McGregor to earn $100 million for fighting Mayweather
White says he expects McGregor to make $100 million from fighting Mayweather. Mayweather has previously said he expects to ear $300 million from the fight.
I made 300 [million dollars] in one night [vs. Manny Pacquiao]. Throughout my career I made 800 [million dollars] and it’s possible I can make another 300 [million dollars].
Johnston Press reports £300m pre-tax loss
The company reports a £300.3m pre-tax loss for 2016, compared to a £2.2m pre-tax profit the year before. Total advertising revenue is down 17.7% year on year to £122.6m, driven by a 9.5% fall in print ad revenue. The fall in print advertising income was not offset by digital ad revenue, which remains flat at £18.6m. Sales volumes for i was up 5% year on year, while circulation revenue was up 20% year-on-year. Highfield:
Despite an industry wide backdrop of significant downward pressure on revenues, the actions we have taken to pilot the business through this rapidly-changing market and create the conditions from which to create growth are starting to bear fruit: circulation figures of key titles are improving, the i has bucked the trend of declining national newspaper sales and our progressive editorial and sales models are starting to transform our regional businesses. While we can expect to see continued pressure on traditional print revenue streams, we have seen digital return to growth in Q1 2017, with better margin products, and will see growth from our investment in the i from both the newspaper and website. Further, we will start to see the benefits of our restructured sales teams and product roll out.
McGregor’s UFC 205 headline brought $57 million to New York
A UFC-commissioned study says UFC 205 brought in $57 million of benefits to New York city. In addition to ticket receipts totaling $17.7 million and big spending from domestic and international visitors, the McGregor-headlined card contributed a total of $37.4 million in economic output for NY, surpassing the promotion’s initial $32 million projection. Salaries and wages tied to the event added $18.3 million more, and the UFC also paid out $1.6 million in state taxes. 300 jobs were created. Governor Cuomo:
Mixed martial arts competitions have already proven to be major economic drivers across New York, and the jobs and revenue generated by this event illustrates the enormous impact of this growing industry in our state.
Wins Daily Mail printing contract
Johnston Press wins a five-year contract to print the Daily Mail across the south west of the UK. Monday to Saturday issues of Daily Mail will be printed at the company’s print plant in Portsmouth. The plant also prints southern editions of Metro. Highfield:
We are delighted to win this new business on top of the Metro contract just recently won and this further confirms our printing services division as one of the best in the country. This latest long term contract will give the staff a real boost and their ability to deliver such prestigious titles against very tough competition is a great reflection on the business.
Announces $83b Time Warner acquisition
AT&T announces it will purchase Time Warner for $86 billion. The buyout grants AT&T distributor power over CNN and HBO. AT&T says the deal will give customers ‘unmatched choice, quality, value and experiences that will define the future of media and communications” and the new company would “lead the next wave of innovation in converging media and communications industry.’ AT&T CEO Stephenson:
This is a perfect match of two companies with complementary strengths who can bring a fresh approach to how the media and communications industry works for customers, content creators, distributors and advertisers.
UFC 202 broke PPV records
Sources say that the DirecTV numbers for UFC 202 were the highest in the promotion’s history. Current estimates have the show doing 1.65 million buys on pay-per-view, putting it slightly ahead of UFC 196, the first McGregor vs. Diaz fight, which was estimated at 1.6 million. Both would be ahead of the prior record set at UFC 100 for the second Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir fight UFC’s own pay-per-view orders through the Internet were believed to have also broken the record set at UFC 196. On the night, the show sold 12,657 tickets, and including late discounting, and there were 14,060 in the building. The live gate announced the night of the show was $7,629,010.
My numbers don't lie. https://t.co/xTatIEpuct
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 7, 2016
Steps down from Uber board
Drummond steps down from Uber’s board after three years.
$3 million purse
The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirms McGregor’s purse for UFC 202 is $3 million, the richest disclosed purse in MMA history. McGregor became the first UFC athlete to ever receive a disclosed purse of $1 million, for UFC 196. Brock Lesnar surpassed that record at UFC 200 with a disclosed purse of $2.5 million.
