Blog da disciplina de Mídias Globais. Aqui você encontrará o conteúdo necessário para a realização do curso. Em caso de dúvidas, entrar em contato com: lleo@puc-rio.br (Luiz Léo) e maripalm@puc-rio.br (Mariana Palmeira)
O CEO da Sony Interactive Entertainment, John Tsuyoshi Kodera, anunciou que o PS4 está começando o fim do ciclo de vida. O novo console da empresa, PS5, deve sair por volta de 2020. O anúncio antecipado faz algum sentido. Internamente, a empresa vai deixar de investir em inovação na plataforma. Os analistas de mercado precisam de uma explicação para justificar a mudança. Mas lança, também, uma dificuldade estratégica. As editoras de games provavelmente vão começar a desacelerar, também, seus investimentos. Hoje, porém, existem 80 milhões de PS4s instalados no mundo. É uma base ampla, que justifica o lançamento de novos e novos jogos. A virada de versão pode ser dramática. Pouca gente terá o aparelho, no início. Ou seja: um período de baixos retornos para quem desenha games. Mas há, para editores e consumidores, uma esperança. Mark Cerny, o arquiteto de sistemas responsável pelo console, dá indícios de que possa haver compatibilidade entre os sistemas. Ou seja: jogos e hardwares do PS4 poderão rodar no PS5.
A magazine in France put Mark Zuckerberg on its cover this month… as Napoleon. It’s not a dig at Zuckerberg’s height (such a dig would be factually incorrect anyhow), but an illustration for acover article (link in French) that compares Silicon Valley giants to empires in need of dismantling.
Facebook is a “a menace for privacy, thought, and democracy,” declares the subtitle on the spring issue of quarterly journalism review We Demain. The article outlines some strategies of resistance, both individual and political.
“Their empires have to be dismantled” (Kevin Delaney/Quartz)
Zuckerberg-as-Napoleon is a poignant way to illustrate a broader school of thought, which says that big tech companies have become monopolies and need to be broken up. On Monday, a coalition of progressive, US-based groups launched a petition to the Federal Trade Commission to spin off Facebook-owned Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger into separate companies. During Zuckerberg’s hearing with European lawmakers on Tuesday, several of them raised the idea of chopping up Facebook into smaller parts.
The Napoleon analogy is also just fun. The emperor’s main goal was to expand French rule anywhere and everywhere he could, just as Zuckerberg’s is to get his service in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Napoleon’s eventual decline kicked off in Russia, where many of Facebook’s recent problems have also originated. Also worth remembering: Napoleon had a huge influence on the global stage, but left France barely larger than he found it, and spent his last days exiled on a tropical island.
If you’d like to get really rich, really quickly while you’re still really young, Silicon Valley can make that happen.
Of course, it’s also a place where bank accounts are depleted and dreams fail. But unlike Wall Street — where wealth is ploddingly created as bankers and consultants rise through the corporate ladder — wealth in the tech sector can strike like oil, with the right idea, the right timing and the right luck.
That’s made clear ina new report on global billionaires from Wealth-X, which surveys the landscape of the ten-figured titans. There were more billionaires around the worldthan ever before in 2017— 2,754 to be exact, a 15% increase over the previous year — according to the research. The increase is thanks especially to a rise of an elite in Asia, which saw its billionaire population rise by 30% to 784.
Here in Silicon Valley, 74 billionaires make their home, 14 more than lived here in 2016. That increase allowed it to jump to third in the world for billionaires, leaping over Moscow and London (which have 69 and 62, respectively). Only New York (103) and Hong Kong (93) are home to more billionaires.
Overall, the United States is home to one-quarter of the billionaires across the globe and added 60 new net ones last year alone.
But evenamongthe class of billionaires, the technology-built ones are doing particularly well. Wealth-X reports that there are 143 billionaires across the globe in the tech sector, who individually have an average net worth of about $6 billion. The other, less tech-y billionaires? Their average net worth is a $3.3 billion.
