The Telecompaper Stock Index Global Consumer Media was up 2.4 percent in week 5, beating the Dow Jones Industrials (+1.3%). Facebook was the week's winner, up 11 percent, ahead of competitor Snap (+8.0%). Tencent Music Entertainment (-8.7%) and Prisa (-6.2%) closed the ranks.
Year-to-date, the TPSI Global Consumer Media is up 11 percent, beating the Dow's gain of 7.4 percent. The index heavyweights are responsible for this, with Facebook rising 26 percent since the end of 2018 and Alphabet 7.3 percent.
First of all, quarterly results were in from Facebook (+11%) and Sony (-5.4%). Week 5 also was especially heavy with M&A developments at various stages:
- SiriusXM (+2.7%) closed the Pandora (+0.7%) takeover, Vivendi (+3.5%) rounded off its Editis deal and Publicis (-0.1%) finalised the sale of PHS.
- Sinclair was rumoured to be among the interested parties for the RSN (Fox's regional sports networks) business that Walt Disney (+0.2%) is selling as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox (+0.3%). In Italy, Viacom (+1.9%) is in the running for channels that Sony put up for sale. M6 Groupe (-0.1%) , controled by RTL (-2.1%) is acquiring Lagardere's (-1.0%) TV business. TF1, controlled by Bouygues (+0.3%) has agreed to sell its Teleshopping unit.
- Spotify (+1.9%) could be taking over podcast company Gimlet Media.
Main developments by segment:
- Broadcast. On the TV market, the Spanish regulator was determined to break the perceived duopoly of Mediaset Espana (-1.5%) and Atresmedia (-1.7%). Indeed, in January Telecinco (Mediaset) and Antena 3 (Atresmedia) continued to lead the market. RTL kicked off a reorganisation of its main German arm.
- Gaming. Apple was in the news with expected plans for a streaming games service, following in the footsteps of Sony, Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Electronic Arts (-0.6%) was forced to end its loot boxes business in Belgium.
- Publishing. Axel Springer (+1.0%) was preparing a restructuring, while Bertelsmann (which controls RTL) set up an alliance to compete with the large US platforms.
- Social networking. In the social networking segment, Pinterest was moving towards its IPO by hiring banks to lead the process. Snap (+8.0%) appointed an interim CFO. The EU reported on progress fighting disinformation on the Facebook and Google platforms.
- Film. In the movie business, Viacom's Paramount was reported to cut staff, but also set premiere dates, in 2021 and 2022, for the next two Mission Impossible instalments.