Writes off half the value of newspaper properties
Johnson Press announces it is taking a£183.6 million impairment charge (£216.9 million gross, net of £40.3 million in deferred tax), lowering by nearly half the value of the company. The action sends the company’s stock down over 18 percent. The Company also announces revenue drop of 9.7 percent in the second quarter, with ad revenue falling 15 percent. Net debt grew to £209.4 million due to the acquisition of the i in April for £22.0 million. Highfield:
The market continues to be challenging and uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the Brexit negotiations has caused further softness in some segments of the advertising market, in June and July. Nevertheless, we are focused on our strategy of increasing overall audiences, maximising opportunities for the i, maintaining tight cost control and rebalancing our portfolio. In that respect, we are nearing completion of the disposal of our Isle of Man newspaper group for £4.25 million and are well advanced in negotiations for further divestments.
Sells Isle of Man titles
Johnston Press announces it is selling the Isle of Man Examiner, Isle of Man Courier, Manx Independent and www.iomtoday.co.im. to Tindle Newspapers for £4.25m. Johnston Press CEO Highfield:
This disposal is further progress in executing our divestment strategy and allows the group to realise immediate value from our Isle of Man assets. I would like to thank the staff of our Isle of Man business for their loyalty and dedication over the years and we wish them well for a successful future.
Tindle:
Buying a profitable local weekly set-up such as the Isle of Man trio is certainly a departure from our early days when, without much cash, we mostly bought papers that were in trouble, or we had to launch them ourselves. We are most grateful to Ashley Highfield and his colleagues for all their assistance in bringing about this agreement…Everyone at Tindle Newspapers, will make [the staff] all very welcome just as soon as we are able to do so.
Launches Smashd Group
Carter and Havas launch Smashd Group, an extension of his online news vertical and business accelerator, at Cannes Lions. Carter’s team of 20 Smashd employees at Atom Factory will assist Havas’ global network of corporate clients on brand consultancy, technology strategy and other innovations. Carter, on the difference between large brands and artists social media presences.
We don’t touch our artists’ Twitter or Instagram accounts. [But] when you have multiple people running a digital department, it’s very difficult for that voice to translate throughout the organization into the community…If you’re Coca-Cola, General Mills, one of these big companies, they’re a big inspiration to most of these startups. So when you can marry that thirst for innovation within the biggest companies and the thirst for business development from these young entrepreneurs, we think it’s a perfect match, The idea of being able to do [Smashd] Labs on the tech side, and brand innovation, we can bring these two worlds together.
Carter also talks about the next area he sees that is set for disruption:
Banks are dead. I met with the founder two weeks ago who’s building a platform for music artists, from STEM, and basically they were gonna handle collections for music artists to collect royalties from YouTube and all these other platforms. After the founder showed me an artist’s PayPal account, which contained $250,000, she said, ‘None of the creators are gonna have bank accounts. For these kids, everything is happening on mobile.’ This group aren’t buying cars, so they’re not paying loans. They’re renting and not buying houses, they’re waiting to get married til their mid-to-late 30s. These kids aren’t going to college soon because they don’t want the student debt. So I think banks are ripe for disruption.
Full-year results ‘meet City hopes’
Johnston Press reports that group revenues were down 13.7 per cent during the 17 weeks to 30 April, reflecting a 14.4 per cent fall in the first quarter and an “improved rate of decline of 11.5 per cent in April”. The group said i daily print sales peaked at 297,849 for the month, a rise of 7 per cent over the peaks seen in March 2016, its website, inews.co.uk, reached 638,000 unique users. Advertising revenues for the period were down 16.9 per cent, while digital revenues were down 5.7 per cent in the first quarter but up 4.5 per cent for April. CEO Highfield:
Following the completion of the i acquisition, we continue to explore the disposal of certain assets, with a view to deleveraging the balance sheet and further reducing financing costs.
Completes i purchase
Johnston Press completes the £24m purchase of i newspaper, and prints its first edition. The paper will be available in Northern Ireland for the first time. CEO Highfield:
i is a highly regarded newspaper with a clear market position and a loyal readership. By joining with Johnston Press the combined circulation will be equal to 9 per cent of national daily circulation, making us the fourth largest player in the market. This enhanced reach represents a significant growth opportunity for Johnston Press in terms of national print and advertising revenue. It also rebalances our revenues towards less volatile circulation revenues. With our considerable digital experience the combination of Johnston Press and i will also allow us to grow digital audiences and revenues through the creation of inews.co.uk.
TrulySocial investment
Nazara Games, London Venture Partners and Supercell’s Hollanda-Grönberg invest in TrulySocial. Nazara CEO Manish Agarwal:
We see a perfect fit with TrulySocial’s contemporary social world and are working with them to bring a completely new genre of gaming to India. With TrulySocial we are delighted to have an opportunity to see ourselves along with key international players.