“This figure is obviously skewed by the enormous fortunes amassed by a very small number of individuals – six of the 10 richest people in the world have derived the majority of their wealth from the technology sector,” the authors note. “However, it is also a reflection of the huge gains that can be made by tech entrepreneurs around the world in a sector with comparatively low barriers to entry, a high capacity for innovation and still rapidly increasing global demand.”
Bingo.
One difference between Silicon Valley and other sectors, though, is that some of the wealth in tech is in illiquid startup stock. For instance, there’s a legitimate debate as to whether someone like Uber founder Travis Kalanick should’ve beencalled a real-life billionairebefore that money was actually accessible when he sold some of his shares.
But those all those lucrativeprivate stocks create real opportunities for volatility — and therefore value creation. When startups nosedive, suddenly founders discover that they can lose everything. Or, in the words of Wealth-X: “It can be a transitory visit into the billionaire class.”
Case in point: The craze surrounding blockchain in late 2017, which created overnight wealth as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies spiked (presumably, some of that wealth evaporated when digital currencies fell hard in early 2018).
The Senate todayvoted 52-47to disapprove the FCC’s recent order replacing 2015’s net neutrality rules, a pleasant surprise for internet advocates and consumers throughout the country. Although the disapproval will almost certainly not lead to the new rules being undone, it is a powerful statement of solidarity with a constituency activated against this deeply unpopular order.
Senate Joint Resolution 52officially disapproves the rule under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to undo recently created rules by federal agencies. It will have to pass in the House as well and then be signed by the president for the old rules to be restored (that or a two-thirds majority, which is equally unlikely).
On the other hand, forcing everyone in Congress to officially weigh in will potentially make this an issue in the upcoming midterms.
“‘Do you support net neutrality?’ Every candidate in America is going to be asked that question,” said Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) at a press conference after the vote.
Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) related that a Republican colleague of his told him that their office had received more than 6,000 calls from people expressing support for net neutrality and the FCC’soriginal rules, and 10 opposed.
“People who use the internet all the time realize what this is about. Millions of calls, we don’t get that on every issue. People intuitively get this,” said Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at the press conference.
Until yesterday Senate Democrats, who brought the resolution, had 50 supporters, including one Republican, more than enough to force the issue to be voted on, but not enough to actually pass.
Two more Republicans, Alaska’s Lisa Murowski and Louisiana’s John Kennedy joined Maine’s Susan Collins (the first to cross the aisle) to vote aye on the measure, making the final tally 52-47. (The missing vote belongs to Sen. McCain, who is absent while fighting cancer.)
“We salute them for their courage,” said House (not Senate, as I wrote here earlier by mistake) minority leader Nancy Pelosi at the press conference.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel commended the Senate’s action.
“Today the United States Senate took a big step to fix the serious mess the FCC made when it rolled back net neutrality late last year,” she said in a statement. “Today’s vote is a sign that the fight for internet freedom is far from over. I’ll keep raising a ruckus to support net neutrality and I hope others will too.”
Chairman Ajit Pai, however, was less congratulatory in his own statement.
“It’s disappointing that Senate Democrats forced this resolution through by a narrow margin,” he said, “But ultimately, I’m confident that their effort to reinstate heavy-handed government regulation of the Internet will fail.”
Both he and Commissioner Carr cited a “three-Pinnochio”fact-checkof Democratic claims regarding net neutrality that’s a good guide to avoiding the hysteria occasionally encountered in this debate but provides precious little support for Restoring Internet Freedom, which is itself plagued bytechnical misunderstandings.
With the Majority Leadership in the House opposed to this bill, the only way to bring it before the full House for a vote is through a discharge petition. Under the rules of the House, a bill must be brought to the House Floor for a vote if a majority of Representatives sign a discharge petition demanding it. I’m filing a discharge petition to force a vote on the legislation to save Net Neutrality, and we just need to get a majority of Representatives to sign it. I’m sure that every Member of the House will want to know where their constituents stand on this issue.
