2024 Week 19

Consolidation deals (M&A) in digital media are accelerating. Disney and Warner Bros are planning to bundle many services, while Sony and Apollo Group are planning to divest parts of Paramount group.

Automotive continues to realign. GM announced its dropping yet another vehicle from the lineup, leaving only the Corvette as the sole ICE car. Meanwhile Chinese car manufacturers continue to flood the EV market. While those vehicles won’t show up in the US, it could seriously impact EV exports.

TOPICS

• Digital Media
• Automotive
• EVs

Digital Media

OPINION - Coalescing back to the cable package model

• (Seeking Alpha)
  • Sony and Apollo Group plan to sell the Paramount Group’s (PARA) CBS network as well as the entertainment giant’s cable channels, such as Nickelodeon and MTV, as part of their $26 billion offer for the company.
  • Paramount Global’s board on Saturday formally gave the go-ahead for negotiations to begin on a potential acquisition by Apollo and Sony.
  • Under a Sony deal, the two would likely operate the company as a joint venture controlled by Sony, with a minority stake owned by Apollo
  • Warner Bros. Discovery could be a possible suitor for CBS, while TV station groups like Nexstar and Tegna would be natural buyers for CBS’s owned and operated TV stations.
• (Seeking Alpha)
  • Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery will bundle their Disney+, Hulu, and Max streaming services, similar to traditional cable TV packages.
  • Brands that will be part of the bundle include ABC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HBO, HGTV, Hulu, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight, Warner Bros., and more.

Automotive

OBSERVATION - General Motors doesn’t build cars

• (Seeking Alpha)
  • General Motors is saying goodbye to the Chevy Malibu to make room for more EVs and hybrids.
  • GM will then invest $390M to retool its Kansas City plant to build the next generation of the Chevy Bolt EV and resume production of the Cadillac XT4 on the same production line.
  • With the Malibu and Camaro gone, the Corvette will be the last remaining Chevy with an internal combustion engine.

EVs

OBSERVATION - Lower cost EVs about to flood the market

• (Seeking Alpha)
  • Chinese electric car company NIO will launch its lower-priced brand called Onvo on May 15.
  • The first Onvo model, the L60, will be a “family-centric smart BEV priced around RMB 250,000 (about $34,600), in the same segment as Tesla Model Y,”
  • CEO William Li previously told CNBC that the first Onvo car will be an SUV cheaper than the Model Y.
  • Xpeng, another EV startup, also plans to release a sub-brand called Mona in the next two or three months.