The main takeaway from NetflixSecond quarter earnings are business… good.

correct. The core business of a large media and entertainment company is fine.

Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers in the quarter, a sign that its primary initiative for 2023 — cracking down on password sharing and launching a cheaper $6.99 per month ad category — is bringing in new subscribers. Netflix added 1.2 million subscribers in the US and Canada in the quarter — its biggest regional quarterly gain since 2021.

This is not the story for the rest of the media industry. Disney And Warner Bros. Discovery The year was spent cutting content from streaming services to avoid paying waste and saving on licensing fees. Both companies have laid off thousands of employees over the past 12 months to boost free cash flow. Paramount Global And ComcastBoth NBCUniversal affiliates said that 2023 would be the largest annual loss ever for their broadcast businesses.

Meanwhile, Netflix boosted its free cash flow estimate to $5 billion for the year. Previously, the company had estimated it would have $3.5 billion in revenue, but strikes by actors and writers would reduce spending on content. This means that Netflix will actually get more money than you previously thought.

In the next quarter, Netflix expects subscriber gains to be around 6 million again. The company said revenue will accelerate in the second half of the year as it sees the “full benefits” of its password-sharing campaign and steady growth in its ad-supported plan.

In the past year, Netflix’s rating has dropped 60% as subscriber counts have stalled. The company spent a significant amount of time on earnings conference calls focusing on and explaining its new video game business, which was introduced in mid-2021, to help kick-start a new growth narrative.

This quarter’s shareholder letter barely addresses video games.

Why? Because unlike the rest of the media industry, Netflix doesn’t need a new narrative. The old one still works. The flow is increasing. Stacks of liquidity are on the rise. The announcement excites investors. Netflix has a steady pipeline of international content and a deep library to outpace the extended writers and actors strike.

“The lack of references to video games in the shareholder letter suggests advertising is the shiny thing that dominates most of the company’s focus,” said Ross Bennis, an analyst with research firm Insider Intelligence.

Shares of Netflix fell 5% after hours. That’s more of a symptom of profit-taking after Netflix’s big gains this year (up more than 62% as of Wednesday’s close) than anything to chafe in its preliminary quarterly numbers.

After a sharp fall last year, the company is back on track. And you didn’t even need to switch trains.

Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this article.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is also Twitter’s CTO and executive chairman, said early Saturday morning that cash flow remained negative at the social media company due to a nearly 50% drop in advertising revenue coupled with a “severe debt”.

“We need to be cash flow positive before we have the luxury of anything else,” Musk wrote in a tweet.

Musk acquired Twitter last October in a deal valued at about $44 billion, including about $13 billion in debt. He sold billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock in part to finance that deal.

By January, hundreds of advertisers had reduced or suspended their ad spending on Twitter in response to Musk making steep layoffs at the company and implementing changes to the platform, notably restoring previously banned accounts and changing its approach to content moderation.

In April, Musk told a BBC reporter that “almost all” advertisers had resumed buying ads on Twitter. He also claimed at the time that the company was “roughly break even” and expected to become cash flow positive next quarter.

His statement about Twitter’s cash flow problems today comes just over a month after Linda Iaccarino, who previously led global advertising for on Comcast NBCUniversal has taken on the role of CEO of Twitter. NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

Iaccarino’s appointment has inspired hope among media industry insiders that Twitter will address the immediate challenges facing its advertising business.

In recent days, Twitter has begun giving away a portion of its ad revenue to select content creators on its platform. Musk’s remarks were made in response to followers who wanted to know why the revenue-sharing program was so limited in scope.

A number of widely followed Twitter accounts posted that they were dismayed that they still did not qualify to earn money from the program. As The Verge previously reported, the revenue-sharing program was only available to users who paid for a verified Twitter Blue subscription, and the amounts paid were “driven by ads placed in tweet replies.”

Influencer Andrew Tate, who holds misogynistic views online and is facing trial on charges of rape, human trafficking and setting up a criminal ring to sexually exploit women in Romania, has announced that Twitter paid him more than $20,000. Tate is suing the accusers who made those allegations.

Several right-wing influencers also posted about receiving payments on Twitter, along with fans and promoters of Tesla stock and products, including Omar Kazi (who uses the handle “@WholeMarsBlog” on Twitter) and Sawyer Merritt, who each posted about netting more than $5000.

