screen."

• Paramount Can’t Say No to the Man Behind ‘Yellowstone’: $50,000 a Week for His Ranch, $25 Per Cow
• Atlassian stock drops as revenue outlook comes in light
• Yellowstone to end in November, sequel starts in December
• L’Oréal Paris assigns India's digital creative duties to Tonic Worldwide
• Legg logo design and brand identity
• WHO declares an end to covid global health emergency
• The new way of work
• How the rise of social gaming has impacted consumers’ gaming and spending habits

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