•
108-MGM
Studio buys 55% in Production
Companies ••••
The Webusersguild,
wwwWUG4.com, reported that the Culver City
Studio, MGM, announced it had acquired a
majority stake in Mark Burnett's
production company, One Three Media, which
holds rights to reality hits like "The
Voice," "Survivor," "The Apprentice" and
"Shark Tank." Mr. Burnett will run the
operation as CEO of a new MGM unit called
United Artists Media Group. • United Artists
has a storied history- ••••
in the movie business. The company was
founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith in
1919. It became part of MGM in 1981. MGM
and Tom Cruse restarted United Arists in
the mid-2000s, but the venture foundered
releasing just two pictures "Limbs for
Lambs and "Valkyrie."
businesses.
••••
Under Burnett, United Artists will foucs
on development, production and financing
for television programs, films and digital
content. Roma Downey, best know for
starring on the TV program "Touched by an
Angel,will serve as president of
LightWorkers, now the faith and family
unit of United Artists.
worldwide," Gary Barber, MGM's chairman
and chief executive, said in a
statement. • Financial terms were not
disclosed.
••••
The Hearst Corporation will continue to
own a minority stake in the One Three
Media and LightWorkers businesses.
••••
"Mark and Roma are without a doubt the
most successful and dominant players in
unscripted television and faith-based
content, and we are excited to be
distributing United Artists Media Group
content worldwide," Gary Barber, MGM's
chairman and chief executive, said in a
statement.
••••
Mr. Barber also announced the creation of
a LightWorkers on-demand Internet channel.
"We look forward to growing our
television, film and digital business
while also creating a whole new platform,"
Mr. Burnett said in a statement. • MGM very nearly capsized
--
•••more
than once -- in the 2000s, as the collapse
of the DVD market and a revolving set of
owners left the company choking on $4
billion in debt. A bankruptcy and new
managers, most notably Mr. Barber, have
since turned the operation around, with a
new scripted television division
contributing significantly.
••••
MGM's recent television efforts include
"Vikings," "Teen Wolf," and the critically
acclaimed "Fargo" on FX. • Among the shows in the
works- ••••
from Mr. Burnett and Ms. Downey: "A.D.," a
biblical mini-series for NBC, "The
Dovekeepers" mini-series for CBS and "On
the Menu," a cooking show for TNT. They
are also helping to produce a remake of
"Ben-Hur" in partnership with MGM and
Paramount Pictures.
•
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108-s90-MGM
buys 55% in Production
Firms ///
•
108-
Using Stock-Bonds As Collateral
- Larry
Ellison Upgrades Oracle Credit Line to
$9.9
Billion ••••
Like most Wall Street
financial firms . . . billionaire Larry
Ellision, has increased the amount of
Oracle Corp. stock he's pledged against
personal indebtedness and lines of credit
to 9.9 billion dollars.
••••
"With interest rates on loans so low right
now, would I rather sell some investments
I have and give up the return on those, or
would I rather get a loan?" Tim Steffen,
director of financial planning at Robert
W. Baird & Co., said in a phone
interview. "And he's not going to sell his
vacation home to go and make another
investment."
••••
Elison, who has a net worth of 43.1
billion, according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index, is known for his
lavish lifestyle.
••••
He built a sprawling Japanese-inspired
home in Silicon Valley, scooped up swaths
of land in Malibu, and, in 2012 purchased
Lanai, the sixth-largest Hawaiian
Island.
••••
He also sponsors the U.S.'s America's Cup
team, which won the sailing competition
last year. The catamarans for the race
cost about $8 million to build, and Oracle
Team USA and its three challengers this
year could've spent more than $100 million
each on their boats, crew, facilities and
support staff, Gary
••••
Ellison is stepping down as Oracle chief
executive officer to become chairman and
chief technology officer. The company
named Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, who were
previously co-presidents, co-CEOs on Sept.
