Business

CNBC partnered with Fintrx to analyze single family offices that made the largest number of investments in private startups in 2024.

Guillaume Houze attends the 33rd ANDAM Prize Winner cocktail at les Jardins du Palais Royal on June 30, 2022 in Paris, France.
Pascal Le Segretain | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The top 10 family offices for startup investments made over 150 investments combined this year, in everything from biotech and energy to crypto and artificial intelligence, according to a new analysis.

CNBC partnered with Fintrx, the private wealth intelligence platform, to analyze single family offices that made the largest number of investments in private startups in 2024. The list, a first of its kind, sheds light on the investments by some of the biggest names in family offices, from Bernard Arnault’s Aglaé Ventures to Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective and Peter Thiel’s Thiel Capital. It also reveals names that are little known outside the secretive world of family offices — the private investment arms of wealthy families — but that have become major players in the world of venture capital and private markets.

The most active family office so far this year is Maelstrom, the Hong Kong-based family office of American investor Arthur Hayes, who co-founded the crypto exchange BitMEX. Maelstrom has invested in 22 private startups this year, according to the Fintrx data, topping all other family offices in the database. The vast majority of Maelstrom’s investments are in blockchain technology, including Cytonic, Magma, Infinit, Solayer, BSX, Khalani and Term Labs.
Ranking second on the Top 10 list is Motier Ventures, the family office and venture arm of Guillaume Houzé. Houzé, scion of the fabled French dynasty that owns Galeries Lafayette and other retailing giants, co-founded Motier in 2021 to invest in tech startups.
Motier has invested in 21 startups so far this year. Its investments are largely in artificial intelligence and blockchain, but also include publishing and advertising. The investments include Vibe.co, known as “the Google Ads of streaming”; Adaptive, a tech platform for the construction industry; and PayFlows, a fintech company. It was part of a $220 million seed funding round for Holistic AI, a French generative AI startup, and a $30 million seed round for Flex AI, a Paris-based AI compute company.
Motier was also an investor in two funding rounds for Mistral, the fast-growing French AI firm, which raised more than $500 million last year and whose investors include Nvidia, Lightspeed, and Andreesen Horowitz.

Tied for third are Atinum Investment, the Seoul, Korea-based family office for an unknown family that has mainly invested in software and AI; Hillspire, the family office of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and Emerson Collective.
Thiel Capital, tied for sixth, has invested in Fantasy Chess, founded by 17-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, as well as Rhea Fertility, a Singapore-based fertility-clinic roll-up company.
The list doesn’t include the investment amounts and may not include all deals or all family offices, since they aren’t required to disclose their investments. Fintrx compiles its data based on public and private sources from its team of researchers. For the sake of the list, family offices are defined as investment vehicles or holding companies of a single family or individual that don’t manage money for outside investors. The investments don’t include real estate.
As a whole, the ranking offers a rare window into the growing power of family offices in the world of startup capital as they’ve grown in size, wealth and deal sophistication. Nearly a third of startup capital in 2022 came from family offices, according to a PWC report.

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AI has become their favorite investment theme for 2024, and likely will be again in 2025. According to the UBS Global Family Office Report, AI is now the favorite investment category for family offices. More than three-quarters, or 78%, of family offices surveyed plan to invest in AI in the next two to three years — the most for any category. As CNBC has previously reported, Aglaé Ventures, the tech venture arm of LVMH chief Arnault’s family office, has made a string of AI investments this year. Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions has also made several AI bets in 2024.
Family office advisors say serial investors like those on the Top 10 list often treat startups as idea labs — where they can learn about cutting-edge technology and markets. They can apply those learnings to larger investments or to their own companies.
Schmidt’s family office, Hillspire, for instance, has made over a half-dozen investments this year in AI, which have also helped inform his big bets on energy companies, given the power needs of AI computing. Hillspire was an investor in the $900 million investment round for Pacific Fusion, a nuclear fusion startup, as well as Sion Power.
While a large number of family offices invest in tech startups through venture capital funds, the deals on the CNBC list are for investments made directly by the family offices in startups.
The biggest family offices, such as Hillspire, Thiel or Aglaé, have growing teams of deal and tech experts who can analyze investments and valuations. Smaller family offices and those that don’t specialize in tech startups more typically invest through a VC fund. One of the biggest trends in family offices is “co-investing,” meaning a VC fund takes the lead on an investment and the family office invests as partners, often with lower fees.
Nico Mizrahi, co-founder and general partner of Pattern Ventures, which acts as a fund of funds for emerging managers and works with family offices, said there are growing risks for family offices trying to invest in tech startups on their own. After the stock market declines of 2022 and early 2023, which also brought down the valuations of many private tech companies, paper losses are piling up in the private tech market. The lack of IPOs, mergers and private-equity acquisitions has also made for fewer exits, locking up cash.
“Some of the family offices were not as disciplined and were drinking the Kool-Aid,” Mizrahi said. “I think they over-extended themselves and got a little over eager chasing the venture wave. There are going to be some recaps; there are going to be companies that disappear.”
Mizrahi said the best strategy, especially for smaller family offices, is to team up with experienced managers who have expertise in tech startups.
“It’s really hard to get the best deals and generate the best returns when you’re not doing something full time with 100% of your attention,” he said. “You really have to do it with a partner, firms that are out there doing it all day long, networking and doing due diligence, background and reference checks.” More

Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday named Jose Munoz as the next president and CEO of the South Korean automaker, effective Jan. 1.
Munoz will succeed current President and CEO Jaehoon Chang, who is being promoted to the vice chair of Hyundai – Automotive Division.
Munoz, a native of Spain and a U.S. citizen, will be the first non-Korean CEO of Hyundai.

Hyundai CEO Jaehoon Chang (left) and José Muñoz, Hyundai president and global chief operating officer, attend the 2024 New York International Auto Show
Michael Wayland | CNBC

DETROIT – Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday named Jose Munoz as the next president and CEO of the South Korean automaker, effective Jan. 1.
Munoz, an auto industry veteran who rose through the company’s North American ranks, will succeed current President and CEO Jaehoon Chang, who is being promoted to the vice chair of Hyundai Motor – Automotive Division.

“Jose is a proven leader with vast global experience and is ideally suited to lead Hyundai as competitiveness and business uncertainty increases,” Chang said in a statement. “As recently outlined at our CEO Investor Day, we have a clear Hyundai Way vision to create a future centered on mobility and energy. Together with Jose and the rest of our leadership team, the future is very bright for Hyundai.”
Munoz, a native of Spain and a U.S. citizen, will be the first non-Korean CEO of Hyundai.
Munoz currently serves as global chief operating officer of Hyundai as well as president and CEO of the North American operations of Hyundai and its luxury Genesis brand. He joined Hyundai in 2019 from Nissan Motor after 15 years with the Japanese automaker. He has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 2022.

Under Munoz, Hyundai’s North American operations have flourished. Hyundai’s sales have grown 16% since 2019 to roughly 801,200 vehicles last year. Hyundai’s products also have won several prominent awards and industry accolades.
It’s also grown its U.S. operations, including Hyundai and partners committing $12.6 billion to build a new “Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America” production facility and two battery joint ventures in Georgia.

“Succeeding in this challenging industry requires excellence throughout the value chain, from design and engineering, to manufacturing, sales and service, along with a talented team that’s able to deliver every step of the way,” Munoz said. “I’m excited and motivated by the challenge ahead and want to continue Hyundai’s growth trajectory and laser-focus on exceeding customer expectations. It truly is a great time to be with Hyundai.”
The company did not name a successor for Munoz. More

Shares of vaccine makers fell as President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. 
Health policy experts have said a second Trump term could allow Kennedy to elevate anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Shares of Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, BioNTech and GSK closed lower on Thursday.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Phoenix on Aug. 23, 2024.
Thomas Machowicz | Reuters

Shares of vaccine makers fell Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. 
The stocks fell in the final hour of trading as reports emerged about Trump’s expected pick. Moderna’s stock closed more than 5% lower on Thursday, shares of Novavax fell more than 7% and Pfizer’s stock ended more than 2% lower.

Shares of BioNTech, the German drugmaker that helped develop a Covid vaccine with Pfizer, closed more than 6% lower. British drugmaker GSK, which makes flu shots and several other vaccines, closed roughly 2% lower.
Shares of those companies dipped further in extended trading as Trump confirmed his pick in a post on his platform Truth Social.
Health policy experts have said a second Trump term could allow Kennedy to elevate anti-vaccine rhetoric, which could deter more Americans from receiving Covid shots and routine immunizations that have for decades saved millions of lives and prevented debilitating illnesses.
Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are still recovering from falling Covid vaccination rates in the U.S., which have dented their profits over the past two years. 
Kennedy’s track record as a vaccine skeptic is extensive. He has long made misleading and false statements about the safety of shots, such as claiming they are linked to autism despite numerous studies going back decades that debunk the association.
Kennedy is the founder of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, the most well-funded anti-vaccine organization in the country.

