Latest in Mergers and Acquisitions

In a significant changing of the marketing guard, CBS will hand the main duties of promoting its shows and platforms to Mike Benson, who has spent the past four years as marketing chief for Amazon Studios. George Schweitzer, who joined CBS in 1972 and has been a key contributor to the flagship broadcast network’s…

Kicking off an investment conference hosted by Goldman Sachs in New York, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson pushed back on Elliott Management’s complaints of mismanagement at the telecom and media giant. Stephenson also offered an endorsement of key lieutenant John Stankey and said the sweeping tax cuts enacted at the end…

Sony Corp. has rejected a proposal by activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point Capital to spin off its semiconductor business in order to unlock value in its entertainment holdings. Third Point, which has accumulated $1.5 billion in Sony shares since 2013, sent an open letter to Sony’s board in June outlining…

Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns acknowledged that the company’s “stock is on its butt” and several M&A scenarios are again in play, but he also made a firm case for the company’s viability as is. The executive made the remarks at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Communications & Entertainment Conference in LA. S…

Addressing shareholders at Lionsgate’s annual general meeting in Vancouver, CEO Jon Feltheimer said explaining the company’s value to Wall Street is now the company’s top priority. The transformation of the company over the years from scrappy indie to mature owner of assets like Starz and formidable film and TV…

Steve Harvey is joining a takeover of AXS TV and HDNet Movies, two long-striving cable networks long owned by Mark Cuban. Anthem Sports & Entertainment is acquiring a majority in the two networks, which specialize in music, sports, entertainment and lifestyle programming. AXS TV began life as HDNet, which launched in…

UPDATED with stock movement, Trump comments: AT&T shares rose more than 4% to $37.88 in early trading Monday – one of the stock’s biggest one-day gains in months – after activist hedge fund Elliott Management disclosed a $3.2 billion stake in the telecom and media giant. The news attracted the interest of President…

Multi-faceted media company Studio71 has acquired more than 50 individual streaming apps from Unreel Entertainment across the automotive, lifestyle, comedy, gaming and kids and family categories. The purchase gives Studio71, a unit of Red Arrow Studios, a portfolio of more than 200 total apps, making it a leading…

The integration process related to the merger of Viacom and CBS will be managed inside each organization by Viacom Chief Transformation Officer Jose Tolosa and CBS EVP, Strategic Planning and Development Gautam Ranji. In addition, the companies are forming an Integration Management Office (IMO). News of the IMO, the…

The sale of the YES Network, the regional sports network home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, to a consortium including the Amazon, the Yankees and Sinclair Broadcast Group, was finalized Thursday. At $3.47 billion, the transaction is the largest piece of turf in the larger landscape of the formerly…

Viacom and CBS have jointly promoted Julia Phelps, a 14-year Viacom veteran, to EVP and Chief Communications and Corporate Marketing Officer of ViacomCBS. She will continue to report to Bob Bakish, who will head the combined company when its $30 billion, all-stock merger is completed, likely by the end of the…

Disney and Sinclair Broadcast Group have formally closed their $9.6 billion transfer of 21 regional sports networks once owned by 21st Century Fox. In order to close its $71.3 billion acquisition of most of Fox, Disney agreed to sell off the RSNs so as to avoid monopoly issues given the scope of its ESPN holdings. The…