Mainstream influencers who have shared details of their earnings on Twitter include Brian and Ed Krasenstein, Mr. Beast, and the account @interneth0f (which stands for Internet Hall of Fame). The Internet Hall of Fame posts screenshots of other people’s popular social media posts and re-distributes them.

It’s unclear how much Twitter paid creators in total in this first round of payments. Twitter sent an automated response with a rude character in response to CNBC’s request for comment on Saturday. Twitter’s parent company, X Corp., has faced countless lawsuits from former employees and suppliers over non-payment of bills and benefits.

LOS ANGELES – It’s the billion-dollar question: Why are blockbusters in short supply this year?

universal The Super Mario Bros. movie. Movie is the only movie released in 2023 to so far pass the billion dollar mark at the global box office. It doesn’t look like there could be another, even with some big titles on the calendar.

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“If you were to give 10 people a release schedule at the beginning of the year and say, ‘We’re only going to have one billion-dollar movie out of all these movies, and can you choose which movie that’s going to be? Mike Polidoros, CEO of film marketing firm PaperAirplane Media, said, “I don’t think anyone would have taken a Super Mario Bros. movie to the next level.”

The lack of billionaires marks a sea change in the industry. In the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic, and even last year, there were many megabytes that exceeded $1 billion of the global total.

The lack of these types of blockbusters in 2023 is especially evident Disney, which owns the Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Legacy of Fairy Tale franchises. While the studio is well on its way to being the ruler of the box office this year, it’s had a series of missteps in recent months that have raised concerns that audience preferences are changing too quickly for Hollywood to adapt.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania failed to draw audiences beyond Marvel’s die-hard fans in February, grossing just $214.5 million domestically and less than $500 million worldwide. “Elemental,” which was released just last month, currently holds the second-lowest domestic showing of any Pixar film in the studio’s history, narrowly eclipsing 2020’s “Onward,” which experienced a shortfall at the box office due to the pandemic.

At Disney’s Lucasfilm, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which hits theaters June 30, is expected to struggle to make back its roughly $300 million production budget. To date, it has grossed $122.1 million at the domestic box office and $221.4 million worldwide.

“On the whole, I see Disney in a situation that was mostly expected to be emerging from the pandemic and going through yet another leadership change,” said Sean Robbins, a senior analyst at BoxOffice.com. “These two hugely influential players have reshaped the studio’s stature in many ways, especially at the box office when considering the past decade that has seen their best franchises and their brand on all cylinders. This kind of momentum just wouldn’t have been sustainable without occasional ebbs and flows.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC’s David Faber Thursday that the company will cut Marvel and Star Wars content as it seeks to cut costs and revamp its brands.

A bright spot for Disney has come in the form of James Gunn’s final arc at Marvel Studios. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the third-highest-grossing domestic release so far this year, with $357.5 million. It follows behind Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”. Gunn is now helping helm Warner Bros. Pictures. DC Discovery Studios.

The third Guardians movie has managed to secure $834.2 million worldwide since its May release, but it likely won’t reach the coveted $1 billion threshold.

Notably, Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” generated more than $1 billion in global ticket sales in 2023, but since it was released in 2022, it’s not considered a billion-dollar movie of the year.

“The billion-dollar club seems to be getting more exclusive in 2023,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “Despite many high-profile titles featuring some of the biggest movie brands and franchises, this year’s crop so far lacks the global footprint or sheer market dominance to cross the billion-dollar threshold in what has been a competitive global film market.”

The Chinese market, in particular, was a major driving force in its previous multibillion-dollar box office hit, but the region has been more selective about which Hollywood films are allowed to be shown in the country. China has also developed its own lucrative film market.

For example, most Marvel films released pre-pandemic saw 15% to 22% of all ticket sales from China. In the aftermath of the pandemic, only a few of these comic book movies have been released to screens in the country and those that have have seen significantly less revenue.

The first two Ant-Man movies, which were released in 2015 and 2018, brought in about 20% of ticket sales from China. Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania saw just 8% of tickets sold in China.

“Globally, China’s evolution into a market that can no longer be relied upon for massive offerings by some of the films and franchises that used to do so leaves a gap that may be too big to fill in the short term,” Robbins said.

Lower Chinese ticket sales coupled with slower-than-expected returns from domestic moviegoers have hampered big blockbusters in 2023, dragging down the number of multi-billion-dollar blockbusters.

