Blockbuster movies and television series from the Disney media empire will soon be screened free-to-air in the Middle East, after a new deal announced in Dubai today.
Disney, which owns the ABC television channel, Pixar animation studio and a host of successful film production houses, will partner with two regional free-to-air channels, Fox Movies and Fox Series. The two free-to-air channels launched in the past year as joint ventures between Fox and the Saudi-owned Rotana Group.
Rotana is owned by Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the billionaire investor who is a major shareholder of both Disney and News Corporation, the parent company of Fox. News Corporation is expected to announce a significant investment in Rotana in January, acquiring 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the company.
Rotana said it paid Dh100 million to Disney for the rights to screen its content.
Disney films such as Wall-E and Pirates of the Caribbean, and the comedy series Ugly Betty, have previously been screened on regional pay TV channels, accessed by less than 5 per cent of the region's television viewers. The new partnership will bring the content to the Middle East's booming satellite free-to-air television market.
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Produced by: Colour Yellow Productions and Eros Now
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Piyush Mishra, Diana Penty, Aparshakti Khurrana
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The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
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