Movies & Entertainment

Wave Exponential Public Company Limited, or WAVE, has announced the allotment of 3,820,979,033 new ordinary shares to existing shareholders on a pro-rata basis, at a ratio of 3 existing ordinary shares to 1 new ordinary share, at an offering price of 0.04 baht per share, for a total value of not more than 152,839,161.32 baht. The record date for shareholders entitled to subscribe to the new shares is set for September 24, 2026, with the subscription and payment period running from October 14 to 20, 2026. Shareholders may subscribe for more than their entitlement if shares remain after the full allotment to existing shareholders who subscribed to their full entitlement. In addition, WAVE is allotting a further 1,910,489,517 new ordinary shares to accommodate the exercise of the fifth series of warrants to purchase ordinary shares, or WAVE-W5, which are given free of charge to existing shareholders who subscribe and pay for the new shares on a pro-rata basis, at a ratio of 2 new shares to 1 warrant unit. Each WAVE-W5 unit entitles the holder to purchase 1 ordinary share at an exercise price of 0.05 baht per share, with an exercise period of 3 years from the warrant issuance date. Meanwhile, WAVE's latest shareholder structure shows that several well-known major investors rank among the top 10 shareholders, and some hold the same stock in their investment portfolios, making it worth watching whether these major investor groups will exercise their rights to subscribe to WAVE's new shares this time. The top 10 shareholders are: Brooker Group Public Company Limited with 1,020,308,442 shares, or 8.90%; THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED, SINGAPORE BRANCH with 818,532,855 shares, or 7.14%; Mrs. Jarunee Chinwongworakul with 684,638,775 shares, or 5.97%; Mr. Sura Kanitthaweekul with 588,223,400 shares, or 5.13%; QUAM SECURITIES LIMITED A/C CLIENT with 520,845,267 shares, or 4.54%; Thanwarin Company Limited with 435,640,400 shares, or 3.80%; Miss Thanika Tangpoonphonwiwat with 373,454,055 shares, or 3.26%; Mr. Thananon Triamchanchai with 370,000,000 shares, or 3.23%; Mr. Noppadol Khemayothin with 296,000,000 shares, or 2.58%; and Mr. Anek Wongphaithoonpiya with 280,613,400 shares, or 2.45%.

Netflix plans to cut about 5% of its roughly 16,000-strong global workforce, or around 800 jobs, marking its largest staff reduction since 2022 as it responds to a maturing streaming market and intense competition. The move highlights Netflix's focus on protecting its 31.5% operating margin target while it broadens into advertising, live programming and gaming to support future growth. The recent expansion of Netflix's NFL partnership through EverPass Media reinforces the push into live events, which analysts see as an important lever for engagement and advertising growth. Netflix's narrative projects $65.5 billion revenue and $19.7 billion earnings by 2029, requiring 10.6% yearly revenue growth and a $6.1 billion earnings increase from $13.6 billion today. Investors are also watching the risk that content costs keep climbing faster than viewing, especially with about 20% of viewing tied to a small pool of hits.

Netflix is planning a substantial round of layoffs that would affect about 5% of its workforce, or roughly 800 workers, according to people familiar with the cuts. The job losses will hit the creative team, including those working on features, one source said, and the cuts are believed to be the biggest at the Los Gatos company since 2022. Netflix declined to comment, and the news was first reported by Puck. The streaming giant has faced investor scrutiny over subscriber engagement, with view hours rising only about 2% in the first half of 2026 compared with a year earlier even as content spending climbed. Netflix stock has declined 43% from a year ago and closed Friday at $70.30, down about 2%.

Walt Disney has introduced a new large-format cinema standard called Infinity Vision as an alternative to IMAX screens. The entertainment group is pitching Infinity Vision to external studios, including Paramount, Universal, Lionsgate and Sony, for future blockbuster releases. Disney plans to position Infinity Vision as a premium big-screen option for theaters that currently program IMAX and similar formats. The move points to a broader rethink of how blockbuster films reach audiences and fits into Disney's strategy of stretching franchises such as Toy Story, which has generated over US$4b in box office, more than 2 billion streaming hours and over US$1b in annual global retail sales, across Experiences, streaming and now branded premium formats in theaters. A proprietary format competing with IMAX and similar offerings from rivals like Warner Bros. Discovery adds execution complexity and capital needs.