In the past decade, the number of global multi-billion dollar earners has increased exponentially, with Disney responsible for the majority of the chart-topping titles. In fact, the studio earned at least $1 billion every year from 2014 through 2019, when it had seven billion dollars worth of movies.

He didn’t make a $1 billion movie in 2020 or 2021 due to pandemic restrictions, but the 2022 movie “Avatar: The Way of Water” crossed $2 billion.

“Because 2019 was an anomaly on the upside, I think 2023 can be viewed as an anomaly in the other direction,” said Polidoros of PaperAirplane. “As they say with auditioning, get rid of the high and the low and go from there. And I think the same theory applies to the box office as a whole.”

Several box office analysts who spoke with CNBC shared the same sentiment as Polidoros. They noted that while many of Disney’s releases fell short of expectations, the studio remains a strong competitor at the domestic and global box office.

“It’s very unlikely that Disney will get a global hit of $1 billion this year,” Dergarabedian said. But, to be fair, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and “Elemental” have collectively earned more than $2 billion worldwide.

Despite tepid results from traditionally strong Disney, the studio has generated more domestic ticket sales than any other studio this year so far.

Through June, Disney releases account for 30% of all domestic ticket sales, or $1.3 billion, according to data from Comscore.

The studio also has four of the top 10 highest-grossing domestic films so far this year.

“As usual, it’s about the content,” said Polidoros.

It’s not yet clear if Disney’s upcoming releases, like “Haunted Mansion,” “The Marvels” or “Wish,” will be able to generate a record $1 billion, but a diverse slate bodes well for the company.

“2024 looks more promising on several fronts, and their original animated film, Wish, could be a big hit later this year if it lives up to its potential with the audiences that helped make the ‘Frozen’ series such a hit,” Robbins said.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

Companies and industries have ups and downs. Old media industry in a valley.

The first half of 2023 was a huge disappointment for media executives who wanted this year to be a rebound from a terrible 2022, when a slowdown in subscriber flow slashed ratings. NetflixAnd DisneyAnd Warner Bros. Discovery And Paramount Global to almost half.

Instead, investors are once again excited about Netflix’s future prospects as it cracks down on password sharing, which could lead to tens of millions of new sign-ups. Shares of Netflix have soared in the past five months, outperforming the S&P 500.

Meanwhile, the old players couldn’t get out of their own way.

“When it rains, it rains,” said Rich Greenfield, media analyst at LightShed. “It just keeps getting worse.”

It’s been a bumpy ride for Disney CEO Bob Iger since he returned to lead the company late last year. Disney It recently finished laying off 7,000 employees. Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy stepped down last week. The company is pulling programming from streaming services to save money. Its animation business is in serious trouble, with its latest Pixar movie, “Elemental,” scoring the studio’s lowest opening weekend gross since the original “Toy Story” premiered in 1995. Stock has struggled in the past five months.

Paramount Global It cut its dividend last quarter as broadcast losses peaked this year and a weak advertising market exacerbated the ailing cable network business. Wells Fargo issued an analyst note Friday saying the company’s bull case and bear case are the same: selling for parts. Said Warren Buffett, perhaps the most famous investor in history CNBC said the Paramount streaming show “Basically, it’s not good for business.”

NBCUniversal weathered the storm better, shielded by its parent company, Comcast, which derives its revenue from its cable and wireless assets. The above errors have also been taken advantage of. MSNBC has become no. 1 cable news network this month for the first time in 120 weeks, ousting Fox News amid coverage of former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment. The Super Mario Bros. Universal’s Movie is the year’s biggest box office hit, yet stocks haven’t moved much.

All of this is happening with an expanding strike of Hollywood writers playing out in the background with no end in sight. Writers know that the longer the strike lasts, the greater the pain will be inflicted on the media companies, who will eventually run out of content already written. Zaslav recently gave a commencement speech at Boston University and was drowned out in boos and cheers of “pay your book.”

This week may bring more bad news. Film and TV actors are set to join the writers’ strike unless they reach an agreement with Hollywood studios by Friday.

Greenfield said the beneficiaries of shutting down work in Hollywood will likely be YouTube, TikTok and Netflix, which continue to produce international content not affected by the strike.

