Hi everyone - today’s briefing is below. It might be the longest yet - lots of news items. Have great weekend.
Financiers
Fund
Firstpoint VC launched a €50M early-stage VC fund led by Burak Yılmaz and Mike Fischer. It will invest primarily in AI-driven gaming and entertainment startups in emerging markets across Türkiye, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. (→)
Executives
Bob Iger is rejoining NYC-based venture capital firm Thrive Capital in an advisory role after stepping down as CEO of Disney in March 2026 and after previously serving as Venture Partner at Thrive in 2022. He is expected to remain on Disney’s board through December. (→)
Film & TV
Deals
Warner Bros Discovery shareholders voted to approve the company's $110B merger with Paramount Skydance Corp, with the combination expected to close in the coming months after regulatory approval particularly in Europe. The SEC review period expired in the US. (→)
Netflix is in negotiations with Goldman Sachs to acquire the historic Radford Studio Center in Studio City, CA at a price between $330M and $400M, per the Los Angeles Times.
(→)
Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management bought it for $1.85B in 2021 from ViacomCBS but recently defaulted on a $1.1B mortgage.
Long-term residents CBS and CBS Studios departed in early 2024 and their lease expires December 2027.
Zero Doubt Creative, the production company launched by NBA player Tyrese Haliburton, and Wheelhouse, led by Brent Montgomery, formed a multiyear JV to collaborate on original entertainment and branded content. (→)
Frantic Films, the Canadian production company based in Winnipeg and Toronto, acquired the production library of unscripted TV specialist Anaid Productions, with Vancouver-based Anaid ceasing operations (after 30 years) following the sale. (→)
Jez Butterworth secured a 5-year overall deal with Universal Entertainment, applying to TV and film, effective January 2027. (→)
Product & Strategy
Netflix authorized a $25B stock buyback program, the largest in its history. (→)
The buyback follows $6.8B in share repurchases in December 2024.
Crooked Media, the US political media company, is launching SANEtv, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The channel will feature 24/7 video from Crooked’s podcasts and original shows, initially on Amazon Prime Video and Fire devices, with further platform distribution planned. (→)
Crooked also launched a weekly show on MS Now that features a compilation of new video content from its podcast network.
Crooked reports 50K members in the paid tier of its podcast network.
Northern Pictures, the Australia-based TV and film production company, formed Northern Screen Finance, a specialist lending business to provide cashflow financing to Australian film and TV producers. (→)
Rollercoaster Studios, a UK production co, is spinning out from ITV Studios (under which it launched in 2021) and is rebranding from Rollercoaster Television. It will maintain a producing and distribution partnership with ITV. The company plans to expand into talent-led podcasts. (→)
France Télévisions, the French public broadcaster, entered a partnership with YouTube to distribute news and current affairs content, sell ad inventory directly on YouTube, and collaborate on misinformation tools. The partnership will make thousands of hours of programming available on YouTube, with enhanced editorial presence. (→)
Banijay Media Germany is launching ShowdownTV, a streaming platform focused on live events, with ticket prices starting at €12.99 per event, aiming to expand brand partnerships through formats emphasizing competition and confrontation. (→)
Zattoo, the Switzerland-based TV streaming provider, expanded its commercial partnership with Paramount, taking over advertising sales for Pluto TV in Switzerland in addition to its existing advertising sales mandate for Paramount+. (→)
Executives
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted against CEO David Zaslav's updated compensation package, but it was a non-binding vote so the WBD board can choose to proceed nonetheless. (→)
Kiki Wolfkill departed after 27 years at Microsoft, where she oversaw Xbox film and TV projects, including Fallout, The Minecraft Movie, Gears of War, and Diablo. (→)
Movistar Plus+, the sports-centric Spanish pay TV and streaming service owned by Telefónica, announced that CEO Daniel Domenjó will step down at the end of March 2025. Alfonso Gómez Palacio, head of operations of Telefónica in Latin America (excluding Brazil), will become CEO. (→)
RTL Deutschland formed a combined management board following its acquisition of Sky Deutschland, with Stephan Schmitter continuing as CEO. (→)
Elke Walthelm, former COO at Sky Deutschland, was named Chief Human Resources Officer.
Michael Radelsberger, former Managing Director of Sky Austria and Sky Media, was appointed Chief Consumer Officer.
Julia Kloke, former CFO of Bertelsmann financial services provider Riverty, becomes CFO effective 1 May 2026.
