Wall Street Breakfast

Paramount gains on Barry Diller buzz, streaming merger talks

Paramount (PARA) (PARAA) talking with potential partners to merge streaming - CNBC, report of interest from media mogul Barry Diller/IAC. (00:29) U.S. judge halts Biden administration pause on LNG export licenses. (01:44) Conn's (CONN) may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - report. (02:46)

Episode transcripts seekingalpha.com/wsb.

Show links:
Biggest stock movers today: PARA, INCY, and more
Where Morgan Stanley sees pockets of safety as S&P 500 faces 'technical fragility'
Will BYD beat Tesla again in the EV sales race?
Salesforce shareholders reject pay package for CEO Marc Benioff, top execs

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Duration:: 5m
Broadcast on:: 02 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Good morning! Today is Tuesday, July 2nd. I'm Julie Morgan. Paramount Global is reportedly in discussions with a potential partner. A judge tells the Biden administration about LNG applications, "You can't do that." And cons is one of the biggest movers of the day pre-market, but it's not positive. Paramount Global is reportedly in discussions to merge Paramount+ with a partner, and Warner Bros. Discovery is again coming up as a potential match. CNBC reported that Paramount is talking with other industry companies about such a venture, and along with Warner Bros., those talks are said to have included Comcast, whose Peacock service is of similar competitive scale to Paramount+. A combination of Paramount+ with a service like Warner Bros. Max and/or Peacock would give a firmer base with which to compete with the bigger players in Netflix and Disney+ Hulu/ESBN. Along with stabilizing churn a joint venture that included co-ownership, would also take some streaming losses off the larger company balance sheet. Meanwhile, Paramount Global has reportedly caught the eye of media mogul Barry Diller and his company IAC. According to a New York Times report late Monday, which cited people familiar with the matter, Diller is exploring a bid to take control of Paramount. The report says IAC has signed a non-disclosure agreement with national amusements, Paramount's controlling shareholder. Pre-market Paramount is up three percent. A U.S. District judge on Monday blocked the Biden administration's ban on approving applications to export liquefied natural gas, ordering that the LNG export ban be stayed in its entirety, effective immediately. A coalition of 16 GOP-led states, including Texas and Louisiana, filed suit in March arguing the Biden administration lacked the authority to broadly deny the permits. The administration said the pause was intended to allow the U.S. Department of Energy and other officials to review the process for analyzing economic and environmental impacts of projects seeking approval to export LNG. The state said the pause on new approvals for LNG exports overstep the DOE's authority under the Natural Gas Act, which they said must show projects are inconsistent with the public interest before denying applications. The pause has raised uncertainty on the status of LNG export projects that have yet to obtain licenses. Khans may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the coming weeks. Sources told Bloomberg that the furniture retailer is buckling under years of losses, as well as challenges in integrating Badcock, which it acquired last year. Khans is down 30 percent pre-market after shedding nearly six percent on Monday. The shares have declined 77 percent year to date. The plan to file for bankruptcy is not yet finalized and could change the report noted. Khans has struggled to reign in losses as customers cut back on discretionary spending amid high inflation. The company engaged financial advisors to help with its debt in operations and delayed filing its latest quarterly report with the SEC amid efforts to refinance its revolving credit facility. I want to point out to you a few other articles that you should look out for on Seeking Alpha. Will BYD beat Tesla again in the EV sales race? Salesforce shareholders reject the pay package for CEO Mark Benioff and Top Exex. And where does Morgan Stanley see pockets of safety as the S&P 500 faces technical fragility? On our catalyst watch for the day. Notable investor events include annual meetings for box and snowflake. Now for a look at the markets today as of 6 a.m. Dow S&P and NASDAQ futures are in the red. Crude Oil is up 0.8 percent at 84 dollars a barrel. Bitcoin is down 0.4 percent at 62,000. In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is down 0.3 percent and the DAX is down 1 percent. Wide Open West is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. Wow was down 5 percent after Raymond James downgraded the cable and internet provider for market perform to underperform, citing limited upside and skepticism about a higher acquisition bid than the current $4.80 offer. On today's economic calendar, at 9.30 a.m., the Feds Jerome Powell will participate in a policy panel before the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking 2024 and at 10 a.m. the job openings and labor turnover survey. That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. For a full offering of news, analysis, ratings and data on stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Learn more at seekingalpha.com/subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day. [BLANK_AUDIO]