Legacy media may get a small respite if advertising jumps back up as the 2024 US presidential campaign heats up. But there is still little evidence that investors will reward media companies simply for cutting costs. There is currently no solid growth narrative for legacy media, and merger prospects are murky as regulators block media-adjacent deals like Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision and Simon & Schuster’s proposed Penguin Random House purchase.

The industry has just concluded its annual advertising gala in Cannes, France. Old media executives still shell out company dollars for a yacht lounging trip and rosé drinking. The background was as beautiful as ever.

But the scene is bleak.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which is the parent company of CNBC.

WATCH: Mark Reid, CEO of WPP, on the state of the advertising market, from Cannes Lions 2023

Magic Kingdom is a fan of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Disney CEO Bob Iger used part of his opening remarks during Wednesday’s earnings call to praise Universal Studios’ “Super Mario Bros.” movie and its success at the global box office.

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Iger said, “Let me digress for a moment to congratulate Universal on the massive success of Super Mario Bros.” “It certainly proves people’s love of being entertained in theaters around the world, and gives us reason to be optimistic about the film industry.”

Universal did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iger’s comments.

Super Mario Bros. More than $1.1 billion globally since its launch in early April, proving that family-friendly films, especially animated films, can succeed in the wake of the pandemic.

Disney’s theatrical animated content has lagged at the box office since the pandemic. Some analysts have blamed slowing ticket sales on market confusion over which Disney movies are streaming-only and which have wider theatrical releases. Others said Disney did a poor job of marketing its animated films to audiences.

Lightyear, the sequel to the highly profitable Toy Story series, grossed just over $200 million worldwide last summer, and “Strange World” flopped in the fall with less than $100 million in global ticket sales.

Meanwhile, Universal has been hugely successful at the box office, with Minions: The Rise of Gru grossing nearly $940 million worldwide and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish grossing nearly $500 million worldwide. .

The widespread success of the Super Mario Brothers movie could pave the way for upcoming Disney releases, which include the Pixar movie “Elemental” and the Thanksgiving release “Wish.” When parents and kids entered theaters to see the Nintendo flick, they were treated to advertisements for upcoming animated features, including Disney’s slate.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

humble as it may be, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav this week proved he’s definitely a name-dropper.

Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled its new streaming service on Wednesday, which includes a host of shows from HBO Max and Discovery+. It will be released on May 23 in the US, later this year in Latin America, and in the rest of the world in 2024. It will be called Max — sans HBO.

On a surface level, Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to ditch the HBO Max name is a logical marketing choice. In depth, it begins to feel like a microcosm of the existential tension that lies at the heart of the company – and the media industry more broadly.

The company is trying to compete with Netflix And Disney Being the winner of the live stream, while at the same time pushing a message of financial discipline that lowers the priority of your streaming subscriber additions. It’s a matter of quality versus quantity, and Warner Bros. Discovery tries to play both sides.

said JB Perrette, the company’s president of broadcasting, during a presentation presenting Max on Wednesday in Burbank, Calif.

Perrett on Wednesday explained why Warner Bros. Discovery has removed the HBO part of the name from the new service. He said HBO is synonymous with adult entertainment, and Max will tend to offer programming for children and families.

“We all love HBO,” Perrett said. “It’s a brand built over five decades to be a trendsetter in adult entertainment. But it’s not exactly a place where parents can easily drop their kids off. Not surprisingly, the category hasn’t met true potential on HBO Max.”

Warner Bros. Discovery executives felt that the HBO name actually limited the streaming service’s audience because it intimidated potential audiences. They also felt that the HBO brand could be diluted by the influx of reality TV shows on Discovery that are set to join the platform, such as “Dr. for conversation over the water cooler in the office.”

“HBO is not television. HBO is HBO. It has to stay that way,” Perrett said at the event. “We would not drive it to its breaking point by forcing it to assume the full scope of this new content proposition had we kept the name in the service brand. By doing so, we will upgrade and better showcase our unrivaled suite of other content and branding services that will be key to expanding The scope of attractiveness of this improved product.

The company’s logic is rational. HBO appeals to a certain audience, but it also doesn’t appeal to a certain audience. HBO fans aren’t going to unsubscribe from the service in response to Max’s name, but some folks who used to be intimidated by HBO may now just subscribe to the adult brand due to the flood of obvious HBO content coming to the service.

