Business

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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