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For Disney’s fiscal 2025, streaming will generate enough operating income to offset the parallel decline in operating income from linear TV, CFO Hugh Johnston said in an interview.
Disney projects entertainment direct-to-consumer operating income will increase by about $875 million next year over fiscal year 2024.
Disney’s results suggest streaming may be a more robust business than some investors previously believed.

The Disney+ website on a laptop computer in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Monday, July 18, 2022.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Disney might be proving the world’s most famous investor wrong.
Last year, Warren Buffett, “The Oracle of Omaha,” told CNBC’s Becky Quick he had no faith in the business of streaming video.

“Streaming … it’s not really a very good business,” Buffett said on April 12, 2023. “The shareholders really haven’t done that great over time.”
Buffett wasn’t lying. Legacy media companies such as Comcast’s NBCUniversal, Disney, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery have all underperformed the S&P 500 since Jan. 1, 2022, largely due to billions of dollars lost while launching subscription streaming services.

But Disney’s quarterly earnings results, released Thursday, indicate streaming is about to become a much better business.
A combination of pulling back on content spending and steadily increasing Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ subscribers hasn’t just turned streaming into a profitable business, it’s actually turned streaming into an even better business than traditional TV, according to Disney Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston.
For Disney’s fiscal 2025, streaming will generate enough operating income to offset the parallel decline in operating income from linear TV, Johnston said in an interview.

Disney projects entertainment direct-to-consumer operating income will increase by about $875 million next year over fiscal year 2024. That would put the division at over $1 billion in operating income for the coming fiscal year.
“I think we’re well-positioned if [consumers] decide to stay in linear for longer, and I think we’re well-positioned if they decide to move over to the streaming side,” Johnston said during Disney’s earnings conference call.
Those results are borne out in Disney’s earnings. Disney’s combined streaming businesses improved their profitability in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, posting operating income of $321 million. For the year, Disney’s entertainment streaming platforms (Disney+ and Hulu) made $143 million in operating income. Last year, the entertainment platforms lost $2.5 billion.

Streaming strikes back

The bearishness toward traditional media hasn’t been isolated to streaming’s near-term losses.
Investors have also largely bought into the premise that subscription streaming video won’t be able to replace the billions in profit from linear TV, cable and broadcast, that the companies have lived off for decades.
The traditional pay-TV business has been phenomenal for many reasons, but two stand out: Media companies get paid monthly regardless of whether people actually watch, and churn rates for traditional pay TV were traditionally extremely low — at least, until the invention of streaming. In the last decade, tens of millions of Americans have canceled their cable TV subscriptions.
In the new streaming era, it’s far easier to cancel a particular service at any given time. Instead of having to cancel TV entertainment in its entirety, a consumer can easily pick and choose from a handful of streaming services in any given month.
Consequently, media companies no longer religiously get paid each month. Now, only consumers that want specific programming are paying, and only for as long as they want it.Still, Disney’s forecast suggests those headwinds don’t necessarily mean streaming will be unsuccessful as a long-term replacement product for cable. Future bundles or consolidation may help mitigate churn. As companies shift their best content to streaming, canceling services becomes less appealing.
Disney’s results follows strong streaming results last week from Warner Bros. Discovery. The company’s direct-to-consumer division delivered profit of $289 million, driven by an increase in global subscribers, higher advertising revenue and global average revenue per user. Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming service Max added 7.2 million global customers during the third quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to 110.5 million.
The end result may be a media industry that emerges from a rough few years stronger than investors feared. Disney shares rose 6.2% Thursday.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. More

Billionaire Tilman Fertitta has increased his ownership stake in Wynn Resorts to 9.9%, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing indicates a passive position, though multiple people familiar with the matter tell CNBC they suspect Fertitta will be demanding.
Fertitta replaces co-founder Elaine Wynn as the company’s largest shareholder.

