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Karen said "This means they can be opportunistic. The UK is actually not that significant a part of the value these days.Shareholders probably aren’t that bothered about whether it’s their home market or not.”
Francois said "This operation could prefigure others in Europe."
BT has entered exclusive discussions with Discovery to fold BT Sport into a joint venture including the UK version of Eurosport, ending sale discussions with DAZN
The upgraded sports service will allow Discovery—soon merging with WarnerMedia—to considerably boost its content line-up in a genre where rivals Disney and Netflix are absent
The ecosystem—the Premier League, UEFA, and Sky—will likely welcome the deal
Alphabet's stunning growth reflects a shift online that has outlasted pandemic restrictions. Google search is at the heart of online commercial activity
YouTube's slower growth is not yet cause for concern: it is still the biggest website in the world, with growth potential through subscriptions and transactable ads, as well as more brand spend
Alphabet might struggle to balance privacy concerns in the context of the online advertising ecosystem. The future of personalisation in ads is uncertain as Alphabet cancels one of its cookie-replacement technologies
The recent shareholder pressure on Vodafone seems to focus on consolidation (where we see approval prospects as only slightly improved), Vantage (where a sell-down may create more value than an industrial merger), and improving operational performance (which continues to struggle).
The zero-growth German fixed business took another step down this quarter and looks set to worsen. This will be central to growth prospects next year and a write-down of the investment looks inevitable.
A culture necessitated by a sprawling asset base may be holding back performance but any break-up would be costly and protracted, with real premium valuations achievable only with consolidation.
Francois said he was surprised by BT’s decision to form a joint venture but said the deal made sense for both parties, particularly in light of Discovery’s decision to combine with WarnerMedia to compete in the streaming wars.
“Discovery is merging with Warner, so it’s becoming a global superpower in content,” he added. “They see sports as a way to differentiate and to score points in an arena where Disney and Netflix don’t have a footprint.”
James said that having non-executives with telecoms experience helps, in areas such as tackling scepticism about industry “fads”, but that “a good mix of industry experience is ideal in a board and the benefit of this experience would be gradual and long term."
Douglas said there has been a resurgence of simple and satisfying word puzzles, long the bread-and-butter of print newspapers. "On the one hand, all the talk and hype around the internet generally is around Web 3.0 and the metaverse, really immersive digital experiences," he said. "But simultaneously there is a kind of nostalgic love of quite simple products and interactions" like Wordle.
