Mark Zuckerberg is more interested in the bottom line than the First Amendment. The Meta Platforms boss touted “free expression” as the motivating factor for reversing the company’s policy about moderating posts on Facebook and Instagram and allowing users to monitor themselves instead. Left unsaid was how the decision coincides with President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and that TikTok advertisers hang in the balance. Meta’s CEO said on Tuesday that his social media apps would embrace the policy used by Elon Musk’s X, where so-called community members flag contentious or erroneous material. Not all information will go unfiltered, however.

Getty Images’ $3.7 billion merger, including debt, with rival stock image seller Shutterstock is a picture-perfect template for more deals. Three big factors – potentially looser competition policing, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the benefits of combining aging tech stragglers – argue in favor of tie-ups. Key, though, is whether investors give buyers a long enough leash to strike acquisitions. Given the warm reception to the Tuesday announcement, which touts hefty savings, the scene is set. The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden was a nightmare for dealmakers. For four years, trustbusters opposed a host of combinations on novel legal grounds, slow-rolling approvals

If you sup’ with the devil, you should have a long spoon. Investors in Liberty Broadband have re-learned the old adage, after it struck a roughly $13 billion sale to cable company Charter Communications on Wednesday. Both are outposts of the empire of John Malone, the “cable cowboy” famed for byzantine dealmaking. The agreement squeezes investors out of a tight spot – but charges for the privilege. Liberty is less a company than a rounding error in that empire. It owns 45.6 million shares of Charter, about a quarter of the $57 billion cable provider, where it appoints three directors. That’s a bonus

Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel is getting a little too fancy with his deal moves. His entertainment company Endeavor has agreed to sell some assets associated with live events to sister firm TKO. Strategically it makes some sense, but investors are throwing tomatoes for good reason. Endeavor announced on Thursday it planned to offload Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG to the parent of World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship for $3.3 billion in an all-stock transaction. The deal will boost Endeavor’s stake in TKO from 53% to 59%, further entrenching the two companies run by Emanuel. Stuffing a franchise, live

The cable cowboy is cleaning up the ranch. John Malone, renowned for his bewilderingly complex financial engineering, has embraced an uncharacteristically simple solution for one struggling part of his empire. The mess at Liberty Broadband would be partly tidied up by a mooted merger with internet provider Charter Communications. Even better for the media mogul, he gets to leave the rest of the dirty job to someone else. Liberty Broadband is a mere shell, but one structured with three classes of stock and a slug of preferred shares. It owns a 26% stake in Charter, a 16.5% piece of shriveling

Walt Disney is under attack for being a monopoly. If only it had that much pricing power. Two recent arrangements showcase the $160 billion media giant trying to exercise control of its content. The trouble for Disney is that competition is steep, and customers have plenty of other places to go. On Sunday, DirecTV users could not access any of the Magic Kingdom’s channels, including broadcast station ABC and sports network ESPN. The pay-TV provider and Disney are locked in a licensing dispute that has impacted some 11 million subscribers just before the National Football League kicks off its opening matchup

Paramount Global investors might have a chance to change the channel. Seagram liquor scion Edgar Bronfman Jr. has emerged to upstage technology heir David Ellison’s $8 billion bid for the U.S. media group. The key to victory is winning over controlling shareholder Shari Redstone – though other owners of voting shares may make their voices heard. Lost in the mix is the grim reality for investors without a vote. Bronfman’s gate-crashing is the latest twist in a long saga. After potential deal partners like Warner Bros Discovery or buyout shop Apollo Global Management retreated, Ellison’s Skydance Media sealed a two-step merger in July. The

Warner Bros Discovery boss David Zaslav has lost the benefit of any doubt. To belatedly commemorate the recent two-year anniversary of the mega-merger that created the TV empire, he delivered shareholders a $9 billion impairment on the networks. There may be significant constraints to radical fixes, but they don’t preclude meting out some consequences. Eyeing the market-altering rise of Netflix, Zaslav pitched a combination of his Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia to create a more formidable one-stop programming shop with Max, CNN and Looney Tunes. Getting bigger would shore up shrinking traditional TV while supplying cash to build competitive streaming services, or so

Netflix is already the apex predator of the streaming world. But the company co-led by Ted Sarandos does surprisingly little hunting. Netflix’s merger ambitions have so far been distinctly modest. With a possible breakup of rival Warner Bros Discovery, Sarandos might find his claws. WBD boss David Zaslav is considering strategic options for the $21 billion media company, whose hit shows include “House of the Dragon.” His options include selling assets or spinning off divisions, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. It’s not a surprise he’d be trying new tricks: Discovery’s merger with Warner Media in

GameStop’s actual business – selling video games and associated paraphernalia – isn’t doing so hot. Its other business – earning interest on cash that was handed over irrationally – is helping. But that makes GameStop more akin to a bank than a retailer. Shareholders would be better off sticking with an actual savings account. After a years-long slide took its market value as low as $180 million in 2020, GameStop’s shares rocketed up 20-fold in early 2021 to touch over $80 apiece. Though sinking since to $23 per share, the company’s market capitalization now stands at around $8 billion. On

Buyout firms have an even bigger problem than finding a place to park fleets of armored cars heaving with cash: what to do about their idling truckloads of portfolio companies. The two main avenues for returning money to increasingly itchy investors are largely blocked. To get around them, the existing owners are going down the road of cashing out backers while keeping assets. The problem is that more traffic will make this route riskier. Clearing the backlog is a gargantuan task. More than $3 trillion of unsold investments are sitting inside private equity firms, according to a report issued this week by

TikTok is making the most of the clock. A new bill introduced in U.S. Congress is seeking to ban the popular social media app but offers up similar solutions to the problem that vexed lawmakers and two presidents for four years. Congress could vote to implement a law that is messy. But that just means it’ll take time, all while TikTok grows more powerful. The House of Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on legislation that gives the parent of TikTok, China’s ByteDance, an ultimatum: sell the short-form video app or risk banishment from digital stores. While it cites ByteDance and TikTok