As everyone notes above, the fight continues. Be sure to contact your member of Congress.
Netflix is now bigger than Comcast and can set its sights on Disney.
When the web-video giant began renting movies by mail 20 years ago, its largest competitors were video chains like Blockbuster Video that sold and rented DVDs. Netflix has gone from a Silicon Valley startup disrupting the way video is delivered to one of the biggest buyers and producers of TV shows and movies around the world. The company plans to spend more than $8 billion on content in 2018, nearly three-quarters of its prior year revenue, and another $2 billion to market those programs. “Objectively, we’re much more of a media company in that way than pure tech,” CEO and cofounder Reed Hastings said on an April conference call (pdf).
Netflix’s rivals are now media mammoths like Disney, Time Warner, and Twentieth Century Fox that have been around a lot longer than it has. But Netflix, with 125 million members and counting, is growing much faster. It surpassed Fox and Time Warner by market capitalization in 2017. On May 8, it overtook cable company and NBCUniversal parent Comcast as its market cap closed at $142 billion compared to Comcast’s $141 billion, FactSet data showed. Netflix was still leading Comcast on May 9.
Netflix is now within striking distance of Disney’s $150 billion market cap. The competition between the two media giants has only been intensifying. Disney is pulling its movies from Netflix to launch a streaming service of its own next year. And Netflix has been poaching top showrunners such as Shonda Rhimes, who produced Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy for Disney’s ABC, and Ryan Murphy, a long-time producer at Fox, from other networks. It also bought a mini-Marvel of sorts in comic-book publisher Millarworld.
Give it a few years, and Netflix may even find itself up against tech-and-media juggernauts Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple.
Comcast’s stock price has taken a hit during the past month since the cable giant confirmed its intention to mount a $31 billion bid for majority control of Sky, the European satellite TV provider that was expected to be part of Disney’s acquisition of key 21st Century Fox assets.
But on Thursday Wall Street seemed to cheer the idea of Comcast moving deeper into a bidding war with Disney over Sky and possibly all of the Fox assets included in the $52.4 billion deal that Fox and Disney clinched on Dec. 14. Comcast shares were up 2.7% in trading Thursday, closing at $31.56, amid a swirl of headlines about steps Comcast is taking to build a war chest for an all-cash offer for the 21st Century Fox assets that could reach $60 billion or more. Comcast shares fell nearly 12% from early March when the company affirmed its intention regarding Sky.
The Financial Times reported Thursday that Comcast would agree to pay 21st Century Fox a $2.5 billion breakup fee if a Comcast-Fox deal was blocked by regulatory hurdles in the U.S. Comcast had not previously included a breakup fee commitment in negotiations with Fox executives last November and December before the Disney agreement was reached, according to a Securities and Exchange filing detailing how the Disney-Fox union came together. The absence of a breakup fee from Comcast was a significant factor in Fox’s preference for Disney’s all-stock offer, in addition to the tax savings that come with a stock-swap deal.
Sources close to the situation say Comcast will likely wait until a judge issues a decision in the AT&T-Time Warner anti-trust trial before launching a full-tilt push to buy the 20th Century Fox Studio, FX Networks, National Geographic Worldwide, and 18 regional sports cablers, as well as Fox’s stakes in Sky and Hulu. Speculation in media and legal circles is growing that U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon will rule in favor of the AT&T-Time Warner deal proceeding. A favorable ruling against the Justice Department’s effort to block AT&T-Time Warner on anti-trust grounds is expected to spur a burst of buying and selling in the media sector.
The Disney-Fox deal already has revved up the media M&A marketplace and the level of anxiety among leaders of traditional media firms. The conventional wisdom is that the major media congloms that have dominated film and TV for the past 25-plus years now need to grow even bigger to compete with the deep pockets of Netflix, Amazon, and Apple as the digital upstarts muscle into Hollywood’s core business.