When HBO Max initially launched, executives at AT&T and WarnerMedia assured subscribers that this new app was, first and foremost, the home of HBO. Now, about 80 million subscribers later, this point is less important. Those who want HBO already know where to find it, and HBO Max will simply switch to Max on most platforms.

Broadcasting is entering its “teenage” years, Perrett said, and Max as a name makes more sense to continue adding subscribers globally in a world of declining growth.

That would be the end of the story if Warner Bros. did. The stated goal for Discovery was to increase (no pun intended) the number of subscribers who signed up for the Max.

That was every media company’s goal when Zaslav agreed to merge Discovery with WarnerMedia in 2021. But according to Zaslav, that’s no longer a priority.

“I’d rather have 100 million subscribers or 150 million subscribers and be really profitable than try to scale to get too many and end up losing money,” Zaslav told CNBC’s Julia Burstein after the presentation on Wednesday. “We take a look at what people are watching on Max and we can see exactly what they like and don’t like. And some of the things they don’t watch, we can put on AVOD for free.” [advertising-supported video on demand] And some of the things they don’t watch, we can keep non-exclusively on Max, but we can also sell to others.”

“We’re relentlessly focused on creating great content and monetizing in every way we can,” he said.

With a new broadcast strategy — and Max at the center — Warner Bros. Discovery hedges its bets.

The company maintains Discovery+ for customers who are happy to pay $5 or $7 just for Discovery programming. Perrett said the company “doesn’t want to leave any lucrative subscribers behind.”

Zaslav also hinted at Warner Bros. The free, ad-supported Discovery service, which the company said is coming later this year.

Warner Bros. Discovery could have worked for HBO Max, too. For customers who wanted both Discovery+ and HBO Max, it could have offered a bundle at a discount. That’s been the strategy for Disney, which offers bundled ways to mix and match Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+.

Instead, the company has loaded up one service with everything it has, which may also eventually include some news from CNN and sports like NBA or NHL games. Zaslav said Wednesday that he would get more details on that “in the coming months”. Don’t forget, Zaslav killed CNN+ as a standalone broadcast option last year after about a month in existence.

Warner Bros. Discovery is building the Max as a one-size-fits-all option that has a scale to go around in an ever-increasingly fast post-cable world.

But Zaslav also tells investors it’s okay to limit Max’s growth. It is more important for him to make money than to compete with Disney and Netflix to become the largest streaming operator in the world.

It’s a delicate balance: DisneyAnd Paramount Global, ComcastNBCUniversal and even Netflix They are all fighting the same forces. Investors have shifted the spur-of-the-moment growth-at-all-costs narrative in the past year, halving the valuations of many media and entertainment companies.

What is happening now is, in essence, a hedge. The media industry knows that broadcasting is the future, but growth has slowed. Zaslav defended the value of the traditional pay-TV package while criticizing the former WarnerMedia system’s profligate spending on broadcasting. He’s trying to give investors a new reason to get excited about Warner Bros. Discovery. That message, Zaslav hopes, is to generate free cash flow.

“In the end, I’m the free cash flow guy,” Zaslav said Wednesday. “We want great talent, but in the end, if we don’t make sign-up money, if we don’t have any ARPU… [average revenue per user]We don’t help ourselves and we don’t help shareholders.”

There are some signs that he could be on to something. Warner Bros. Discovery shares are up nearly 50% this year after falling nearly 60% last year.

But when you take a two-part name — HBO and Max — and keep just Max, the implication is “big” over “quality.”

That was the AT&T message. It wasn’t Zaslav’s message yet.

WATCH: The full CNBC interview with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav

Disclosure: CNBC’s parent Comcast owns NBCUniversal and co-owns Hulu.

TikTok is at risk of being banned in the US if Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell its stake. Millions of Americans who use the popular video app are wondering what this means for them.

Some fans of the service may turn to virtual private networks (VPNs) to try to connect to TikTok if a ban occurs, a workaround that can make their internet connection appear to be coming from another country. But this loophole may not be so easy to exploit.

This is not a problem yet, as there are still some ways to avoid TikTok’s ban or be available legally in the US. Here are the main things to consider.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is the interagency body that assesses national security concerns surrounding the app to determine how to minimize risk if it continues to operate in the country. The group may recommend to President Joe Biden that ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor, be reversed, which would result in the sale of those assets.