Ed Bruce and Nicholas Murphy launched Enbarr, a Dublin-based VFX studio. (→)
Enbarr specializes in CG environments, FX systems, and photorealistic aging and de-aging.
It is part of Dream Machine FX Group.
Regulatory, Legal, & Union
The California Film Commission expanded eligibility for film and TV tax credits to animated movies and shows for the first time. (→)
Publishing
Product & Strategy
Beehiiv, the Los Angeles-based newsletter and creator platform, updated its suite of creator tools by adding webinars, metered paywalls, paid trials, and AI podcast analytics. (→)
The company reports 50K active users, 400M unique readers across creator newsletters, and $28M in ARR.
Beehiiv says it will add video support for podcasts during Q2.
Notus Media announced a rebranding to become The Star as it expands its Washington DC-focused local news coverage through significant newsroom hiring and the launch of a paywall. (→)
Co-founder & Chairman Robert Allbritton says he will invest another $10M in 2026 op top of $9.5M committed at launch 2 years ago.
The Star has been aggressive in hiring recently laid off Washington Post staffers.
The company plans to double newsroom staff in 2026 and reach financial break-even by 2029.
"The Star" is a nod to the Washington Star, a former DC paper that Allbritton's father once owned.
Noscroll launched an AI-powered bot that browses news, social, and other web sources and delivers daily text message digests. (→)
The user configures the sources, topics, and frequency. Integrations include X, Reddit, Hacker News, Substack, and Telegram.
7-day free trial then a $9.99 per month subscription.
It was founded by Nadav Hollander (Founder & COO of FTX, CEO of Secureframe), Joshua Browder (Founder & CEO of DoNotPay), Stevie Zeng (Co-Founder of Rug Radio, Head of Research at Polychain Capital), and Caleb Chinery (former Co-Founder at Tool)
Substack added a translation feature that enables notes to be translated from English into 15 languages and from over 100 languages into English. Translation for posts will roll out next. (→)
Roughly 30% of Substack's 100K publishers who earn money from their content are based outside the US.
Barron's, the Dow Jones-owned financial news publisher, is expanding consumer revenues with new premium standalone and add-on newsletters built using proprietary data from Dow Jones. The new Global Signals newsletter on macro trends is priced at $15/mo. (→)
Barron's Group had about 1.5M subscribers as of December, mostly Barron's, and says Barron's Group subs are up 200% since 2018, with digital up 600%.
Grasset, the Parisian publishing house of Hachette Books, has lost over 100 authors in an exodus sparked after owner Vincent Bolloré ousted longtime editor Olivier Nora. (→)
Departing writers say they fear Bolloré will implement a politically conservative editorial shift.
Bolloré argued dismissal was due to financial underperformance and costs, and vowed to attract new writers.
Reports
Instagram's usage in South Korea for webtoon consumption reached 23.9% in 2025, making it the 3rd most used webtoon service there (surpassing Kakao Webtoon which had 21% usage). Naver Webtoon (81.9%) and KakaoPage (44%) remain dominant. (→)
Australian online news readership increased in March, with a total 21.5M Australians visiting major news websites or apps, according to Ipsos Iris. All top 10 Australian news sites saw increased online audiences, led by ABC News, news.com.au, The Guardian, Seven News, and Daily Mail Australia. (→)
Executives
Rohan Lund will join Southern Cross Media, Australia's newly merged television, audio, digital, and publishing conglomerate, as CEO and managing director, effective May 1. Lund was previously CEO at NRMA. He replaces interim CEO John Kelly. (→)
Music
Deals
Futures Music Group, an independent music label and collective, raised $6M from Ben Blackburn, founder of Common Knowledge and manager of Girl in Red, to sign more artists to its independent label, invest in infrastructure and expand into catalog deals. (→)
Its artists include Lykke Li, Mt. Joy, Cavetown, Phantogram, The Knocks and Barns Courtney.
Bella Figura Music, the UK-based music rights company, is acquiring the publishing catalog and producer income of Paul Epworth. (→)
The catalog includes co-writes and productions on Adele's 21 album (including "Rolling in the Deep"), "Skyfall" (co-written with Adele), and songs by Florence + The Machine, Rihanna, Arlo Parks, Glass Animals, and Paul McCartney.
Following the deal, Epworth’s publishing catalog will be administered by Sony, BFM’s global administration partner.