Comcast and Disney are already on track to spar over the takeover of Sky. 21st Century Fox has been trying to buy up the remaining 61% of the satcaster that it does not own but the sale process has been bogged down by U.K. regulators. Disney expects to inherit Fox’s existing 39% stake in Sky, if not the whole company if Fox is able to close the $15 billion takeover of Sky set in December 2016.
As Comcast takes its first steps to lining up financing for a sweetened offer that will top Disney’s bid by a double digit margin, analysts see an old-fashioned bidding war erupting. Disney is not likely to back down easily from its Fox deal or for Sky specifically, after making the case for why the deal was important to Disney’s long-term goal of building a global direct-to-consumer streaming platform.
“It is reasonable to expect Disney to counter any potential offer while also changing the composition of its current all-stock offer. In our view, Comcast and Disney are likely to view this as the last remaining transformational deal in media,” analyst Scott Goldman of Jefferies wrote in a May 8 note.
(Reuters) - U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp is asking investment banks to increase a bridge financing facility by as much as $60 billion so it can make an all-cash offer for the media assets that Twenty-First Century Fox Inc has agreed to sell to Walt Disney Co for $52 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts only plans to proceed with the bid if a federal judge allows AT&T Inc’s planned $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc to proceed, the sources said. The U.S. Department of Justice has opposed the AT&T-Time Warner deal over antitrust concerns, and a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon is expected in June.
Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger clinched an all-stock deal with Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch in December to acquire Fox’s film, television and international businesses, giving the world’s largest entertainment company an arsenal of shows and movies to combat growing digital rivals Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
Comcast, owner of NBC and Universal Pictures, has also made a 22 billion pound ($30 billion) offer to acquire the 61 percent stake in European pay-TV group Sky Plc that Fox does not already own. In doing so, it topped an earlier offer for the entirety of Sky by Fox.
Last November, Comcast offered to acquire most of Fox’s assets in an all-stock deal valued at $34.41 per share, or $64 billion, a regulatory filing showed last month. Like Disney, Comcast sought to buy Fox’s entertainment networks, movie studios, television production and international assets, the filing shows.
Fox ended up announcing an all-stock deal with Disney for $29.54 per share. In the regulatory filing, Disney and Fox cited regulatory hurdles as reasons to reject Comcast’s bid, even though they did not reference it by name.
The exact value of Comcast’s new bid for the Fox assets is not yet clear, although the $60 billion in new financing indicates it is seeking significant firepower to outbid Disney. Comcast already has a $30 billion bridge loan to finance its Sky offer.
The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Comcast, Fox and Disney declined to comment.
Fox shares rose 5.13 percent to $39.99 on the news in after-hours trading in New York on Monday. Comcast shares were down 1.5 percent to $31.90, while Disney shares were down 0.5 percent to $102.00.
Murdoch, who owns close to a 17 percent stake in Fox and holds about 40 percent of the voting power, prefers to be paid in stock rather than cash for the Fox assets, because this makes the transaction non-taxable for shareholders, sources have said. It is not clear how receptive he would be to an all-cash offer.
FILE PHOTO: The NBC and Comcast logos are displayed on 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan in New York, U.S., February 27, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
Last month’s regulatory filing also showed that Fox viewed Disney’s stock as more valuable than Comcast’s, based on historic prices, and felt that a deal between Disney and Fox would generate greater long-term value. The Roberts family controls Comcast through a dual-class stock structure.
Comcast’s stock has dropped since then, from around $38 to about $32 now, giving the company a market capitalization of $149 billion.
Disney has committed to share buybacks as a way of returning cash to Fox shareholders. As a result, Comcast sees an opening in being disruptive to the deal by making an all-cash bid, according to the sources.
FILE PHOTO: The NBC and Comcast logo are displayed on top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, formerly known as the GE building, in midtown Manhattan in New York July 1, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
In its deal with Disney, Fox agreed to separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, its sports channels FS1, FS2 and the Big Ten Network, into a newly listed company that it will spin off to its shareholders.
Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Liana B. Baker in New York; Additional reporting by Jessica Toonkel in New York; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Lisa Shumaker
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