English Entertainment
Walt Disney bets big on virtual reality; invests in Jaunt
MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company is betting big on virtual reality and has invested in Jaunt – a cinematic virtual reality (VR) company.
Jaunt has raised $65 million series C round of funding led by The Walt Disney Company; Evolution Media Partners – a partnership of CAA-backed Evolution Media Capital, TPG Growth and Participant Media; and Chinabased China Media Capital (CMC).
The new investors will greatly expand Jaunt’s global reach, providing significant resources and relationships to help make VR the next mainstream content medium.
Jaunt leads the industry in innovation through its unrivalled end-to-end solution for creating and distributing premium live-action VR. This latest round of funding will enable Jaunt to significantly scale up VR production, and advance their professional-grade camera hardware and software production tools, delivering content to the widest array of mobile devices and VR hardware in the industry.
In addition, Jaunt plans to use the funding to significantly grow their teams in both their Palo Alto headquarters and their new Los Angeles studio.
Additional new investors in the Series C round include leading European media companies ProSiebenSat.1 SE and Axel Springer SE, and The Madison Square Garden Company. They join existing participating investors that include Google Ventures, Highland Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Sky and SV Angel.
The new round brings Jaunt’s total funding to over $100 million. With these new additions, Jaunt’s investor group offers a global network of deep ties to the largest brands, franchises, talent and technologies, across all entertainment and media, as well as partners who add unique perspective and experience as Jaunt continues to expand and innovate.
“This round further illustrates our commitment and dedication to advancing the scope of cinematic VR – for filmmakers, storytellers, and audiences alike. With the support of these world-class companies, we will explore new avenues, building on our leadership position to deliver amazing VR experiences using best-in-class tools, technology, and creative teams,” said Jaunt CEO and co-founder Jens Christensen.
“Brands, artists, and creatives are looking to reach and interact with their audiences in new innovative ways, and Jaunt’s expertise provides a groundbreaking medium for exploring these new avenues. We look forward to working with Jaunt as they continue to pioneer in this space, giving them access to our wide-reaching network, and expanding on their distribution potential,” said Evolution Media Partners founder and co-managing partner Rick Hess.
In recent years, advances in technology and mobile devices have made fully-immersive VR possible and accessible to the masses. Jaunt is at the forefront of this content revolution, and is partnering with the leading content creators as well as technology and media companies to take VR to the next level. Jaunt currently works with notable brands and creative artists including The North Face, Rebecca Minkoff, Condé Nast and ABC News, and is looking forward to building relationships with new and innovative creators across a wide variety of verticals.
“We have been closely monitoring the evolution of video technology on the global horizon, and are excited about the potential for VR. It is having implications in areas such as film, television, games, sports, mobile, as well as other entertainment content and experiences where CMC has a profound connection and substantial engagement. Jaunt will be an important step in CMC’s foray into this global entertainment technology revolution,” said China Media Capital chairman Ruigang Li.
“When Jaunt launched a little over 2 years ago, VR was the domain of a few enthusiasts like us. Fast forward to today, with the ability to view VR content on any current smartphone, and a half dozen head mounted displays launching in the next 12 months, the addressable number of users will instantly be in the millions, and quickly grow from there. We look forward to supplying great content to all those users and contributing to the success of VR as a new content medium,” said Jaunt chief business officer David Anderman.
This funding comes on the heels of Jaunt’s recently-announced 5th generation patentpending camera system, officially named Jaunt ONE, which is built from the ground up for VR, and after two years of testing, pushes the limits of technological innovation. The company also announced Jaunt Studios earlier this year, a new arm of the company focused solely on developing, producing and collaborating on live-action virtual reality experiences from its LA studio.
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.
