All Access

Media Deals

Standard

Media Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Media Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Future-proofing Fox

Illustration of a toppled over vintage television with color bars falling out onto the floor

Musk's ultimatum

Illustration of the OpenAI logo surrounded by a repetition of hundred dollar bills

Deal flow

Movin' on up (or out)

Channel surfing

Illustration of a pair of sunglasses with lenses that look like tv screens.

Fox has started to take major steps in setting itself up for life after the cable bundle, following years of resistance.  

Why it matters: Hanging over every move Fox makes these days is the messy succession battle that is likely to ensue when Rupert Murdoch, who is 93 years old, dies. 

State of play: Fox's moves over the last 10 days hint at its post-TV plans.

Earlier this week, Fox bought Red Ventures, a digital media firm that produces audio and video podcasts for conservative influencers including former Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly, Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carlson.

That deal is part of a push among TV news networks to partner with influencers, who became far more prominent during the 2024 election cycle. 

During an earnings call last week, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors Fox would launch a streaming product at the end of this year that would include live sports and Fox News programming. This news came after the aborted launch of Venu Sports. 

Stunning stat: This past Sunday, Fox streamed Super Bowl LIX on its free streaming service Tubi, which accounted for more than 13 million of the record 127 million who watched the game.

The bigger-than-expected streaming audience could increase the prominence of Tubi within the Fox halls.

Red Seat Ventures, for example, will be housed under the Tubi Media Group, separate from Fox's linear TV business.

The big picture: Fox has been largely praised by investors and analysts for its decision not to pump billions into setting up a streaming service.

When Murdoch sold off the majority of its 21st Century Fox empire to Disney for $71 billion in 2019, the thesis behind that deal was that Fox would be better served as a leaner company.

The bottom line: That was almost six years ago, which is a lifetime in the media business.

A leaner company exclusively focused on the linear TV bundle? Perhaps Fox is realizing that may no longer be a feasible strategy.

1 big thing: Future-proofing Fox

Elon Musk will withdraw his $97.4 billion bid to purchase the assets of OpenAI if OpenAI gives up on its plan to spin out its for-profit subsidiary, Musk's lawyers said in a new court filing yesterday.

Why it's the BFD: Musk's bid for OpenAI was the latest surprise maneuver in a long-running legal battle that has pitted him against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The big picture: Musk and Altman, who were both among OpenAI's cofounders in 2015, have been fighting for years over the nonprofit's future.

Altman has guided OpenAI from its roots as a nonprofit research lab to its role today as the AI industry's leader and creator of ChatGPT.

Altman's approach requires enormous amounts of investment, which the company has funneled from Microsoft and others into a for-profit entity. Altman and OpenAI's original nonprofit board intend to spin out that entity into a fully independent company that the nonprofit would have a stake in.

The value of that stake is what's at issue in the Musk-Altman fight.

Between the lines: Since Musk announced his bid Monday, many observers have seen it less as a serious effort to take control of OpenAI than as a gambit to put a higher price tag on the assets that underlie the for-profit entity's value.

The higher the price, the harder it will be for Altman to execute his plan.

Musk — who founded OpenAI competitor xAI in 2023 — has said he wants OpenAI to refocus on its original nonprofit goals rather than evolve in the for-profit direction. Altman has argued that it can only fulfill its mission of developing advanced AI for all of humanity by raising massive funding from investors who require a return.

The bottom line: The latest filing reinforces the view that Musk is less interested in becoming OpenAI's owner than in foiling Altman's plan.

2. The BFD: Musk's ultimatum

Go deeper in our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Slow Ventures raised a $60m seed fund for creators in niche areas, such as automotive or gardening. Go deeper

• Fal, a generative media platform for developers, raised $49m in Series B funding. Notable Capital and a16z co-led and were joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, and First Round Capital. Go deeper

• Lanch, a German startup that leverages social media and influencers to create food brands, raised €26m in Series A funding co-led by Felix Capital and HV Capital. Go deeper

• Phynd, a Dallas-based cloud gaming platform, raised $10m in seed funding. Wellington led and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Connecticut Innovations Fund, and soccer player Jozy Altidore. Go deeper

• PSG, a growth equity firm that partners with software and technology-enabled services companies, invested $150m in Uscreen, a video monetization platform for the creator economy. Go deeper

• Aristocrat Leisure (AX: ALL) completed the sale of its mobile gaming unit Plarium Global to Modern Times Group (STO: MTG) for up to $820m ($600m upfront). Go deeper

3. Deal flow

• Rebecca Kutler was named president of MSNBC. She had served as interim president since Rashida Jones' departure last month. Go deeper

• Austin Rief, co-founder and CEO of Morning Brew, is stepping down and transitioning to executive chairman. Go deeper

• BuzzFeed plans to cut 5% of its workforce. Go deeper

4. Movin' on up (or out)

📺 Inside the cable TV hospice: Can NBCUniversal's divorce from MSNBC, Syfy, E! and more prolong the life of once-popular channels? (Variety)

"The hope is that with tighter focus, SpinCo's leaders will find better ways to manage the decline, and possibly even rehabilitate its channels with new original programming," Michael Schneider writes. 

🤖 Is the international film industry starting to embrace AI? (THR)

"Outside the U.S., and in the lower-budget indie world, AI tech is being readily embraced as a means to more cheaply and easily adapt films for the international marketplace," Scott Roxborough writes.

😳 F.C.C. chair orders investigation into Comcast's D.E.I. practices (NYT)

"In a letter sent to Brian Roberts, Comcast's chairman, on Tuesday, Mr. Carr said the F.C.C. would look into D.E.I. practices broadly at many companies it regulated, starting with Comcast," Benjamin Mullin writes.

February 13, 2025

1 big thing: Future-proofing Fox