18. • Deborah Hellinger, a spokeswoman
for ••••Oracle, declined to comment on
Ellison's collateralized shares.
••••
"Banks know he's a good risk, so they're
willing to lend him the money," Steffen
said. "Even though the size of the loan
seems big, this is $10 billion on $43
billion. That's less than 25 percent --
less than your average investor. Is your
mortgage less than 25 percent of your net
worth?"
••••
Billionaires including Sumner Redstone,
the chairman of Viacom Inc., and Tesla
Motors Inc. co-founder Elon Musk also use
shares to secure personal debt. Musk has
pledged at least 10 million Tesla shares
as collateral, valued at $2.53 billion as
of yesterday's closing price, according to
the company's proxy statement.
on Ellison's collateralized shares.
••••
Redstone controls
some CBS Corp. and Viacom shares through
National Amusements Inc., which owns
Showcase Cinemas. Some of those shares are
pledged to lenders of a National
Amusements subsidiary, according to
filings from the two New York-based
companies. • Ellison "isn't doing anything
unusual- ••••
and he wouldn't have done this if the
company was concerned about it," Steffen
said.
••••
Oracle paid Ellison $67.3 million in
fiscal 2014, including an option award
valued at $65 million, according to the
proxy. The company will cut Ellison's
stock-option grant from 7 million shares
to 2.25 million in its next fiscal year,
according to the filing. The reduction
follows two consecutive shareholder
rejections of Oracle's executive pay plan
in annual non-binding votes.
••••
Ellison has collected at least $2.1
billion exercising options since 1994,
according to data compiled by compensation
expert Graef Crystal. In the 20 years
ended May 31 this year, Oracle has posted
a total return of more than 2,500 percent,
almost 2,000 percentage points more than
the Standard & Poor's 500 Index during
the same period.
••••
Oracle also is introducing
performance-stock units beginning in
fiscal 2015. The awards are granted based
on the company's relative revenue and
cash-flow growth versus a set of peers
that includes International Business
Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
•
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108-s90- Using Stock-Bonds As Collateral .
. . Larry Ellison
///
•
101-
George Clooney Honored with Cecil B.
DeMille
Award ••••
The Hollywood Foreign Press
Association announced that actor,
director, writer, and producer, George
Clooney will be honored with the Cecil B.
DeMille Award at the 72nd Golden Globe
Awards next year, for his impact on the
entertainment industry.
••••
Theo Kingma, the association's president,
said "the award celebrates Clooney's
outstanding contributions both in front
and behind the camera."
••••
The HFPA has given Cloony 13
nominations over the years--
and four Golden Globe wins for -- lead
actor in a comedy/musical for "O Brother,
Where Art Thou?" in 2001, supporting role
in "Syriana," 2006, " lead actor in a
drama "The Descendants" in 2012 and for
producer of 2013's best picture winner,
"Argo."
••••
Clooney's achievements also have earned
him four SAG Awards, one BAFTA award, two
Critics' Choice Awards, an Emmy and four
National Board of Review Awards.
••••
Clooney, 53, has won two Oscars, and
has been nominated in seven Oscar
categories -- more than anyone else in
Oscar History.
••••
He most recently appeared in "Gravity" and
through his Smokehouse production company
produced, directed and starred in "The
Monuments Men." He'll star next in the
Disney sci-fi film "Tomorrowland" and is
slated to direct a film about Britain's
phone-hacking scandal.
••••
The 72nd Golden Globes will be handed out
Jan. 11, 2015, in a ceremony airing live
on NBC.
•
The Cecil B.
DeMille Award is given annually- to those who have made an incredible
impact on the world of entertainment.
Recent recipients include Woody Allen
(2014), Jodie Foster (2013), Morgan
Freeman, (2012), Robert De Niro (2011),
Martin Scorsese (2010), Steven Spielberg
(2009), Warren Beatty (2007), Anthony
Hopkins (2006), Robin Williams (2005),
Michael Douglas (2004), Gene Hackman
(2003), Harrison Ford (2002), Al
Pacino (2001), and Barbra Streisand
(2000).