TikTok has recommended a mitigation plan as an alternative to a forced sale. But it’s a long-term decision, as CFIUS has already threatened a ban if ByteDance doesn’t sell its stake.

A forced sale would be a complicated step, requiring the undoing of a years-old deal. The Trump administration once followed this path without success. The Chinese government is likely to object again, but will have to be careful in its protests, as the core of its argument to the US is that TikTok operates independently.

“That would be part of the calculus and how aggressively China would want to respond,” said Lindsey Gorman, senior fellow for emerging technologies at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Democracy. Gormany previously served as a senior adviser in the Biden White House.

If the US bans TikTok, the mechanics of what happens from there will become murky. Oracle is the cloud hosting service for all TikTok usage on US ISPs like Comcast (the parent company of NBC Universal) and Verizon direct traffic to end users. And app stores controlled by An apple and Google are the main places where users can download the TikTok app.

Shannon Reeves, a partner in Stroock’s CFIUS compliance group, said no third-party requirements would come from CFIUS, which is charged only with evaluating foreign investments.

“There will be no action by CFIUS as a result of this review that will be taken against third parties that are not part of this transaction,” Reeves said. “So your Apples and Googles and so on that it’s not going to happen.”

The government may need to resort to legislation or executive orders to force app distributors, ISPs and cloud services to block access to TikTok.

While there will likely always be cracks that can be exploited by a subset of computer-literate users, the typical user will find it difficult to access a government-banned service, said Douglas Schmidt, a professor of engineering at Vanderbilt.

“There will almost always be ways around that,” Schmidt said. “It would just be a lot harder for the average person to do it without getting an advanced degree in computer security or something.”

In other words, a VPN won’t be enough, in part because going that route would likely require app store credentials that would reveal the user’s location. Gerald Kasoulis, vice president of NordVPN, said there is also technology available to detect when a user is trying to access an app with a VPN.

Concerns surrounding TikTok’s security risk boil down to two main issues. The first is who has access to user information in the US, and the second is who has the ability to determine what information reaches US users. Under Chinese law, companies can be required to hand over inside information to the government for alleged national security purposes.

TikTok has tried to assure the US government that US user data is stored outside of China. The company has developed an elaborate plan, known as Project Texas, that includes a review of its US code and a separate board of directors for a local subsidiary, with members vetted by the US government.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is scheduled to testify before a US House panel next week, told The Wall Street Journal that Project Texas would do just as much as a sale to resolve any issues with security.

But the mood in Washington is not in TikTok’s favor, and lawmakers have lost any trust they once had in China and its motives. That issue resurfaced earlier this year when an alleged Chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over much of the U.S. Biden ordered the military to take the balloon down last month.

When it comes to consumer technology, consumers have no idea what information is making its way to the Chinese government. And the US government needs to do a lot of work to make clear what will happen if the app is banned.

“Even for someone who studies these things, it’s not easy to separate and untangle all these applications,” Gorman said. “As a society, we haven’t decided that app stores, the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, should restrict apps based on the amount of information they collect. It can’t be put on any one person and it really needs to be addressed by governments.”

While many users might think their casual use of social media would be of little interest to a foreign government, Schmidt said the data can be surprisingly valuable to bad actors.

“Information about your habits and your interests and your interactions and where you go and what you do can be used for things like phishing attacks to get access to more information or for things like extortion if you do things I might not want other people to know about it,” Schmidt said.

This is uncharted territory for American companies, unlike China, which blocks access to all kinds of content, including most major American Internet services.

“Trying to control access to data is very, very difficult, especially when there’s a suspicion that the people doing it have a reason to do it,” Schmidt said. “And they are highly incentivized to collect that information and use it for all kinds of purposes.”

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WATCH: Uncertainty over TikTok’s fate sends rival shares soaring

Vince McMahon is back World Wrestling Entertainment The Board of Directors to facilitate potential sale talks prior to renewing the company’s media rights.

The idea of ​​selling WWE is not new. CNBC reported that she looked like a selling target in April, and that she looked even more attractive in July after a sexual misconduct scandal. The rationale is fairly clear: WWE is valuable intellectual property.

Owning an IP allows streaming services to offer content exclusively without the inconvenience of winning licensing rights in an auction every few years. WWE also has value to offer in the field of merchandising and theme parks.