EMPIRE, the SF-based indie label, distributor, and publisher, is forming a strategic global partnership with India's Zee Music Company to distribute Zee Music Co.'s catalog outside India and collaborate on cross-border creative projects, including global remixes, sampling initiatives, and joint marketing campaigns. (→)
Create Music Group and GoodTalk formed a JV targeting artist discovery, A&R, development, and distribution, structured under a co-release model, to combine Create’s distribution/rights management infrastructure with GoodTalk’s artist development. (→)
Milk & Honey Music + Sports, M3 Music, and ONErpm are partnering to launch INVERSA, a new record label focused on supporting electronic music artists from South and Latin America and connecting them with the global dance community. (→)
Product & Strategy
Amazon Music partnered with Bandsintown to display concert schedules and ticket links in artist profiles within the Amazon Music app. (→)
Spotify launched AI Credits in beta as a new voluntary feature for artists to disclose AI-generated song elements. (→)
Live Nation will offer discounted $30 tickets across more than 4,000 summer concerts through the Summer of Live promotion. (→)
Music IP Holdings, a Nashville-based music IP asset management entity formed last year by Liquidax Capital in partnership with Universal Music Group, filed patent applications for an end-to-end automated system managing copyright licensing and enforcement for AI-generated music. (→)
The platform would include licensing tools, compliance bots, rights modeling, digital watermarking, and dynamic pricing.
Reports
Spotify revealed the most-streamed artists, albums, podcasts, and audiobooks of all time on its platform as of April 23. (→)
Taylor Swift is the most streamed artist.
Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny is the most-streamed album ever (22B).
Blinding Lights by The Weeknd is the most-streamed song of all time.
The Joe Rogan Experience is the most-streamed podcast.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas is the most-streamed audiobook for Spotify premium users.
Regulatory, Legal, & Union
Verizon won dismissal in US District Court for the Southern District of New York of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and ABKCO that alleged Verizon knowingly provided internet service to subscribers who engaged in music piracy. (→)
This aligns with the US Supreme Court's ruling on Cox v. Sony Music last month, ruling telco's aren't responsible for IP infringement by their users.
Podcasts & Radio
Product & Strategy
iHeartMedia entered a multi-year first-look development deal with CitizenSkull to develop and produce scripted audio content focused on "franchise-ready" IP with multiplatform potential. (→)
Gaming
Deals
Atari has acquired Implicit Conversions, a studio specializing in porting classic games to modern consoles using proprietary emulation technology, for an undisclosed sum. (→)
Co-founders Bill Litshauer and Robin Lavallée will continue as head of operations and studio head, respectively.
Sawhorse Productions, a creative agency focused on virtual experiences for brands on UGC platforms like Fortnite and Roblox, is acquiring HabitXr, an XR studio specializing in Meta’s Horizon platform. (→)
HabitXr founder Benjamin Veaner joins Sawhorse as Director of Emerging Platforms.
The combined team will exceed 50 employees.
Product & Strategy
Behaviour Interactive, the game studio known for Dead by Daylight, is laying off staff in its external development business unit due to decline in demand for mobile and casual external development projects. (→)
Twitch began testing Game Lift, a cloud-based feature allowing users in the US and Canada to play a game demo on Twitch’s desktop site and then redirect to Steam. It positions Twitch to enable ad-driven game trailers and on-site demos, and to take an affiliate cut on game sales. (→)
Niantic, the AR game developer, is shutting down its Peridot mobile game and discontinuing in-app purchases, shifting franchise development toward mixed reality headsets and AR wearables. Peridot was played on Apple Vision Pro glasses and Snap Spectacles. (→)
Reports
India's mobile app market's in-app purchase revenue is up 33% YoY to $300M in Q1 2026, per SensorTower. Total downloads in the country were 6.2B. (→)
Non-gaming apps accounted for 72% of installs, while gaming downloads held steady at 1.7B and gaming revenue grew 15%.
Puzzle games saw a 78% YoY revenue gain, driven by titles like Candy Crush Saga and Royal Match.
Short drama app downloads grew 400% YoY.
ChatGPT entered India's top three apps by revenue and crossed 300M cumulative downloads.
Gryphline's Arknights: Endfield (on PC, PS5, mobile) generated a reported $96.3M in gross revenue on the App Store and Google Play alone during its first 3 months, according to AppMagic. (→)
Monthly revenue declined from $49.1M, to $24.3M, to $22.7M over the first three months.
Japan accounted for 41% of mobile revenue ($39.4M), China 28% ($27M), and the US and South Korea 9% each.