The new Wynn Casino and Lisboa Casino in Macao, China.
Bob Henry | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Billionaire Tilman Fertitta has increased his ownership stake in Wynn Resorts to 9.9%, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing indicates a passive position, though multiple people familiar with the matter tell CNBC they suspect Fertitta will be demanding.

Wynn’s share price popped 9% Thursday on the news, in line with its 200-day moving average. Over 20 years, the stock has exhibited lots of volatility but not as much sustained growth.

Stock chart icon

Wynn stock against Marriott and Hilton.

The stock is up roughly 57% over two decades, compared to Marriott’s 20-year gains of more than 950%. Hilton, which went public in 2013, is up more than 500% since its debut.
Wynn Resorts and Fertitta declined to comment on his increased stake.
Fertitta, CEO of Landry’s, is the owner of the Houston Rockets as well as eight Golden Nugget casinos across the U.S., including downtown Las Vegas. He is planning a new 43-story casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
He is frequently outspoken about issues that affect Las Vegas, whether it is Formula One or historic union wage contracts. Wynn Las Vegas is the top-of-the-line, uber-luxurious resort on the Strip, and it owns two high-end resorts in Macao. Its customers are wealthier and generally shop and gamble more.

But Wynn’s third-quarter earnings missed expectations for revenue and adjusted property EBITDA in both Macao and Las Vegas, which began to show some softening after a long, hot streak.
Analysts occasionally question the company about plans to develop or sell 162 acres in Las Vegas, including a 128 acre golf course and a 38 acre parcel across from its resort complex on the Strip.
In a June note, Jefferies analyst David Katz estimated the land was worth slightly more than $2 billion, but noted there is “no evident plan for development or sale.”
Some investors have privately grumbled that Wynn is blowing its luxury brand power and best-in-class hospitality status domestically while it focuses on trying to establish a new gaming market in the Middle East.
During the company’s third-quarter earnings call earlier this month, at an investor day in October and in an interview with CNBC, Wynn CEO Craig Billings kept the spotlight on the opportunities he sees in the United Arab Emirates.
Wynn Resorts has a 40% stake in a new integrated casino resort being built in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates for a projected cost of $5.1 billion.
Today the stock trades for roughly 70% more than when Fertitta bought 6.9 million shares at about $54 apiece in 2022. That position gave him a 6.2% stake in the company and made him the second-largest individual shareholder in Wynn, after co-founder Elaine Wynn.
Now with his 9.9% stake, Fertitta supplants Elaine Wynn, who co-founded the company with her then-husband Steve Wynn and left its board of directors at the end of 2020.

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Diamond Sports, the owner of regional sports networks, moved closer to exiting bankruptcy on Thursday after a bankruptcy judge said he would sign off on its reorganization plan.
The company sought bankruptcy protection in March 2023 as it was toppled by a heavy debt load and the proliferation of consumers leaving the pay TV bundle.
Diamond’s reorganization plan slashes its nearly $9 billion debt load to $200 million.
Recently, Diamond has reached various new agreements, including a deal with Amazon’s Prime Video to stream games.

Jose Siri, #26 of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros, steals second base as Dansby Swanson, #7 of the Atlanta Braves, is unable to handle the throw from Travis d’Arnaud, #16, in the eighth inning during Game 3 of the 2021 World Series at Truist Park in Atlanta on Oct. 29, 2021.
Daniel Shirey | Major League Baseball | Getty Images

Diamond Sports moved closer to exiting bankruptcy on Thursday after a bankruptcy judge approved its reorganization plan, which slashes the hefty debt load that toppled the company.
The green light is a significant milestone for the owner of regional sports networks, which has been under bankruptcy protection since March 2023. During that time, the company has made dramatic changes to its deals with professional sports teams and leagues, as well as its business model, to prove it can be a viable company in the future.

“This is a pretty significant day for this company. When we entered bankruptcy, I’d love to be able to tell you that I knew with confidence that we would reorganize this business. I thought we would, but couldn’t tell for certain that we could,” a Diamond Sports attorney said in court Thursday.
“We took a pretty twisted journey to get here with potential wind-down as an option, but we are here today to reorganize this business,” he continued.
In the weeks leading up to the hearing, Diamond inked various deals, including an agreement with Amazon’s Prime Video to stream games and a naming rights deal with Flutter’s FanDuel.
Diamond faced recent opposition from Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Braves, but the company managed to resolve those issues prior to Thursday’s court hearing. It presented its reorganization plan to the court with a standing objection from the U.S. Trustee, a watchdog overseeing the case. The judge on Thursday overruled the objection and approved the plan.
The reorganization plan that received court approval on Thursday will see Diamond’s debt load cut from nearly $9 billion to $200 million. The company will emerge from bankruptcy with more than $100 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet.

