Warner Bros. Discovery today urged shareholders to reject Paramount‘s hostile $108 billion takeover proposal, saying Netflix‘s previously accepted offer remains superior. In a 3-page letter, WBD laid out its concerns about a number of aspects of Paramount’s offer. One of its primary issues is the repeated insistence by Paramount that its offer is backstopped by the Ellison family fortune. Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, is a financial backer of the transaction and, as co-founder o ...

Affinity Partners, the firm founded by Donald Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner, will no longer be a part of the group of investors backing Paramount‘s hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, a source confirmed on Tuesday. “With ​two ​strong competitors ​vying to secure ​the future ​of this ​unique American ​asset, ​Affinity ​has ​decided no longer to pursue ​the opportunity. We ​continue to ​believe ​there is a strong strategic rationale for Paramount’s offer,” Affinity said in a statement to Bloom ...

Local TV station owner E.W. Scripps said Tuesday that its board of directors has rejected an unsolicited takeover bid by larger rival Sinclair Inc. Scripps, whose assets also include the Ion broadcast network, said the board’s decision was unanimous. It followed Sinclair’s disclosure last month that it had taken an 8.2% stake in the company and offered to acquire the rest of its stock in a $7-a-share deal comprised of cash and stock. “The board is committed to acting in the best interests of all Scripps sh ...

Netflix has appointed Dani Dudeck, a former senior exec at Instacart, Zynga and MySpace, as chief communications officer. Dudeck will assume her new duties in mid-January, she wrote on LinkedIn. Rachel Whetstone, former chief communications officer, left the company in October 2024. The tech veteran had been with the company since 2018, but decided not to pursue a refashioned role that would have blended public policy and communications. Dean Garfield, VP of Public Policy, departed along with Whetstone. Th ...

In a memo to employees divulged this morning in an SEC filing, Netflix Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos call their pending $83B acquisition of Warner Bros. “a win for the entertainment business.” Wall Street, however, isn’t entirely convinced. One new report Monday from MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman urges the company not to take the bait if and when Paramount increases its hostile bid. Far better, Fishman argues, for the streaming giant to “bow out of the bidding war, put their heads down, and cont ...

核心观点 - 迪士尼公司向谷歌发出律师函 指控其大规模侵犯版权 用于训练AI模型并在其生态系统中分发侵权内容 同时宣布向OpenAI投资10亿美元以建立合法使用其IP的框架 [1][4] 迪士尼对谷歌的指控与行动 - 指控谷歌未经授权复制大量迪士尼受版权保护的作品 用于训练和开发生成式人工智能模型和服务 [5] - 指控谷歌利用AI模型和服务 商业性利用并分发迪士尼受保护作品的副本 侵犯其版权 [5] - 要求谷歌必须从其AI服务创建的YouTube和YouTube Shorts上移除所有侵权迪士尼内容 [2] - 指出谷歌的故意侵权行为尤其令人担忧 因其利用在生成式AI和多个其他市场的主导地位 将侵权AI服务尽可能广泛地提供 包括集成到Google Workspace和YouTube移动应用等产品中 [5] - 指控谷歌用侵权作品充斥市场 并从其对迪士尼版权作品非法、有害的利用中获取巨大利润和其他价值 [5] 迪士尼在AI领域的整体战略与行动 - 宣布与OpenAI达成一项重大协议 投资10亿美元 旨在驾驭新格局 [1][4] - 此项投资旨在与OpenAI建立框架 为其新合作伙伴提供合法访问其角色和IP的途径 [4] - 此前已向Meta和Character.AI发出停止并终止函 [3] - 已与NBC环球和华纳兄弟探索公司共同对Midjourney和Minimax提起诉讼 [3] - 好莱坞正试图控制其IP的广泛盗版行为 在人工智能时代 这些IP可通过一个作品或一次按键在几秒钟内被复制 [3] 行业竞争格局 - 谷歌和OpenAI在该领域是激烈的竞争对手 OpenAI首席执行官萨姆·阿尔特曼最近因谷歌的进展而发出“红色代码”警报 [4] - 迪士尼投资OpenAI被视为对谷歌竞争对手的支持 [1]

核心观点 - 华特迪士尼公司向谷歌发出禁止函 指控谷歌的人工智能训练模型和服务大规模侵犯其版权 同时宣布已与谷歌的竞争对手OpenAI达成协议 授权其角色和知识产权用于后者的服务 [1] 迪士尼的指控与行动 - 指控谷歌故意侵权 并利用其在生成式AI和多个市场的主导地位 使侵权服务尽可能广泛地普及 [2] - 指控谷歌通过众多渠道向大量消费者提供侵权服务 用侵权作品淹没市场 并从非法利用迪士尼版权作品中获取巨额利润和其他价值 [2] - 声称谷歌拒绝实施任何技术措施来减轻或防止版权侵权 尽管这些措施已可用且被谷歌的竞争对手使用 [4] - 声称已尝试与谷歌接触数月 但谷歌毫无作为 且在此期间对其版权作品的使用有增无减 [4] - 指控谷歌不仅未经授权在AI服务中分发迪士尼知识产权 还在训练模型中复制了大量受版权保护的作品 提及的模型包括Veo、Imagen和Nano Banana [5] - 指出用户可通过文本提示生成涉及迪士尼IP的图像和视频 包括星球大战角色、漫威角色、皮克斯作品、经典动画角色和辛普森一家等 [5] - 将谷歌的服务比作虚拟自动贩卖机 能够大规模复制、呈现和分发迪士尼宝贵的版权角色库和其他作品 [6] - 指出许多由谷歌AI服务生成的侵权图像都带有谷歌Gemini标识 错误地暗示谷歌对迪士尼知识产权的利用已获授权和认可 [6] - 指控谷歌将其主要品牌Gemini用于侵权 将迪士尼宝贵的版权角色视为己有 并向订阅者收费提供 并附上了据称由简单提示生成的《狮子王》中辛巴和娜拉以及达斯·维德的图像作为例证 [6] - 此前已向Meta和Character.AI发出过禁止函 并与NBC环球和华纳兄弟探索公司共同对Midjourney和Minimax提起诉讼 [3] 行业动态与协议 - 在向谷歌发出禁止函前夕 宣布已与OpenAI达成协议 将向其提供角色和IP用于后者的服务 [1]

Paramount continues to take its case to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders after launching a hostile takeover offer to pry the company away from Netflix. “Dear Warner Bros. Discovery Shareholder,” Paramount CEO David Ellison wrote in an open letter published today, “we are the best stewards not only to build long-term value for the asset but also delight audiences and help cultivate a more vibrant creative community. We funded, founded and then merged Skydance with Paramount and know the sacrifices and in ...

Donald Trump weighed in again on the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, this time by saying that he opposes any plan in which the company continues to own CNN. Trump told reporters Wednesday that there were “some good companies bidding on it.” “I think the people that have run CNN for the last, long period of time are a disgrace,” Trump said. “I think it’s imperative that CNN be sold, because you certainly wouldn’t want to put people, just leave those people with some money, good money, and CNN, so ...

Two Democratic lawmakers are raising concerns with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav over the national security implications of Paramount‘s bid, which includes the Saudi Public Investment Fund and other Middle East investors. Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-CA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) wrote in a letter to Zaslav, “This transaction raises national security concerns because it could transfer substantial influence over one of the largest American media companies to foreign-backed financiers. If Warner proc ...