Great movies belong in theatersfirst, was Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s main message to investors yesterday.
Why it matters: On a call for its first quarterly earnings as a combined company, executives from the media conglomerate had to explain their bombshell decision to pull “Batgirl” before release.
Catch up quick: Warner Bros. Discovery posted a $3.4 billion loss that included merger related write downs.
The company also for the first time laid out its larger content strategy — which involves launching two different streaming services.
Earlier this week, it shelved direct-to-streaming projects like “Batgirl” and “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,” both of which were near-ready for release.
The big picture: Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to shape its identity amid heavy competition, and global economic worries.
One of its main priorities has also been to find $3 billion in cost savings. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said that the company has $1 billion worth of cost savings already implemented.
Between the lines: Despite fan outrage, a $90 million production for “Batgirl” to launch and live only on streaming doesn’t make business sense.
Burying the movie also saves the company marketing costs and back-end payouts in contracts that pre-date the merger, CNBC notes.
What they’re saying: “When we bring theatrical films to HBO Max, we find they have substantially more value,”Zaslav said.
“The other thing is that we're going to focus very hard on quality …we're not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it.”
What to watch: Next year,HBO Max and Discovery+ will be combined into a single paid streaming subscription service.
The new platform will start to roll out in 2023 in the U.S., with global expansion plans to follow.
In addition, the company also plans to launch a free, ad-supported streaming service.
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Javier E. David:The "Batgirl" debacle may be good for the bottom line, but it highlights how Warner has squandered a lot of good will with DC fan faithful — the same people they'll need to fill seats when a grandiose 10-year vision for DC movies ultimately materializes.
The suits in Warner's executive suite mostly failed to build on early momentum from highly successful tentpoles like “Aquaman,” the first “Wonder Woman,” and more recently “Joker” and “The Batman” ("Aquaman" and "Joker" earned over $1 billion each during their cinematic runs).
A judge ruled Thursday that actor Kevin Spacey must pay about $31 million to the makers of "House of Cards" because of the losses suffered due to Spacey's firing from the show in 2017, the Associated Press reports.
The big picture: Spacey was fired from "House of Cards" after facing allegations of sexual harassment and assault, AP reports. As a result, "House of Cards" makers said they reworked the final season of the show and lost five episodes, resulting in financial losses.
When I headed to Maine with my family for an annual trip to Acadia, we were crushed to discover that our favorite pie shop, IslandBound Treats, had closed due to soaring prices for ingredients.
Why it matters: The impacts of surging food and commodity prices — and inflation in general — are being felt everywhere. For some businesses, especially the small ones, simply charging more isn't an answer.
As tongues wagged over July's blockbuster payrolls data, one bullish point flew under the radar. The number of long-term unemployed people has plunged, reaching its lowest mark since the start of the century.
By the numbers: 1.79 million people were unemployed for 15 weeks or more in July, down 61% from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That’s the lowest point in any single month since July 2000 with the exception of April 2020 — and it’s down from a pandemic high of 8.13 million in August 2020.
The sharp drop reflects the continued resiliency of the job market, which has now recovered all of the nearly 22 million jobs it had lost during the pandemic.
The big picture: Facing intense labor shortages, employers are beginning to hire workers they previously would not have considered, Goodwill Industries International CEO Steve Preston tells Axios.
“There’s just huge demand in the marketplace, so those people are being pulled in,” Preston says. “It's a very encouraging number.”
Behind the curtain: In some cases, employers are abandoning resume-filtering algorithms that automatically eliminated long-term unemployed people as job candidates, Preston says.
Some employers are no longer requiring college degrees for certain positions, while others are hiring recently incarcerated individuals or are considering people with “other life challenges,” Preston says.
💭 Nathan’s thought bubble: Recent layoff announcements have been reason to question the strength of the job market. But today's jobs report suggests that hiring is overwhelming dismissals for now.
People of color and women specifically have enjoyed significant job gains over the last year.
“Employees are still starving to get employees,” Lightcast senior economist Ron Hetrick wrote Friday.
As back-to-school shopping season picks up, families are grappling with higher prices on everything from backpacks to pencils thanks to surging inflation.
State of play: More than half of families are planning to cut back on back-to-school shopping this year due to surging inflation, according to a national survey from real estate and retail management firm JLL.
Why it matters: The benchmark hasn't received a lift in 13 years — it’s been stuck at $7.25 per hour since 2009. The longer it stays there, the less relevance it has, and the closer it comes to meaninglessness.
Michael Saylor would most like to be remembered for his contribution to societyas an educator, the CEO tells Axios in his last days as chief of the software company he co-founded in the 1980s.
The big picture: But what stands out from Saylor's 33-year tenure at the helm of MicroStrategy is its $4 billion bet on bitcoin that started with one large purchase in Aug. 2020 — the largest acquisition of bitcoin by a publicly-traded company at the time.
The richest DAO in DeFi wants to spend more of its money.
Driving the news: A vote went up Thursday to launch the Uniswap Foundation, with a three-year budget of $74 million from the decentralized autonomous organization's $3.9 billion treasury.
When Varo Bank raised $510 million last September it was flying high — and moving towards an IPO that could provide an even greater sum. Then, the IPO window swung shut.
State of play: Varo Bank is the only U.S. neobank to have its own bank charter. That, the bank argues, puts it in a stronger position than most of its competitors — but also means it has to file quarterly reports showing just how much capital it's burning.
It's a hot summer with a labor market to match. The question is no longer "is this a recession," but rather: "Is the job market too hot for the Fed's comfort?"
Driving the news: The jobs slowdown economists have been expecting isn't materializing. Rather, the economy added 528,000 jobs in July — the strongest print since February, and double what economists expected.
Amazon is buyingiRobot for $1.7 billion, the companies announced Friday morning.
Why it matters: The acquisition is Amazon's fourth-largest ever and reflects the tech giant's ambitions to entrench itself inside homes with smart devices.
Seamless, a fintech focused on underserved and unbanked users in Southeast Asia, agreed to go public at an implied $400 million valuation via a SPAC called INFINT Acquisition Corp.
Why it matters: This reflects how the SPAC market, while battered, remains far more active than the traditional IPO market.
Employers added a stunning 528,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5%,the lowest level in nearly 50 years, the Labor Department said on Friday.
Why it matters: It's the fastest pace of jobs growth since February as the labor market continues to defy fears that the economy is heading into a recession.
Why it matters: Falling energy prices could help lower the next round of inflation readings, reducing pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue the rate-raising campaign that clobbered the stock market during the first half.
The first weekend in August is the biggest for tax-free shopping, with a dozen states holding sales tax holidays.
Why it matters: Families, who are already grappling with higher prices for school supplies and clothes amid inflation, get a short tax break when stocking up this weekend.
There's a lot to love about Kia's first electric vehicle, the EV6: the SUV's daring design, roomy interior and, of course, the satisfying response you get from hitting the accelerator.
The $56,195 GT all-wheel-drive version I drove has a 274-mile driving range and recharges in about 20 minutes at a 350-kW fast charger.
Meta announced Thursday that it shut down a troll farm with links to a sanctioned Putin ally and Russia's Internet Research Agency that spread disinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.
The big picture: The action was part of a wider social media crackdown on cyber espionage operations and other bad actors detailed in the Facebook and Instagram owner's Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report.