“Today is a landmark day for Diamond, as we embark on a new path for our business. Diamond is now unencumbered by legacy debt, financially stable and enthusiastically supported by new ownership,” Diamond CEO David Preschlack said in a release Thursday.

Diamond deals

Throughout Diamond’s bankruptcy process over the past year and a half, the company has seen the status of teams across the MLB, the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League shift, as they decided to either remain on the pay TV networks or exit for new deals.
On Thursday, attorneys for Diamond Sports said it now has the local rights to 13 NBA teams, eight NHL teams and six MLB teams.
Its agreements with MLB have been in particular focus over the past few weeks. In an October court hearing, Diamond said it was planning to drop all of its MLB teams, except the Atlanta Braves, unless it could renegotiate its contracts with them.
Since then, the MLB announced that three of the teams turned to MLB to produce their local games, and the Texas Rangers parted ways with Diamond. The Cincinnati Reds also ended their deal with Diamond and six MLB teams agreed to a deal to stay with Diamond, attorneys said during Thursday’s hearing.
The Reds will also be turning to MLB to produce and air their local games for next season, MLB announced Thursday after the hearing. The league first did this last year when the San Diego Padres exited Diamond.
Attorneys for Diamond on Thursday said there was one other team the company was in negotiations with. Based on CNBC’s earlier reporting that Diamond was working with 12 MLB teams, that leaves the Kansas City Royals as the unnamed team.
The Kansas City Royals did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
“The reality is Diamond is a far smaller company than it was when it started this process,” said sports media consultant Lee Berke, noting the teams that have exited the networks.
He added the regional sports network universe in general is getting smaller. Last year Warner Bros. Discovery walked away from the regional sports networks business.
“This model doesn’t work anymore when it’s so dependent on the shrinking number of customers of pay TV distribution,” said Berke.
For decades, the regional sports networks business has proven to be a lucrative business model for the teams and leagues, as the networks pay high fees to air local games that prop up team payrolls. But similar to their peers in the pay TV bundle, while the businesses are still profitable, they have heavily suffered in the wake of cord-cutting.
In the wake of Diamond’s bankruptcy, some teams have opted out of their Diamond-owned networks, and signed deals with local broadcasters and various streaming platforms. While the deals with local broadcasters will expand the reach of the games, they are unlikely to replicate the fees generated by the regional sports network model since they are outside of the pay TV bundle.
While Diamond was in negotiations with lenders and TV distributors, its key discussions took place with the leagues and teams. Some of those conversations are still ongoing, and a Diamond attorney said Thursday that the company is willing to renegotiate with the teams that have already departed.
“Our door remains open, the phone lines remain up, and management is happy to engage those teams if they want to come back into the fold,” a Diamond attorney said in court Thursday.

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Adidas has locked in 16-year-old basketball star Kaleena Smith.
The signing represents Adidas’ first signing of a high school female basketball player.
Smith also represents Adidas’ first signing since the brand put Candace Parker in charge of women’s basketball.

Adidas has signed Kaleena Smith as the bradn’s first NIL high school basketball player.
Courtesy: Adidas

Adidas has signed one of its youngest female athletes yet.
The German sports apparel brand on Thursday announced the signing of Kaleena Smith as its first high school girl’s basketball partner under a name, image and likeness, or NIL, deal.

Smith, a 16-year old sophomore in Ontario, California, is the highest-rated recruit in the class of 2027. She has already received nearly 20 college offers from programs including the University of Southern California, the University of Louisville, the University of Connecticut, the University of California, Los Angeles, Louisiana State University and the University of South Carolina.
The young basketball phenomenon represents Candace Parker’s first signing since she took over as president of Adidas women’s basketball in May. Parker, a former first-round WNBA draft pick, played 16 seasons in the WNBA and is a three-time WNBA champion and seven-time WNBA All-Star.
Adidas tapped her to help evolve the company’s women’s basketball business.

