English Entertainment
HBO to screen rare Madonna TV concert
HBO will premier Madonna's first TV concert in eight years on 6 December at 9:30 pm.
The eye-popping extravaganza that was performed at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan, features numerous set changes, red-hot musicians and dancers, and Madonna's longtime backup duo Nikki Harris and Donna DeLory. The channel will have a repeat telecast of the concert on 31 December at 9:30 pm.
The concert is part of her latest "Drowned" world tour that kicked off in Barcelona, and will feature materials from her multi-platinum albums Music and Ray of Light, as well as other signature hits from her career. Her two previous concerts were "The Girlie Show" in 1993 and "Madonna – Live! Blond Ambition World Tour 90" in 1990.
The Drowned World Tour is said to be one of the most elaborate tours ever. Celebrities wanting to see the concert had to pay for their tickets. The tour requires more than 200 people who travel from city to city and 100 additional local production people. The show is a kaleidoscope of sound, lights, technology and video images, colours, pyrotechnics, mechanical bulls and the Material Girl's choreographed dance routines with her back-up dancers.
The Concert showcases four of Madonna's many personas: she kicks off the show dressed in rock 'n roll punk – in black bondage-style pants, a tartan top and a rhinestone-studded kilt. Songs here include Ray of Light and Candy Perfume Girl. Next is a geisha act where Madonna wears an exquisite kimono, designed by Arianne Phillips and Jean-Paul Gaultier. When the kimono comes off, she takes to the heavens in a major Ang Lee way Then it is time for the Wild Wild West where she sings in suede chaps, a leather shirt and a cowboy hat for Human Nature. She also shoots a cowhand on stage and rides a mechanical bull. After performing a Spanish version of What It Feels Like For A Girl and tango-ing with a female dancer in La Isla Bonita, Madonna wraps things up with one of her first hits, Holiday.
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.
