Cogent is over 10x levered and still not generating free cash flow, yet the Board continues to raise dividends and permit the CEO to pledge an estimated 80% of his shares for personal loans. The company’s path to free cash flow rests on an aggressive ramp in wavelength sales, a product contributing less than 4%…
During yesterday’s Trade Desk Q2 2025 earnings call, CEO Jeff Green was asked about rising competition from Amazon. Green stated, “Amazon is not a competitor.” That statement should scare any investor who owns Trade Desk stock or is thinking about investing in it. Green is either in a serious state of denial, or he is…
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison marked the closing of the Paramount and Skydance merger with his vision for the combined company (link). We thought it would be useful to dissect what was said and not said in Ellison’s first public comments since the transaction was first announced. Most-used words: What was not mentioned: With Paramount…
We expect LYV consolidated Q2 results to handily beat Street expectations. This will come on the back of Concert division outperformance, as Live Nation benefits from an unprecedented stadium lineup and numerous initiatives including expanding its owned and operated portfolio and pricing tickets to optimize yields. However, this quarter and the rest of 2025 will…
On this morning’s earnings call, Uber outlined a disciplined stance on Autonomy investments while playing up its plans to return capital. But is that the right strategy? Autonomy offers a massive growth opportunity We estimate that autonomous vehicles could account for more than 50% of U.S. rideshare miles by 2030. This represents a transformative growth opportunity…
Hollywood has faced a series of setbacks that lead us to believe box office prospects are permanently impaired compared to pre-COVID times. After emerging from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic in 2023, the entertainment industry was immediately hit by dual labor strikes involving the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). These…
Back in 2019, when the company had fewer than 30 million monthly active accounts, founder and CEO Anthony Wood asked me at a Roku company retreat what concerned us about Roku’s future. Our response was how heavily the company relied on advertising, with more and more video consumption shifting to ad-free viewing. Ignore for a…
Business Insider’s Peter Kafka interviewed LightShed’s Rich Greenfield earlier this week on his Channels Podcast. The podcast episode, titled “What is TV’s endgame?”, explores the dramatic transformation of the media landscape in 2025, where legacy media companies are finally confronting the reality of streaming’s dominance. The discussion covered key industry developments including David Ellison’s ambitious…
Investor confusion around Paramount’s new South Park agreement has been widespread this week. Here’s what the deal means for Paramount’s earnings, leveraging reporting from Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw and Puck’s Matt Belloni. The Old Deal (2019-2025) HBO Max (formerly Max) licensed South Park’s entire catalog and new episodes domestically for $100 mm annually. International fees were…
We have consistently advised Disney to spin off ESPN/ABC, while viewing an NFL Media acquisition as a no-brainer for ESPN’s strategic positioning as moves more aggressively into streaming. After years of the NFL shopping these assets with no takers, credible media reports now suggest Disney is close to acquiring NFL Network and RedZone, a deal…
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