Kaleena Smith is Candace Parker’s first signing since joining Adidas in May.
Courtesy: Adidas

“Signing Kaleena as our first high school NIL women’s basketball athlete is a pivotal moment for us as we lead in championing women’s sports and building greater access to and representation in the game that we all love,” Parker said.
Adidas said Smith will represent the brand on the court during all her games with Ontario Christian High School, in addition to her AAU team. She represents one of Adidas’ youngest athletes. The brand signed its youngest current athlete, 15-year-old soccer star Chloe Ricketts, in March.

“I’m blessed to be part of something Candace is creating, and to get to do that with a brand like Adidas who is taking a different approach to play a role to help grow the game for players like me,” Smith said.
The 5-foot-6 point guard was the MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year, averaging 34.9 points, 6.5 assists and 4.2 steals per game.
Smith said she’s looking forward to wearing James Harden’s Adidas sneakers this season.
While Smith is the first girl’s high school athlete to represent Adidas, the brand has signed deals with a roster of women basketball players including Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper, Aliyah Boston, Aaliyah Edwards, Nneka Ogwumike, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, Layshia Clarendon, Sophie Cunningham, Erica Wheeler, Zia Cooke, Alysha Clark and Janiah Barker.
Adidas has been busy in the NIL space recently.
The brand signed Miami quarterback Cam Ward last month to a deal. In August, it announced the signing of six Texas Tech athletes as part of Patrick Mahomes’ NIL initiative with Adidas. The brand also signed 15 female student-athletes to NIL deals in July 2022 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Title IX.

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Disney CFO Hugh Johnston told CNBC on Thursday the company doesn’t plan to change its TV network portfolio anytime soon.
The comments come more than a year after CEO Bob Iger opened the door to selling Disney’s linear TV assets, and weeks after Comcast said it was considering the separation of its cable networks.
Disney reported earnings on Thursday, which highlighted significant growth in the streaming business while traditional TV networks’ metrics continue to detract.

Scene from the FX series Shogun.
Source: Disney | FX

Disney has done the math on separating its TV networks business, and it appears too messy to be done — at least for now.
The company’s chief financial officer, Hugh Johnston, said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the “cost is probably more than the benefit” when it comes to separating its TV networks business, given the “operational complexity.”

The future of the traditional TV network business has been top of mind in the media industry. In late October, Comcast executives said they were exploring a separation of the cable networks business. Executives said the process was in early stages and the outcome was unclear.
The cable news bundle, despite still being a cash cow for companies, is losing customers at a fast clip. The industry overall lost 4 million traditional pay TV subscribers in the first six months of the year, according to estimates from analyst firm MoffettNathanson.
Disney reported Thursday that revenue for its traditional TV networks was down 6% for its most recent quarter to $2.46 billion, while profit in the division sank 38% to $498 million.
Its apparent commitment to the segment seems to be an about-face.

Last summer CEO Bob Iger opened the door to the sale of its TV assets. Iger had recently returned to his post as chief executive, instituted a vast restructuring of the company and was facing down an activist investor.

Johnston said during Thursday’s earnings call that soon after he joined Disney a year ago he began evaluating divestitures. He noted that after “playing around with spreadsheets” there was no clear path to value creation after divesting the networks or other businesses.
“I like the portfolio the way it is right now. I wouldn’t change anything,” Johnston said Thursday on CNBC.
Similarly, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch earlier this month noted the complexity of separating the company’s cable TV networks — albeit a much smaller group of networks than its peers.
“From my perspective, I don’t see how we could ever do that. I think breaking apart part of the business would be very difficult, from both a cost point of view and from a revenue and a promotional synergy point of view,” Murdoch said on Fox’s earnings call.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav noted during that company’s earnings call last week that despite challenges of the bundle, it is “still an extraordinarily important part of our business.” He added it is “a core vehicle to deliver WBD storytelling.”
Iger, on Thursday, echoed those comments, touting the content that stems from the traditional TV business and its integration with streaming, which remains front and center for Disney.
Iger particularly highlighted Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019 as providing the content to help propel the streaming business. Activist investor Nelson Peltz slammed the deal last year, saying it contributed to eroding shareholder value.
“We specifically mentioned that we were doing so through the lens of streaming, we saw a world where streaming was going to proliferate and we knew we needed not only more content but more distribution,” Iger said Thursday.
He noted the 60 Emmy Awards Disney received this year for content including FX’s TV series “Shōgun,” “The Bear” and “Fargo,” which also appear on Hulu.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, and is a co-owner of Hulu.

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