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Welcome back to What I’m Hearing. Reminder, your Puck membership entitles you to private emails from all our writers, just go to our sign-up page here to curate your inbox. And if this email was forwarded to you, become a member today.
Discussed in this issue: Mark Shapiro, Rupert Murdoch, Byron Allen, Tucker Roberts, Richard Weitz, David Gordon Green, Olivia Munn, Joe Marsh, and more Nikki Finke eulogies.
But first…
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| Who Won the Week: David Ellison |
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| It’s a weak field this week, and, let’s be honest, nobody likes seeing super rich guys get even richer. But Ellison’s $4 billion valuation for Skydance, thanks to a KKR-led $400 million investment round, is pretty incredible given how written-off the Oracle heir was in 2010 by most of Hollywood...
Can’t see the full story? You're receiving the free version of What I’m Hearing at . For full access to Puck, and to each of my colleagues, you can subscribe here. |
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| Mark Shapiro on Endeavor’s Ultimate Fight |
| The president of the multi-tentacled entertainment giant discusses the future of live sports, talent representation, all those acquisitions, the streaming economy, UFC, CAA, the company’s post-I.P.O. dip, Ari’s vision, and much more. |
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| Since joining the company that became Endeavor in 2014, Mark Shapiro has had a great view of the evolution of the entertainment and sports industry. Serving as the company’s president since 2018, the former ESPN and Six Flags executive manages everything from the WME talent agency to the UFC to Professional Bull Riders, IMG Academy, art fairs, stylists, music touring, sports licensing, name-image-and-likeness deals, books, and much more. And he helped C.E.O. Ari Emanuel and executive chairman Patrick Whitesell take the whole thing public in 2021 when many believed they couldn’t.
We chatted on Thursday about the recession, the mandate for his new leaders at WME, the CAA rivalry, agent pay, and much more. This has been edited for length and clarity. (Disclosure: WME represents Puck but not me personally.) |
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| Matt Belloni: A recession is probably coming. Are you guys bracing for a reduction in concert ticket sales? Or a decrease in streaming service spending? Where are you seeing trouble spots?
Mark Shapiro: The only areas we’re really seeing some slowdown is music’s a little unpredictable right now. And much of that is just driven by the fact that, after the pandemic, everyone and their mother went on tour, and of course the high-premium acts are getting all the bookings. It’s leaving the middle ground a little unknown. And Broadway, frankly, still hasn't fully come back... |
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| FOUR STORIES WE’RE TALKING ABOUT |
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| The NYT Paradox |
| On the Times’ compressed payscale and Tapper’s primetime performance. |
| DYLAN BYERS |
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| L.A.’s Racism Scandal |
| A look at the manifold implications of L.A.’s latest City Council scandal. |
| BARATUNDE THURSTON |
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| General Armageddon |
| A profile of the man running Putin’s latest terror campaign. |
| JULIA IOFFE |
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