MDLZ Mondelez International Inc

By Mike Shields 

HERSHEY KISS: Mondelez International, maker of food products like Oreo and Ritz, made a $23 billion bid for Hershey Co., reports The Wall Street Journal. Besides creating a company that has all the makings of a six-year-old's ideal dinner (cookies, crackers and chocolate), the potential maneuver could yield an interesting marketing twist: Mondelez, a company with a name that nobody gets, offered to assume the beloved brand of Hershey (one that practically evokes childhood), CMO Today reports. Hershey rejected the approach, so this may not come to fruition, but if the merger dance resumes, this would be a way for Mondelez to ditch its much-mocked moniker. The name blends two words of Latin origin--"monde" (translation: world) and "delez" (translation: delicious). It seems that some people don't appreciate how cool Latin is in 2016. "I would put Mondelez up there with some of the worst corporate names," said Kelly O'Keefe, a marketing professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Brandcenter.

LION'S SHARE: Media mogul John Malone is a big-picture thinker who excels at complicated, tax-efficient mergers and always seems to come out with significant control over whatever emerges. Lions Gate's acquisition of premium cable network Starz for $4.4 billion in a cash-and-stock deal is no exception. Mr. Malone is Starz's largest voting shareholder, owns 3% of Lions Gate, and is on the studio's board. The deal is part of Mr. Malone's bigger plan to consolidate smaller entertainment players, as WSJ reports, and Lions Gate, which has been investing in its TV production, can supply programming to Starz, which boasts 24 million subscribers. As Reuters Breakingviews reports, the structure of the deal is "classic Malone." There are both non-voting shares and voting shares being used as currency, and Mr. Malone will get enough of the latter to have a nice big seat at the table, as usual.

SHARING IS HARD: First, Facebook telegraphed its plans to de-emphasize content from media companies in favor of posts from friends and family, after reports that people aren't posting on the social network as much as they used to. Now, Instagram is facing the same sort of problem, reports The Information. The obvious culprit in Instagram's case is Snapchat, given they are both image-centric and target a young demographic. It's just more fun for the kids these days to post snaps over heavily filtered photos of appetizers and landscapes. But there's possibly something larger at play: the longer people are on social networks, the more integral they become to their lives. Yet they also get old, and digital media always provides something new and shiny. So Instagram and Facebook have to constantly evolve or risk getting dropped to people's social second tier.

BIG STREAMIN': Jay Z's Tidal streaming music service has had a string of leadership challenges since the rap mogul purchased it last year--three CEOs and counting. The product launched in a crowded marketplace, considering Spotify's rapid ascension, and the buzz hasn't been great (except when Tidal stood out as the only place where you could stream old Prince songs and Beyonce's new album). Is Apple coming to the rescue? Apple is in talks to acquire Tidal, but no deal is imminent, reports WSJ. A Tidal spokesman said Tidal executives hadn't held talks with Apple. It's not clear what Tidal would bring Apple financially (Jay Z bought the service last year for $56 million from Swedish company Aspiro), but the artist-friendly service has strong connections with artists like Kanye West and Madonna. Plus, if you're in the music business, it seems like you want to be on good terms with the Queen Bey (Beyonce).

Elsewhere

Dish Network's Sling TV service--its skinny bundle aimed at cord-cutters--has added a slew of NBCUniversal networks, including USA, Bravo, Syfy and NBC Sports Network as well as local NBC affiliates. [ Mashable]

Disney has agreed to acquire a one-third stake in the video unit of MLB Advanced Media, according to Bloomberg, valuing it at $3.5 billion. As part of the deal, the media giant has a four-year option to purchase another 33%. [ Bloomberg]

News Corporation has acquired the U.K. based radio company Wireless Group for $220 million Euros. [ The Guardian]

The broadcast TV upfronts are pretty much done, reports Ad Age, with ABC and Fox doing the usual bragging about volume and price increases after CBS and CW had already wrapped up the bulk of their selling. NBC has a bit more selling to do. [ Ad Age]

Adnan Syed, the subject of the first season of the popular podcast "Serial," has been granted a new trial in Baltimore. Mr. Syed was convicted of murder in 2000. [ NYT]

Fiery talk show host Nancy Grace is planning to leave Headline News after more than a decade on the air. [ Hollywood Reporter]

Spotify is accusing Apple of deliberately rejecting Spotify's recent app update. The Swedish music streaming company has sent Apple's legal team a letter claiming that Apple wants to force Spotify use Apple's billing system in its app, potentially making it harder for Spotify to acquire customers. [ Recode]

New York Times CEO Mark Thompson told CNN's Brian Stelter that "there's a least a decade, maybe more, of profitable activity" for the company's print newspaper business. [ CNN]

IBT Media, which owns IBTimes.com and Newsweek, laid off at least 30 staffers on Thursday. [ Politico]. The company also moved Newsweek "into a separate operational entity." [ Ad Age]

A Massachusetts judge is seeking more information on Sumner Redstone's health and details of his estate planning as he weighs the merits of a lawsuit challenging the mogul's mental capacity, brought by Viacom Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and board member George Abrams. [ WSJ]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 01, 2016 08:03 ET (12:03 GMT)

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