Business - Page 12

Amazon reportedly in talks to buy MGM as streaming wars intensify

By Jill Disis Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy MGM, the vaunted film studio that was a staple of Hollywood’s Golden Age. A tie-up would give the tech firm a big brand to wield as competition in streaming grows fiercer by the day. MGM’s iconic logo of a roaring lion has played before tons of classic films, including the “James Bond” series, and the studio could be valued at between $7 billion and $10 billion, according to The Information, which cited a person familiar with the situation. The New York Times and the Financial Times have also reported the

AT&T to spin off and combine WarnerMedia with Discovery in deal that would create streaming giant

By Brian Stelter The streaming TV race is about to get even more competitive. On Monday morning AT&T and Discovery, Inc. announced a deal under which AT&T’s WarnerMedia will be spun off and combined with Discovery in a new standalone media company. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, will combine two treasure troves of content, including the HBO Max and discovery+ streaming services. CNN will be included in the transaction. Discovery CEO David Zaslav will run the combined business, according to Monday’s announcement. “I think we fit together like a glove,” Zaslav said at a virtual press conference. On one

How John Deere is helping Black farmers and their descendents take back unjustly seized land

By Chauncey Alcorn It’s been nine years since Michael Robinson of Columbus, Ohio, nearly lost a major part of his family’s legacy. He’s still fighting to regain full control of it. In 2012, the 57-year-old married father of four, who is Black, found out someone he’d never met named James E. Deshler II was suing his family members to force them to sell their portion of the 127 acres of Barlow Bend, Alabama, farmland that they’d inherited from Robinson’s late grandfather, Joe Ely. The local county auditor’s website determined last year that the land is worth more than $212,000. The

Business travel has disappeared. Will it ever come back?

By Will Godley and Charles Riley Book tickets. Schedule meetings. Obsess over your presentation. Pack a carry-on. Rush to the airport. Check out the lounge. Priority boarding. Take off. Land. Get to the hotel. Meet clients. Seal the deal. Fly home. Repeat. For countless executives and salespeople, business trips have been a bedrock of corporate life — loathed by some, loved by others but accepted by all as a necessity (sweetened by millions of frequent flyer miles). Employees needed to fly to meet clients, drum up new business and grab some face time with the boss at headquarters. Then came

How businesses can heed Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call to support Black banks

Opinion by Bernice A. King and Ashley Bell Hours before an assassin’s bullet ended his life in the spring of 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — a father to one of us, a role model to the other — delivered his final public address to a Memphis crowd that had gathered to fight what he called the inseparable twins of economic and racial injustice. Weaving between protest and prophecy, he famously spoke that night of reaching a mountaintop from which he could glimpse a promised land where Black people were finally free from racism and poverty. Beneath all the

Apple and Epic wrap up first week of their blockbuster trial. Here’s what happened and what’s next

By Rishi Iyengar, Is Fortnite a game? An app? An expansive virtual universe? All of the above? Is an iPhone just another gaming device, or a tightly controlled ecosystem? And is it really as secure as it is reputed to be? These are just some of the many questions that have come up so far and been debated in what could be one of the most consequential trials for the modern-day tech industry. Apple, the maker of the iPhone, and Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, wrapped up the first week of testimony on Friday, with the iPhone inventor trying

PPP is out of money for most businesses ahead of planned May 31 closure

By Vanessa Yurkevich The Paycheck Protection Program is out of cash for most businesses weeks ahead of the program’s scheduled May 31 closure, the Small Business Administration said Tuesday. The program, a core element of the congressional response to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, re-opened in January with an additional $284 billion for first-time borrowers as well as for second loans to those who participated in the first round in 2020. “After more than a year of operation and serving more than eight million small businesses, funding for the bi-partisan Paycheck Protection Program has been exhausted,” said an

Los Angeles Times names ESPN’s Kevin Merida as its new top editor

By Kerry Flynn The Los Angeles Times has its new top editor: Kevin Merida of ESPN will start as executive editor in June, the paper announced Monday. Merida brings more than 40 years of experience in media into the role. He most recently worked at ESPN as a senior vice president and as editor in chief of The Undefeated, which covers the intersection of race, sports and culture. Prior to joining ESPN in 2015, he spent more than 22 years at The Washington Post. Merida spent the prior decade at The Dallas Morning News. “I am excited to be the

Verizon offloads Yahoo and AOL in $5 billion deal

By Jordan Valinsky Verizon is exiting the media business, announcing Monday that it’s selling the unit for $5 billion to private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The sale includes AOL and Yahoo, which Verizon bought for a combined $9 billion in recent years. Verizon will retain a 10% stake in the spin off and the Verizon Media Group name will be changed to just Yahoo. Verizon once had great plans to become a dominant player in the online media and ad business. The telephone company bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015 and further bolstered its portfolio with its Yahoo

Mambacita apparel line honoring Kobe Bryant’s late daughter sells out in less than a day

By Chauncey Alcorn Kobe Bryant’s late daughter Gianna’s new Mambacita apparel line went on sale Saturday on what would have been the teen basketball star’s 15th birthday. The clothing sold out by early afternoon, according to a representative of Kobe Bryant’s estate team. Vanessa Bryant, his widow, gave her Instagram followers a sneak peak of the new tie dye color-scheme Mambacita-brand sweatshirts and sweat pants on Friday, less than two weeks after Kobe Bryant’s estate team ended its two-decade apparel deal with Nike. Mambacita was Gianna’s basketball nickname, a nod to her legendary father, whom Lakers fans called the “Black

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