Netmarble's newly launched RPG The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin generated $9.3m in mobile revenue globally in its first month post launch, according to AppMagic. (→)
Japan accounted for 59% ($5.5m) of player spending, the US for 11% ($0.99m), and South Korea for 9% ($0.87m).
Executives
Joost Hagesteijn is joining Roblox as General Manager for Europe, a newly created role. He was previously General Manager for Northern Europe at Snap Inc from 2016 to 2023. (→)
Regulatory, Legal, & Union
Turkey passed a law regulating gaming platforms with over 100K DAUs in the country. Requirements include appointing a local representative, implementing age classification and parental controls, and submitting compliance information. (→)
Live Experiences
Executives
TKO Group, the combat sports promoter that operates UFC and WWE and is majority-owned by Endeavor, revealed 2025 executive compensation details in its SEC filing. (→)
Ari Emanuel received $67.4M ($3M base; $11.9M cash bonus; $43.9M in stock awards; and $8.1M in non-equity incentive plan comp) as Executive Chair and CEO.
Mark Shapiro received $42.6M ($4M base salary, $12.5M cash bonus, $25.8M in stock awards) as President & COO.
Andrew Schleimer received $23.1M ($2M base, $7M bonus, $14.1M stock award) as CFO.
Nick Khan earned $24.2M ($12.6M cash bonus, $11.5M in stock awards) as WWE President and TKO Board Director.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson earned a $30M stock grant as a TKO Board Director, plus a $2.5M annual retainer, $900K in royalties, and $600K for travel expense reimbursement.
Social & Digital Video
Product & Strategy
Meta’s Instagram began testing Instants, a standalone app that enables sharing ephemeral photos viewable once for 24 hours and must be captured in-app. It's currently only available in in Spain and Italy. (→)
Instagram described it as a way to “share casual photos and videos in the moment.”
The tests follow Instagram's recent launch of Nearby, a location-based feed of nearby Trending Stories featuring Stories with local hashtags, music, and business tags, initially available in Argentina, Australia, Ireland, and Sweden.
Meta began rolling out a new parental supervision feature for US users (with expansion planned to the UK, Australia, Canada, and Brazil) which lets parents and guardians see high-level topics (not specific questions, answers, or URLs) that their teen discusses with Meta AI across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. (→)
A teen must grant permission for the feature to be enabled.
Meta introduced Meta Account, a centralized account management system for users across its family of apps. The rollout will span the next year. (→)
Features include unified sign-in, device management, passkey support, security guidance, and family supervision tools.
Account linking is optional, and users can add or remove accounts at any time.
Meta announced an 8,000+ FTE layoff (approx. 10% of total employees) with a focus on Live Video, Groups, Messenger, Publishing, and some Safety & Integrity teams. It says it is prioritizing allocation of resources into AI initiatives. (→)
X discontinued its interest-based group feature Communities globally. (→)
X cited low usage, high spam and scam rates, and maintenance costs. Communities had less than 0.4% user adoption but accounted for about 80% of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on the platform.
Executives
Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of Truth Social, named Kevin McGurn Interim CEO, replacing Devin Nunes. (→)
McGurn was a senior advisor to Trump Media since December 2024 and has held executive roles at T-Mobile USA, Vevo, and Hulu.
Nunes, a former Congressman, had served as CEO since Jan. 2022.
Technology
Deals
Shade, a NYC-based cloud storage platform for media companies, sports organizations, and marketers to more easily search their video libraries, raised $14M in funding. (→)
Construct Capital, Bling Capital, and Khosla Ventures led, with General Catalyst, SignalFire, and Contrary participating.
Product & Strategy
OpenAI launched GPT-5.5, the latest version of its frontier generative AI model, making it available to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise ChatGPT users. (→)
Enhancements focus on coding, knowledge work, mathematics, scientific research, and digital defense.
Positioned to compete with Google Gemini 3.1 Pro and Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5 and Mythos models.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Images 2.0, an image generation model, on ChatGPT and the OpenAI API. (→)
Standard mode is available to all users, while "thinking" mode with built-in reasoning is reserved for paid subscribers.
The model supports a wide range of aspect ratios and targets professional use cases such as ads, posters, and mock-ups.
TikTok is building a second European data center (in Lahti, Finland) as part of its €1B Project Clover initiative to keep European user data within Europe and address regulatory demands. The center is planned to be operational by 2027. (→)