•
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101-s90- George Clooney Honored with Cecil
B. DeMille Award
///
•
115-
SIMON COWELL, NAMED MIPCOM 2014
PERSONALITY OF THE
YEAR Paris, Sept. 1, 2014
••••
Entertainment industry creative icon Simon
Cowell is to be honored as the MIPCOM 2014
Personality of the Year.
••••
The TV and film producer, music label boss
and internationally-renowned talent show
judge will receive his award at a gala
dinner for industry executives at the
Carlton Hotel in Cannes on Tuesday 14
October. On Monday 13 October, Cowell will
give a keynote interview in the Grand
Auditorium of the Palais des
Festivals.
••••
One of the best-known faces on TV screens
in the world, Cowell has transformed
popular culture in the 21st century
through his wide-reaching TV and music
enterprise.
••••
"Simon Cowell is a visionary producer
whose television franchises are on air in
almost 200 territories around the world,
underlining his status as a global
creative icon. In recognition of his
amazing career as a creator of
international formats and his formidable
impact on the entertainment industry as a
whole, we are honoured to welcome him to
Cannes as the MIPCOM 2014 Personality of
the Year," said Paul Zilk, CEO of Reed
MIDEM, organiser of MIPCOM.
••••
Cowell's Syco Entertainment is a
world-renowned music, film, and television
production company responsible for some of
the most successful global music and
television franchises. Syco's television
assets include the two international
phenomenon formats: "Got Talent" and "The
X Factor" both created by Simon Cowell.
The Syco Music roster includes stars such
as One Direction, Little Mix, Susan Boyle,
Ella Henderson, Il Divo, Labrinth, Cher
Lloyd, Fifth Harmony, Alex & Sierra,
and
Collabro.
•
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tviStory 115-s90- Simon Cowell named
MIPCOM's 2014 personality of the
year
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MIPCOM /// •108-
Buffett + $Bill = Burger King- "INVERSION"
Deal
•••
TVI's
Person of theWeek, Warren Buffett greases
$3 Billion to make the Burger King
Inversion deal
happen
••••
The $11.4
billion dollar transaction for Canadian
coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons
Inc., with headquarter in Canada is the
latest company to undergo an inversion,
which happens when an American company
uses a merger to reincorporate as a
foreign one.
••••
In such a maneuver, which is legal, a U.S.
company buys a foreign competitor in a
nation with a lower corporate tax rate and
shifts its headquarters to that
country.
••••
As inversions have gained in popularity in
recent years, the US administration has
been pushing for new restrictions. The
latest in a series of corporate offshore
tax-reducing moves, also puts the Obama
administration in a difficult spot as it
tries to stem the flow of U.S. companies
moving to foreign countries.
with
lower tax rates..
••••
Burger King's purchase of Tim Hortons,
creating the world's third-largest
fast-food
company,- is one of the highest-profile tax
inversions so far.
••••
Some
have suggested boycotting the fast food
chain, while others have directed their
criticism and anger toward the billionaire
investor Warren Buffett, whose company
Berkshire Hathaway is partly financing the
deal with investing $3 billion.
••
Industry experts said Burger King is
especially vulnerable to a backlash
because it is a popular consumer brand,
unlike some of the pharmaceutical
companies that have undertaken other
recent high-profile inversions.
••••
But
a backlash against Burger King will be
short-lived because most people will not
be thinking about their patriotism when
they are pulling through the drive-through
at Burger
King, to get a Whooper.
•
Buffett is famous for arguing-
that our tax code should be fairer and
that the rich and powerful should not get
more breaks than middle-income Americans
-- views that some say are incongruous
with his involvement in.
••••
He has been a staunch advocate of
companies and citizens paying their fair
share of taxes &emdash; so much so that
the administration's proposal to force
millionaires to pay the same share of
their income in taxes as middle-class
families is known as the Buffett Rule.