Netflix's expanding live sports slate is becoming a material cost line, with live programming expected to absorb just over 5% of 2026 content spend while generating only about 1% of view hours. The streamer's additions to content assets jumped 32% year over year to $9.8 billion in the first half of 2026, outpacing the 11% rise in content amortization, while capital expenditure climbed 46% to $415 million. Second-quarter operating margin contracted 70 basis points to 33.4%, and free cash flow fell to $1.5 billion from $2.3 billion. Netflix narrowed 2026 revenues to $51.0-$51.4 billion and maintained a 31.5% operating margin target versus 29.5% in 2025, but the full-year target implies a fourth-quarter margin near 27% in a quarter loaded with NFL holiday games and the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua bout on Dec. 11. Disney's Sports segment operating income fell 17% to $858 million in third-quarter fiscal 2026 as programming and production costs rose 10% to $3.05 billion, while Amazon's advertising revenues grew 26% year over year to $19.8 billion in the second quarter of 2026. Netflix shares have plunged 28% year to date, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $3.59 per share, up 41.9% from the previous year.

Spotify Technology S.A. is heading into its October 22 earnings report with analysts expecting an 18.54% decline in earnings per share alongside 15.31% revenue growth, sharpening attention on how effectively the company converts engagement into sustainable profitability. The company recently presented at the 2026 North American Marketing Leadership Summit in Phoenix, where Global Director of Business Brand Marketing Rachel Brooks outlined its latest branding and engagement initiatives. In August 2026, Spotify expanded its share buyback authorization to US$2,000 million, a move that signals management's willingness to return excess capital even as earnings come under pressure. Spotify's narrative projects €26.7 billion in revenue and €4.2 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 13.7% yearly revenue growth and roughly a €0.9 billion increase from €3.3 billion today. Some of the lowest ranked analysts were already more cautious, assuming revenue of about €26.5 billion and shrinking margins by 2029.

Disney is preparing another round of layoffs inside its TV division, according to a Wall Street Journal report, marking the company's third round of job cuts this year as it pursues a broader television restructuring. The cost-cutting push comes under new CEO Josh D'Amaro, who is consolidating operations and reducing headcount as the company reshapes itself for the streaming era. Disney did not return a request for comment on the Journal story. The company's advertising business is under pressure while operating expenses in its TV and sports divisions remain too high, making further cuts likely.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that The Walt Disney Company is planning a restructuring of its television business that could result in the elimination of several hundred more jobs, alongside the consolidation of various divisions. The restructuring plan is being led by Debra O'Connell, president of Disney Entertainment Television, and details of the plan are not expected to be finalized until later this year. The organizational overhaul aims to reorient the business around streaming users as its central focus, replacing the company's longstanding structure of brands that was designed decades ago to support broadcast television programming. The move is expected to directly affect the executives overseeing various divisions, including ABC Entertainment, Twentieth Television, Hulu Originals and Freeform. The development comes as media industry giants face pressure to cut costs, as cord-cutting and the decline of cable and pay television shrink the once highly profitable broadcast and cable network businesses, while streaming operations have yet to fully generate profits to offset the lost earnings. Disney has been steadily cutting costs; over the past year the company eliminated several hundred positions in its film and television marketing, television media relations, casting, and development and production departments, and throughout this year Disney has carried out multiple rounds of layoffs in its marketing department, Pixar, ABC News and ESPN, and not long ago cut staff in its human resources and technology divisions.

Walt Disney, the major U.S. media and entertainment company, is planning a reorganization of its television business that could lead to the elimination of hundreds of jobs and the consolidation of divisions, the Wall Street Journal reported on the 1st, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the WSJ, the plan is being led by Debra O'Connell, chairman of Disney Entertainment Television, and may not be finalized within the year. It is part of a series of organizational restructurings since Josh D'Amaro became chief executive in March. The reorganization is aimed at rebuilding the business around users of streaming services rather than around the brands built decades ago for traditional television broadcasting, and is expected to affect executives who lead divisions including ABC Entertainment, 20th Television, Hulu Originals, and Freeform. Disney also cut hundreds of jobs last year in areas including film and television marketing, television publicity, and casting and production development, and this year it has cut staff in its marketing division as well as at Pixar, ABC News, and ESPN, with people familiar with the matter saying that on September 29 it cut hundreds of jobs, mainly in human resources and technology.

