English Entertainment
Channel [V] kicks off ‘Get Gorgeous 2’
MUMBAI: Star’s 24-hour music channel [V] has come back with yet another round of reality model hunt LG CDMA Channel [v]’s Get Gorgeous-2.
For Get Gorgeous- 2, the channel is on a search for the country’s hottest face.
:According to a media release, the channel received response of over 3,000 entries across five cities- Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore and Goa the search for the hottest face finally arrives in Mumbai.
[v] Get Gorgeous-1 winner and now Channel [v] VJ, Archana would be guiding these young women. Get Gorgeous- 2 is looking for the one face that will launch a thousand products.
From the total entries received, 20 shortlisted finalists will spend a week at the Taj Samudra, Colombo and Taj Exotica, Bentota, with a leading model and undergo a complete transformation from the best in the industry; leading up to the selection of the final winner, who will bag the biggest reward – a contract with Channel [v] and Elite, informs the official communiqué.
Kicking off the second season of this hunt, Channel [v] head honcho Amar K Deb stated, “Four young girls are living their dreams right now dreams made possible by LGCDMA, Channel [v] and Elite with the Get Gorgeous hunt.”
He further adds, “The concept was a hit with girls across the country, the show was a stupendous success with audiences across India and the final 4 winners were a huge hit within the modeling world enough reason for us to launch another season of [v] Get Gorgeous. This time round we’ll have one winner but promise to double the excitement!”
The eligible candidate has to be above 16 years of age. A photograph along with personal details can be dropped at the nearest Café Coffee Day outlet in the above mentioned cities or log on to vindia.com.
The auditions and party where representatives from Channel [v] and Elite Model Management will screen the numerous entries. The LG CDMA [v] Get Gorgeous auditions will be held between 2 pm and 4 pm in Mumbai on 24 February.
Elite Model Management (India) director and CEO Sushma Puri says, “The fashion and modeling world is always looking for fresh new faces. We were thrilled that our association with Channel [v] and the first edition of [v] Get Gorgeous helped us find 4 striking new faces.”
Adds VJ Archana, “I am so happy to be back in Mumbai. I was discovered last year through the hunt and LG CDMA [v] Get Gorgeous changed my life completely and now with the second edition of this hunt, I also hope to be able to help make someone’s dreams come true.”
The search is expected to take about 4 months before presenting India with its next supermodel.
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.