WWE has hired JPMorgan to help the company advise on a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. JPMorgan declined to comment. A WWE spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

If a deal does happen, it will likely happen in the next three to six months, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. WWE plans to speak with potential buyers before deciding on TV rights renewal agreements.

McMahon’s return should help the sale process go smoothly, though there could still be hurdles.

The 77-year-old former CEO and Chairman and controlling shareholder of WWE. He resigned after an investigation found he paid nearly $15 million to four women over a 16-year period to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity. Returning to the board will give potential buyers confidence that he supports the details of any transaction.

“My return will allow WWE, as well as any other parties to the transactions, to participate in these operations knowing that they will have the support of the controlling shareholder,” McMahon said in a statement on Thursday.

McMahon’s return does not affect the current leadership. McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, and former CAA agent Nick Khan are co-CEOs. But it remains unclear what kind of role, if any, McMahon would want in WWE if he sold the company. WWE told investors that McMahon’s role in the company is essential to “our ability to create iconic characters and creative storylines.” Currently, McMahon has no official say in the company’s creative direction.

Whether the buyer would be comfortable with McMahon taking a more hands-on role in the company is unknown. But WWE is McMahon’s life’s work. The sale can only take place with at least some chains attached.

WWE has a market capitalization of more than $6 billion, having risen by nearly 17% percent on Friday, supported by speculation of increased sales.

There are three categories of potential buyers for WWE – legacy media companies, broadcast companies and entertainment holding companies. Here who might be interested.

ComcastInc., which owns NBCUniversal, is likely to be a buyer for WWE. McMahon already has an exclusive streaming deal with Comcast’s streaming service Peacock, and a cable TV deal with NBCUniversal’s USA Network. Comcast has a market capitalization of more than $160 billion and can easily afford the company — especially with a $9 billion (or more) check issued as soon as January 2024 from Disney for a 33% stake in Hulu.

Comcast can book WWE in perpetuity without having to pay increments for upcoming rights renewals and can use the company’s IP address for theme parks, movies, and other series.

However, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in October that “the cap is the highest in terms of mergers and acquisitions,” and he has said repeatedly that the company is in no rush to pursue an acquisition.

Returning CEO Bob Iger might want to make a cool acquisition as he takes back the throne Disney. WWE fits in with Disney the same way it fits in with Comcast. It would boost Disney’s streaming ambitions (possibly ESPN+), bolster the network’s linear business, and add some heft to its merchandising and theme parks business.

Comcast didn’t want Disney to dump Fox in 2019 and raised the price by tens of billions by bypassing Iger’s initial bid. Could Iger see WWE as the next IP battle between Disney and rival Comcast?

Netflix She has long shied away from sports and other live events, but has recently become open to the idea of ​​owning a league or taking an ownership stake. Having a sports league would give Netflix the ability to create separate video games and series without friction. Netflix has had success with the Formula 1 documentary series “Drive to Survive,” giving co-CEO Reed Hastings faith that certain sports properties will resonate with Netflix’s huge global audience. But Netflix does not own Formula 1, which limits its future options.

Acquiring WWE or another sports league would be a way to offer live entertainment without renting content — similar to Zaslav’s thinking.

“We haven’t seen a profitable path to big sports hire,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos said last month at the UBS Global TMT conference. “We’re not anti-sports; we’re just for-profit.”

questmanaged by super agent Ari Emanuel, WWE could add to the steadiness of its assets after agreeing to buy 100% of the UFC in 2021.

Emanuel bought the UFC to increase the scope of the talent agency’s business for live events. WME-IMG, now just a part of Endeavor, represents many UFC players – as well as WWE superstars. The UFC deal was a success for Endeavor, which paid out nearly seven times the $600 million in 2016 revenue in 2016. The UFC generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2022.

Endeavor’s enterprise value of just $11 billion makes WWE a huge turnaround for the company. The company’s small balance sheet will likely prevent Endeavor from winning the bidding war against the media giants. But McMahon’s inflated personality may suit Emmanuel’s brashness and UFC President Dana White’s.

The sale to a third party would also allow WWE to further renew the rights every few years. This may or may not be positive for the company’s long-term future as the media distribution ecosystem changes.

While Endeavor owns the UFC, Liberty Formula One Collection Formula 1 is owned by John Malone, controlling shareholder of Liberty, and CEO Greg Maffei, along with Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, figure out how to market the motor racing league globally, including breaking with American culture after decades of obscurity.

