Studios rethink streaming strategy amid Wall Street profitability push

Studios rethink streaming strategy amid Wall Street profitability push

Bebe Wood, Renee Rapp and Avantika Vandanapu star as The Plastics in the 2024 adaptation of “Mean Girls.” Paramount Paramount is making a habit of greenlighting low- to mid-budget films for its streaming service, only to about-face and send them to theaters first. As the media company and its rivals try to claw their way … Read more

PlayStation maker Sony invests in African gaming startup Carry1st

PlayStation maker Sony invests in African gaming startup Carry1st

The PlayStation DualSense controller and PlayStation 5 console. Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images Sony is making a bold bet on Africa’s video game industry.  The Japanese consumer electronics and gaming giant has invested an undisclosed sum into Carry1st, a video game studio based in Cape Town, South Africa, via its Sony Innovation Fund … Read more

Why Japan and India ETFs are gaining popularity with investors

Why Japan and India ETFs are gaining popularity with investors

Investors are increasingly looking to emerging market exchange-traded funds for growth at a reasonable price. David Mann, head of capital markets at Franklin Templeton, named India as one of the most popular countries with ETF investors in the past year. “Part of the growth story, GDP has been strong,” he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on … Read more

India’s Zee Entertainment dives 31% after Sony pulls out of merger

India’s Zee Entertainment dives 31% after Sony pulls out of merger

Logo for ZEE5, an over-the-top platform of Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Shares of India’s Zee Entertainment fell 31% on Tuesday after a division of Japanese tech giant Sony scrapped plans for a merger. Sony first proposed to combine its India entertainment business with Zee in December 2021. Those negotiations collapsed … Read more

Tencent’s Riot Games division cuts 11% of staff to ‘create focus’

Tencent’s Riot Games division cuts 11% of staff to ‘create focus’

Ma ”Pony” Huateng, chairman and chief executive officer of Tencent Holdings Ltd., speaks during the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Forum in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. In an unusual move, Ma has chosen to convene a summit of government academics and business chieftains in Hong Kong days before the 20th anniversary … Read more

What’s ahead for franchises, theaters

What’s ahead for franchises, theaters

Timothee Chalamet stars in Warner Bros.’ “Dune.” Warner Bros. Mean girls, Spider-Women and sandworms will headline the 2024 box office — and they’ll have to do some heavy lifting. The March 1 release of “Dune: Part Two,” the delayed and much-anticipated follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 science fiction epic is expected to attract hordes of … Read more

VR market shrinking as Meta pours billions of dollars into metaverse

VR market shrinking as Meta pours billions of dollars into metaverse

An attendee wears a Meta Platforms Inc. Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality (VR) headset at the Telefonica SA stand on day two of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira de Barcelona venue in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Angel Garcia | Bloomberg | Getty Images Meta is spending billions of dollars a … Read more