Profits rise by more than a fifth but further cuts loom
Johnston Press reports total revenue for 2015 was down by 6.8% from £260m in 2014 to £242.3m last year. However, profits increased by 22.6% to £31.5m by reducing costs to £191.7m from £205.3m in 2014. CEO Highfield says the group hopes to sell some brands and some of its key assets. However, he said he “could not rule out” closing some titles. Debt is down by £14.8m to £179.4m from £194.2m in 2014, with interest payments reduced by almost £10m to £19.1m. The number of people reached through Johnston’s digital titles was up by 40.7% to 22.6 million, with digital advertising revenue rising by 12.4% to £30.6m.
We are a plc and our primary objective is to keep the business moving forward … we have to make profits. We are all on the same side here, which is try to get the business back to growth and get the long-standing debt off our shoulders. The tough trading conditions have already been highlighted by DMGT and Trinity Mirror. We are being prudent in not anticipating it getting better and we are going to make sure we are cutting our cloth appropriately.
Highfield also says Johnston has filled all but two of 50 roles for i for when it takes control of the title on 10 April, filling the roles from The Independent within two weeks.
Johnston Press buys i newspaper
Johnston Press reaches a deal to buy the i newspaper from ESI Media for £24m. Highfield:
This is a transformational acquisition for Johnston Press and an important step towards delivering our long-term strategy. i is a highly-regarded newspaper with a clear market position and a loyal readership. By joining with Johnston Press the combined circulation will be equal to 9% of national daily circulation, making us the fourth-largest player in the market. This enhanced reach represents a significant growth opportunity for Johnston Press in terms of national print and digital advertising revenue. It also rebalances our revenues towards less volatile circulation revenues. With our considerable digital experience the combination of Johnston Press and i will also allow us to grow digital audiences and revenues through the creation of inews.co.uk.
Marquez brothers cancel VR46 merchandise deal
The company in charge of image rights for Marc and Alex Marquez confirms their merchandise will no longer be produced and distributed by Rossi’s VR46 Racing Apparel company. The Marquez brothers are tipped to move their merchandising to Gruppo Pritelli.
AC Management, company in charge of managing the image rights of the riders Marc Márquez and Alex Márquez, informs that they have agreed with the Company VR46 Racing Apparel, S.r.l. to terminate the license agreements previously in force and under which the latter was in charge of the exploitation of both riders’ merchandising. Both parties appreciate services rendered while the agreement was in force and wish each other success in future endeavors.
Closing 269 stores
Walmart announces plans to close 269 stores. 154 of these stores are in the US, and will affect 16,000 workers. Closures will begin at the end of January. 102 of the 154 stores to be closed in the US are part of an experimental set of offerings opened in 2011 and are within 10 miles of another Wal-Mart. Efforts will employ the affected workers at other locations. Other locations to be closed include locations in Brazil, where the retailer is struggling.
£1 billion UK malaria funding
The UK government is to create a new £1 billion fund, called The Ross Fund, in partnership with US philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates. The fun, named after Sir Ronald Ross, who first found the link between mosquitoes and malaria in 1902, aims to eradicate malaria and other infectious disease. The fund will come from the UK’s overseas aid budget over the next five years, with £115m earmarked for research into new drugs, diagnostics and insecticides for malaria, TB and other infectious diseases, and £188m to be spent on improving biodefences and rapid response systems to fast-spreading epidemics such as Ebola. UK Chancellor Osborne:
[The government’s commitment to overseas aid helps to] promote our national security and interests around the world. [Working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will help us in] our joint ambition to see an end to this global disease in our lifetimes.
Gates:
With the combined skill and expertise of British scientists; leveraging the weight of both public and private financing; and the continued leadership of George Osborne and the UK, [the] announcement of the Ross Fund will play a key role in reaching that goal [ eradicating malaria and other poverty-related infectious diseases].
Rossi drops Marquez merchandize
According to Italian website, Corriere della Sera, Rossi has decided to end his business ties with Marquez. Beginning next year, the VR46 Store, will no longer manage Marquez’s MM93 merchandise. The Tavullian company owned by Rossi manages the merchandise of 20 riders and hails an annual turnover of 12.5 million euros. Next year, another company will be dealing with the sale of t-shirts, caps and other novelty MM93 products.