MAM
McDonald’s extends Olympic Games partnership through to 2020
MUMBAI: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and McDonald‘s Corporation have announced that McDonald’s has extended its global sponsorship agreement until 2020.
The announcement was made at the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, in the presence of IOC president Jacques Rogge and McDonald’s president, COO Don Thompson.
IOC president Rogge said, “We are delighted that McDonald’s, our long-time and valued Olympic Partner for more than 35 years, is continuing its ongoing commitment not only to help fund the Olympic Games but also to support the Olympic Movement around the world and ultimately the athletes themselves.”
IOC COO Don Thompson said: “We share the Olympic ideals of teamwork, excellence and being your best. Those ideals are at the heart of what McDonald’s stands for and how we’ve brought the Games to life. Feeding the athletes is a tradition we are extremely proud of, and we look forward to continuing our role in helping to make the Games possible.”
As a Top Sponsor and Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games, the agreement with the Olympic Movement includes sponsorship of the National Olympic Committees and their Olympic teams for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Rio 2016 Olympic Games, PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the 2020 Olympic Games, for which the host city has yet to be elected.
The agreement also includes the Youth Olympic Games (YOG): the current Innsbruck 2012 Winter YOG, Nanjing 2014 YOG, Lillehammer 2016 Winter YOG and the 2018 YOG and 2020 Winter YOG, for which the host cities have yet to be elected.
IOC marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg said, “We are very pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with McDonald’s, and we appreciate the quality menu that McDonald’s delivers at the Olympics as the Official Restaurant of the Games. We believe that the long-term agreements we have in place with leading companies are a testament to the continued strength and appeal of the Olympic Games as a global marketing platform for sport”.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
