English Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment secures investment from Raine Group
MUMBAI: Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment has received a significant investment from global merchant bank The Raine Group.
Over the past three decades, Hollywood production company Imagine has created culture-defining stories in film and television. With Raine’s investment, Imagine will further expand its creative footprint, working with content creators across the entertainment spectrum and exploring new ways to integrate storytelling and technology.
“The ways in which content is created and consumed are transforming faster than ever before, expanding in directions that hadn’t been conceived even a few years ago. The opportunity to extend Imagine’s reach across this expanding landscape is a driving force for us. Through this partnership, we are incredibly excited to roll out a slate of new projects that capture the imagination and visions we share on a global scale,” said Grazer.
Raine’s investment will provide Imagine with the backing to continue its strong growth trajectory under the leadership of Grazer and Howard, enabling the company to invest in content directly with other artists. In addition to television and film production, Imagine will continue to expand into new areas such as branded content, location based entertainment and digital formats, taking advantage of new technologies and forms of distribution. The company expects to explore both organic growth opportunities as well as potential acquisitions.
Howard added, “We are proud of the legacy we have built with Imagine and are more excited than ever to build on it by tapping into our creative, experimental and entrepreneurial DNA to ignite new passion projects. This investment and partnership unlocks new doors for us as creators and for the company and its expansionary endeavours. It allows us to build upon our creative relationships to broaden our reach into all narrative formats and platforms. We appreciate Raine’s support and welcome them to the Imagine family.”
Previously Raine has invested in companies like Vice Media, Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Important Studios, action sports company Nitro Circus and fantasy sports operator Draft Kings. Additional strategic co-investors brought in by Raine include China Media Capital, the Antenna Group and WPP.
“We have long admired Ron, Brian and their team as master storytellers. We are excited to invest in and partner with Imagine as they expand their many successful franchises across new mediums,” said Raine entertainment practice head Erik Hodge.
“We have built our business on the principle that content and creators are the most valuable elements in today’s media ecosystem. Imagine’s well-established reputation as a talent-friendly creative partner was incredibly important to us, and we look forward to helping them grow their business and continue to tell amazing stories and astonish and delight global audiences as they continue in this tradition,” added Raine co-founder Joe Ravitch.
In connection with the transaction, both Hodge and Ravitch will join Imagine’s board.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
