Business

The sportswear tycoon Dave Whelan is heading for a showdown with landlords over plans for an overhaul of his Fitness First gyms empire that would involve site closures and steep rent cuts. Sky News has learnt that Mr Whelan, best-known as the former owner of Wigan Athletic Football Club, is working with advisers on a

AMC Entertainment chief executive Adam Aron saw compensation last year totaling $23.7 million, up 25% from $18.9 million in 2021, according to an SEC filing Friday. That included a base salary of $1.5 million, a $6 million cash bonus, and stock awards valued at $16.2 million. “Despite challenging industry and economic conditions, as has been

Manchester United could become the most expensive sports team in the world, after a Qatari businessman entered a record-breaking offer as the bidding window slammed closed. Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad, who chairs the Qatar Islamic Bank, submitted his final offer for the club on Friday, Sky News understands, with the figure offered thought to be

Hollywood has been a union town for close to 100 years. In that time, there have been a little over a dozen major labor strikes, the last being the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America work stoppage, which lasted 14 weeks and had a profound impact on the industry. The current looming strike by the WGA

For some time now, the City has been doing some soul-searching over its future. There was a lot of speculation around the time of Brexit that, deprived of the “passport” that enabled UK-based firms to do business in the EU without having permission from each individual country regulator, there would be heavy job losses in

Endeavor Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel, whose bonus-laden $308 million pay package turned heads in 2021, made $19.1 million in 2022, according to the company’s latest proxy filing. The exec took home $4 million in salary, $8.2 million in the form of a bonus and $6 million in non-equity incentive compensation, the filing said. Emanuel’s

The number of people taking “breathing space” from their debt problems has soared by more than a third year-on-year, official data shows. There were 23,179 registrations for the relief in the first three months of 2023, up 34% from the same period in 2022, according to Insolvency Service figures. Of this total, 22,770 were standard

Sony Pictures Entertainment saw operating income dip by nearly $800M for the fiscal year to March 31, 2023, as a lack of tentpole franchise launches bit. The Sony Corp-owned unit, which houses film, TV production and TV networks, reported operating income of 119.3 billion yen ($880M), down from 217.4 billion yen ($1.67B) last year. With

The world’s largest economy slowed sharply in the first quarter of the year, according to the first official estimate which has raised fears of recession ahead. Growth was measured at an annualised rate of 1.1% between January and March, the Commerce Department said. Economists had been expecting a figure of 2%. The slump followed growth

Charlie Collier, who took over as President of Roku Media in late October, had a pay package that topped $53 million in the last three months of 2022. Collier earned a base salary of $1.075 million, with a stock awards package of $23,279,331 and option awards of $28,925,320. Other compensation totaled $25,245. Collier left his

Sainsbury’s has reported a fall in its pre-tax profit, as it reveals it has spent more than £560m on “keeping our prices low over the last two years”. The supermarket chain said that in the year ending 4 March, its group sales were up 5.4% to £35.15bn, but underlying profit before tax was £690m –

As negotiations for a new Writers Guild contract enter their final phase, the Association of Talent Agents has sent its member-agencies a 22-page summary of the “force majeure” provisions contained in the contracts of the WGA, SAG-AFTRA and the DGA. Force majeure, the ATA notes, “is a provision in a contract that addresses the parties’ obligations

The British competition watchdog has blocked Microsoft’s bid to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stopped the $68.7bn (£55bn) deal due to concerns that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. In its final report on Wednesday, the CMA said that the move was “the only effective

Shares in Meta Platforms jumped 12% in after-hours trading following the company’s report of better-than-expected first-quarter financials. Despite being well below the record highs established in mid-2021, the stock has nearly doubled this year so far. It ended regular trading Wednesday at $209.40, up 1%. Meta, parent of social media giants Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp,

It is rare for a decision by the UK’s competition regulator to make waves globally. The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has traditionally not been as significant a force in preventing corporate deals as the European Commission or the US Federal Trade Commission. So the CMA’s decision to block Microsoft’s $75bn takeover of the games

EXCLUSIVE: As Disney cuts 4K staffers across the conglomerate in a goal to reach $5.5 billion in savings, Deadline has learned that on the feature side, those being laid off were largely comprised of mid-level and coordinator staffers. Among those departments hit were Searchlight, as well as general Disney marketing, PR, distribution, legal, and the

The Bank of England’s chief economist has urged people to accept they are poorer, warning that inflation risks remaining stubbornly high. Huw Pill told a podcast that people and businesses have responded to higher bills and costs by asking for higher wages or charging their customers more money. His remarks echoed warnings from Bank governor

Disney’s widespread layoffs are not going quite as deep at ESPN as in other parts of the empire, but the roster of those departing does include at least one high-ranking exec: Russell Wolff, GM of ESPN+. The EVP’s exit was reported by multiple media outlets and then confirmed to Deadline by a person familiar with

The chief executive of Ted Baker is close to leaving the company six months after it was taken over by a giant American brands and entertainment conglomerate. Sky News has learnt that Rachel Osborne, who took the helm at the British retailer in the midst of a governance and accounting crisis in 2020, is expected

Disney is taking extra precautions across their theme parks globally following the incident at Disneyland where the dragon caught fire during the Fantasmic! show Saturday night. “We are temporarily suspending fire effects similar to those used at Disneyland park’s Fantasmic at select shows and entertainment experiences globally out of an abundance of caution following the