Disney is planning a sweeping restructuring of its television business that is expected to produce hundreds of layoffs and consolidate divisions that have operated as separate fiefdoms, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The overhaul is being led by Disney Entertainment Television chairman Debra OConnell, who reports to Disney President and Chief Creative Officer Dana Walden and oversees ABC Entertainment, 20th Television, Hulu Originals, Disney Kids & Family, National Geographic Content, and Freeform. Each of those units currently maintains its own executive layer overseeing programming for Disney+, Hulu, and linear channels, and those leadership positions are expected to be among the roles affected. Walden said at a Bloomberg conference that Disney will be centralizing divisions that have been run separately into a television business rather than a bunch of silos, and ABC News faces further reductions as well. Senior executives are still working out details and the plan may not be finalized before year-end, after Disney assessed uptake from a voluntary early-retirement program whose opt-in window closed over the weekend of September 27-28. The TV restructuring is the latest chapter in a broader cost campaign under CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took over from Bob Iger on March 18, 2026, and follows more than 300 layoffs on September 30, primarily in human resources and IT, bringing reported 2026 reductions past 1,500 positions.

Netflix co-chief executive officer Ted Sarandos said the company is not growing as fast as he would like and is working to accelerate that growth. Speaking to Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg Screentime in Los Angeles, Sarandos noted Netflix grew engagement 2% in its last announcement, on a base of 200 billion hours of watching, a figure he acknowledged falls short of the double-digit growth investors have come to expect. He said live programming, a relatively new area for Netflix, consumes about 5% of the content budget but generates only about 1% of viewing, creating an engagement headwind even as it drives signups, retention and advertising. Sarandos also pointed to headwinds from events such as the World Cup and world sports, while stressing that the business remains strong, with double-digit revenue growth in every region of the world in the past quarter. On acquisitions, he said Netflix has traditionally been a builder rather than a big buyer, but that the Warner Brothers asset was attractive because it was unusually clean and let the company buy only what it wanted, adding that Netflix is not looking to backfill that deal and will grow primarily organically while pursuing complementary opportunities, including in games.

Netflix's content commitments climbed to $25.1 billion as of June 30, 2026, up from $24 billion at the end of 2025, with $11.9 billion of that total due within the next 12 months and $19.6 billion not yet recognized on the balance sheet. The streaming giant added $9.8 billion to content assets in the first half of 2026, up from $7.4 billion a year earlier, while content amortization rose to $8.5 billion from $7.7 billion. Netflix said second-quarter operating cash flow declined primarily because payments for content assets increased by $1.06 billion, pushing free cash flow down to $1.5 billion from $2.3 billion a year earlier, with higher cash tax payments partly related to the Warner Bros. termination fee also weighing. Netflix estimates obligations for unknown future titles could add another $1 billion to $4 billion over the next three years, and its 2026 slate includes returning franchises such as Bridgerton, ONE PIECE, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Gentlemen, plus newly announced titles Lust Stories 3, Shaque: Trust No One and The Great Indian Kapil Show Season 5. Competitors are spending heavily as well: The Walt Disney Company is challenging Netflix through sustained investment in creative IP and streaming content, with Disney+ using films and series as the core of its global ecosystem and plans to bring select premium sports events to the service, while Paramount Skydance has greenlit 40 new or returning DTC series and is targeting 15+ films in 2027 alongside expanded sports rights through UFC, Zuffa Boxing and UEFA.

Walt Disney is cutting about 300 roles in its human resources and technology units, the company's third round of staff reductions in 2026. The layoffs, announced in the context of a leadership transition, are tied by management to a wider effort to trim expenses and rework internal functions for future capacity. The cuts come as new CTO Karandeep Anand prepares to start on 2 October 2026, with the company aiming to free up back-office and legacy technology costs so the direct-to-consumer team can push harder on data, AI platforms and product. The cleanest early read on whether the restructuring is working is expected in the first few quarters after Anand starts, particularly any disclosure on Disney+, Hulu and ESPN unit economics such as operating cost per subscriber, churn trends and technology-driven savings inside the direct-to-consumer segment.