••••
"How can you hammer a deal for tax
policies when the very person your
signature tax policy -- the Buffett Rule
-- is named after is involved and argues
that [the deal] is not
tax-motivated?"
•
Buffett said it made sense-
for the combined company's headquarters to
be in Canada. The companies are roughly
equal in market value, and Tim Hortons had
sales of $3.2 billion last year, compared
with $1.1 billion for Burger
King.
••••
"Tim Hortons earns more money than Burger
King does," Buffett told the Financial
Times. "I just don't know how the
Canadians would feel about Tim Hortons
moving to Florida. The main thing here is
to make the Canadians happy."
••••
Anger toward Warren Buffett is
misdirected. He cannot close loopholes
that allow Burger King to claim Canadian
citizenship any more than he can close the
loophole that allows him and fund managers
to pay a smaller percentage of their
income in taxes than their
secretaries.
•
The real culprits are members of
Congress- who
have failed to close these loopholes and
have allowed Burger King to claim that it
is becoming a foreign corporation for tax
purposes even when common sense tells us
it is as American as any company could
be..
••••
You
see, Burger King will continue to serve
U.S. customers. It will not undergo much
change in ownership. And it will likely
continue to have its managers based in the
United States. But when it's time to pay
taxes, it will claim to be a newly
restructured company based in Canada,
which has a lower corporate tax rate.
••••
Burger King Worldwide Inc. executives said
the move to create a corporate holding
company in Canada was not a tax dodge.
Instead, they said, it was justified
because Canada would be the new company's
largest market. They noted that Burger
King would remain a stand-alone brand with
its headquarters still in Miami.
••••
Proposed restriction curbs probably
wouldn't apply to the Burger King-Tim
Hortons deal. A House bill has an
exception when a company has "substantial
business activities," such as 25% of its
employees or assets, in the country where
it plans to place its headquarters.
•
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108-s90- Buffett greases Burger King
inversion
deal ///
•101-CELEBRITY
SCENE - PETE ALLMAN HONORS MOTHER ON HER
93rd BIRTHDAY
WITH MUSICIAL
CELEBRATION
- (TVI Magazine)
••••
Celebrity
Scene's Pete Allman, known as ''the man on
the scene,'' has been involved in the
entertainment business for years, in
helping escalate the careers of Lyn
Ashley, The Oscar Martinez Dancers and
Kirby Van Burch, known as The Prince of
Magic.''
••••
Allman first arrived in Las Vegas in 1978
where he opened his own review, ''The Pete
Allman Revue,'' which opened at The
Fremont Hotel, later moving up the strip
to The Marina Hotel, now The MGM.
••••
Allman, who can still belt out a song,
segued from singing and journalism for
over 40 different publications such as
The Las Vegas Tribune, The Hollywood
Gazette, Showbiz Magazine, The Las Vegas
Hollywood Magazine, lasvegas.net,
newsblaze.com, into hosting radio
shows in California and Las Vegas, later
finding his true love in producing half
hour television shows such as The Las
Vegan Report, The Las Vegas Hollywood
Report, CMX Sports and Entertainment
and currently Talk Back at West
L.A.
College. •
Click
for
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tviNews stories Pete
Allman ///
"Game
of Thrones" earned the most nominations
when the 2014 Emmy nominees were
announced. The HBO show received 19
nominations, including one in the coveted
drama series category.
Actor
in a drama: Bryan Cranston ("Breaking
Bad") Actress in a drama: Julianna
Margulies ("The Good Wife") Drama series: "Breaking Bad"
(AMC) Comedy series: "Modern Family"
(ABC) Mini series: "Fargo" (FX) TV Movie: "The Normal Heart"
(HBO) Variety Series: "The Colbert
Report" •
Click
For
Complete
List of Emmy Nominees-
101-s90 ///
•
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