Malone and Maffei have extensive track records of maximizing media ratings and acquiring media assets under $10 billion, including Formula 1, Sirius XM and Pandora. Formula 1’s global success could provide a roadmap for WWE’s future strategy.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

WATCH: Jim Cramer gives his take on how Disney has fared this year

Cox Communications celebrates the new year with the official launch of its mobile business.

The private cable and internet company plans to announce the national launch of Cox Mobile Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Cox followed his peers eg ComcastAnd the Communication charter And the AlticeUSAwhich started offering mobile phone service to its customers in recent years and has been adding customers at a rapid clip.

Like Comcast and Charter’s services, Cox Mobile will only be available to new and existing customers. Cox has 7 million customers in 18 states and has quietly begun offering mobile service in select markets in recent months.

Cable operators have begun offering mobile service with the goal of giving customers another reason not to leave their broadband plans. This is true now more than ever, as profitability for these business units looms large.

Cable companies are losing pay-TV customers who only opt for streaming services, though that has accelerated recently. However, broadband subscriber growth has stalled in recent quarters as competition has ramped up and mobile customer activity has stagnated as the housing market slows.

“I think they’re now repurposing wireless as a way to boost their broadband business. There’s not a lot of profitability in it yet, but that’s not their concern. The concern is holding on to broadband customers,” said John Hudolic, an analyst at UBS. .

Although wireless companies such as AT&TAnd the Verizon And the T-Mobile Accommodating the vast majority of wireless customers in the United States, Comcast and Charter’s mobile business has grown at a faster rate due to cheaper and more flexible plans.

Charter’s Spectrum Mobile offers an unlimited data plan for $30, or $14 for every gigabyte of internet used on the monthly plan. Likewise, Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile starts at $30 for unlimited data, or $15 per GB.

The cheaper options stem from their ability to rely heavily on your home Wi-Fi broadband network and hotspots for data usage. When their mobile customers leave Wi-Fi and rely on a network offloaded to the cable companies’ partner operator — Verizon for both Comcast and Charter — it still gives the wireless company a piece of the pie.

Cox Mobile will offer similar plans, unlimited at $45 per month or $15 per party. Cox also reportedly uses Verizon as its network partner, which the company is expected to confirm at Thursday’s event.

A wrench was thrown into Cox’s plans to launch its mobile business when T-Mobile sued the company in 2021, saying Cox was obliged to pursue a partnership with it. Earlier this year, a Delaware court judge reportedly ruled in favor of Cox.

Charter said it had 4.7 million wireless customers as of 9/11. 30, while Comcast said it had reached 5 million.

“We started with this reimagined mobile service because we knew customers were going to spend a significant amount of time on Wi-Fi,” said Danny Bowman, Charter’s chief mobile officer, adding that Spectrum Mobile customers spend about 85% of their time on Wi-Fi. . Fi Fi.

“By keeping the mobile package simple, we’ve had exponential growth,” Bowman added. Charter and Comcast also allow customers to bring their own devices, an option Cox has not yet offered. Currently, customers must purchase Samsung phones through Cox for the service.

Smaller cable operators also see the value in offering customers a mobile plan.

The National Content and Technology Collaborative, or NCTC, an industry group of more than 700 cable and broadband providers, is in discussions to create a mobile offering for its members.

“It’s become a focal point. It’s the kind of thing everyone seems to think is what you need,” NCTC President Lou Borelli said of the mobile offering. “I’ve seen it referred to as the new package. I don’t object to that.”

Because NCTC’s membership includes smaller providers — many of them in rural areas — the cooperative began discussions with wireless operators last year on behalf of its entire base.

Borelli said NCTC wasn’t in a rush to introduce mobile until it saw how Charter and Comcast fared in net additions in 2021. “I remember getting calls from some of our board members saying, ‘You know, maybe we should look at this,'” Borelli said. ‘” He said.

Borelli said the negotiations for the National Counterterrorism Center should conclude this year. Some have already added mobile. Colorado Fabulous! Internet, cable and telephone The mobile plan was unveiled in July through a partnership with Reach Mobile.

Borelli said consumer research in certain markets showed companies had no choice in the matter. “Members told us they don’t care about the results, we need to do this.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.