Business
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Nia Warfield

Warner Bros. Discovery surges as HBO Max inks new Asia streaming deal

Warner Bros. Discovery shares jumped almost 8% in Wednesday’s trading, leading S&P 500 gains, after the media giant unveiled a new streaming partnership in Southeast Asia.

Starting in Q4 of this year, HBO Max will join forces with leading local streamer Viu, which boasts viewers in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

Instead of fighting for market share from scratch, Warner is tapping into Viu’s strong regional base to speed adoption and cut marketing costs. The deal means subscribers get both global blockbusters and local hits under one roof, including “Harry Potter,” DC movies, “Game of Thrones,” and Korean drama “Taxi Driver 3.”

Back in June, Warner announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies, one of which includes a new Streaming & Studios unit that will house Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max, along with the company’s deep film and TV library. 

For Warner, the new deal could not only bolster exposure in the Asian market, but also boost margins and keep subscriptions coming in.

Shares of the media powerhouse are now up 14% year to date.

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Tom Jones
reduced to tiers
24m
Netflix made $1.5 billion from advertising last year, about 3% of its total revenue

The figure rose more than 2.5x last year, per the company.

Netflix Ads x CES 2026
business
Tom Jones

OpenAI’s ARR reached over $20 billion in 2025, CFO says

Sam Altman’s $500 billion artificial intelligence behemoth hit a major financial milestone last year, according to a new blog post over the weekend from OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, as the company confirmed it had hit a more than $20 billion annual revenue run rate at the end of 2025.

Elsewhere in the blog post, Friar spent time addressing the company’s shifting goals, referencing plans to “close the distance between where intelligence is advancing and how individuals, companies, and countries actually adopt and use it.” As has become customary in the AI company press release genre, the CFO was also keen to tout the unending growth of the business, writing:

  • “Both our Weekly Active User (WAU) and Daily Active User (DAU) figures continue to produce all-time highs. This growth is driven by a flywheel across compute, frontier research, products, and monetization.”

  • “Compute grew 3X year over year or 9.5X from 2023 to 2025: 0.2 GW in 2023, 0.6 GW in 2024, and ~1.9 GW in 2025.”

And, perhaps most importantly for current backers and those keeping an eye on the private company before its rumored mega IPO:

  • “Revenue followed the same curve growing 3X year over year, or 10X from 2023 to 2025: $2B ARR in 2023, $6B in 2024, and $20B+ in 2025. This is never-before-seen growth at such scale.”

That latest figure has certainly set tongues in the tech world wagging, just as the company announced it would begin rolling out ads to free and ChatGPT Go users. It also puts the chatbot giant a fair way ahead of competitors like Anthropic, the company behind Claude.

OpenAI Anthropic ARR race
Sherwood News

A business that scales with the value of intelligence

A business that scales with the value of intelligence

Elsewhere in the blog post, Friar spent time addressing the company’s shifting goals, referencing plans to “close the distance between where intelligence is advancing and how individuals, companies, and countries actually adopt and use it.” As has become customary in the AI company press release genre, the CFO was also keen to tout the unending growth of the business, writing:

  • “Both our Weekly Active User (WAU) and Daily Active User (DAU) figures continue to produce all-time highs. This growth is driven by a flywheel across compute, frontier research, products, and monetization.”

  • “Compute grew 3X year over year or 9.5X from 2023 to 2025: 0.2 GW in 2023, 0.6 GW in 2024, and ~1.9 GW in 2025.”

And, perhaps most importantly for current backers and those keeping an eye on the private company before its rumored mega IPO:

  • “Revenue followed the same curve growing 3X year over year, or 10X from 2023 to 2025: $2B ARR in 2023, $6B in 2024, and $20B+ in 2025. This is never-before-seen growth at such scale.”

That latest figure has certainly set tongues in the tech world wagging, just as the company announced it would begin rolling out ads to free and ChatGPT Go users. It also puts the chatbot giant a fair way ahead of competitors like Anthropic, the company behind Claude.

OpenAI Anthropic ARR race
Sherwood News
The Sphere In Las Vegas

Washington, DC, looks set to get America’s second Sphere

Revenue for the Las Vegas version of the big orb has soared, but the Sphere is still a money pit.

Claire Yubin Oh1/19/26
Max Knoblauch
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Opponents of the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal take fight to Europe

Europe is the latest frontier of the ongoing tug-of-war for the “Friends” back catalog.

Paramount Skydance To Reportedly Make Bid For Warner Bros. Discovery
business
Max Knoblauch

Ford reportedly in talks to buy hybrid vehicle batteries from Chinese auto giant BYD

Detroit’s Ford and China’s BYD are said to be in ongoing talks to partner on an agreement that would see Ford buy hybrid vehicle batteries from BYD, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

The report comes just days after President Trump toured a Ford factory in Michigan and implied openness to Chinese automakers coming to the US.

“If they want to come in and build a plant... that’s great, I love that,” Trump said on January 13. “Let China come in, let Japan come in.”

Last week, China’s Geely Automobile Holdings said it expects to make an announcement about expanding into the US within the next three years. Chinese carmakers currently face huge tariffs and software restrictions, effectively barring their vehicles from the US.

Ford has doubled down on hybrid vehicles amid high EV costs and the end of federal EV tax credits. The automaker is currently building a battery plant in Michigan where it plans to use tech from Chinese battery maker CATL.

Exclusive | Ford, China’s BYD in Talks for Hybrid-Vehicle Batteries After EV Market Flames Out

Exclusive | Ford, China’s BYD in Talks for Hybrid-Vehicle Batteries After EV Market Flames Out

“If they want to come in and build a plant... that’s great, I love that,” Trump said on January 13. “Let China come in, let Japan come in.”

Last week, China’s Geely Automobile Holdings said it expects to make an announcement about expanding into the US within the next three years. Chinese carmakers currently face huge tariffs and software restrictions, effectively barring their vehicles from the US.

Ford has doubled down on hybrid vehicles amid high EV costs and the end of federal EV tax credits. The automaker is currently building a battery plant in Michigan where it plans to use tech from Chinese battery maker CATL.

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