FTX completely FKD

November 09, 2022

FTX nearly collapsed. After running into liquidity problems, crypto exchange FTX is being bailed out by rival Binance. Nothing about crypto makes sense to me but this looks a lot like two drunks holding each other up at the end of a very silly party.

The lowdown

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    Credit: Hulu

    Disney surpasses Netflix again but still disappoints

    Disney added 14.6 million subscribers to its streaming businesses in the fourth quarter, including 12.1 million to Disney+. It now has more than 235 million subscribers; more than the second biggest streaming platform Netflix, which last reported 223 million ($). And yet the investor call, where these results were announced, was far from the happiest place on earth.

    While revenue increased by 8%, mainly due to the increased number of subscribers, the direct-to-consumer segment’s operating loss increased from $800 million to $1.5 billion. The much larger loss was attributed to the increased investment in new and original content. CEO Bob Chapek said losses would narrow from here, as prices are increased and an ad-supported plan is released.

    One way to increase the content library available to subscribers without producing new content is to merge with other streaming services. Bob Chapek has already flagged his desire to merge Disney with Hulu. Elsewhere, HBO Max and Discovery+ have also announced an intention to merge. Consolidation in streaming has begun.

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    • You may have seen ‘The Bear’ on Disney Plus (a rare non-franchise hit). But now you can make the sandwich made famous in the show. To be clear, I am not recommending the show because I didn’t like the last episode; just the sandwich from the show.

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