Wall Street reacts to SAG-AFTRA joining WGA strike

“Entertainment Stocks Slump as Hollywood Strike Widens to SAG-AFTRA”

Via IMDb:

Entertainment stocks struggled on Friday as actors hit the streets of New York and Los Angeles for SAG-AFTRA’s first day of picketing. Investors sold down the shares as Wall Street struggled to assess the impact of the widening strike on the companies’ revenue and costs.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery ended Friday’s trading session down more than 5%, while Paramount Global tumbled 4.6%, Disney slipped 2%, Netflix fell 1.8% and Comcast dipped 1.4%.

That aligns with this report from Deadline:

Tim Nollen, a veteran media analyst with Macquarie Equity Research, issued a note to clients today on the impact of the first strike by writers and actors since 1960. Media and tech stocks have pulled back a bit today, with Disney and Netflix shares off 2% and Comcast down 1%, but overall share prices and broader markets are not yet showing any severe reaction to the picketing. That could change in the trading days to come, Nollen predicts.

“Now, TV and movie filming grinds to a halt,” the analyst wrote. “Pay including royalties, working conditions including benefits, and terms around the use of generative AI are the sticking points, driven by wholesale changes that streaming has wrought in content production and consumption — writers and actors are often paid a lump sum only for the show, not for residuals, like windowing of linear TV or box office films. The timing will affect many of this coming season’s scheduled scripted dramas on TV, which may ironically drive even more viewers to streaming services, where lead times can be 1–2 years for episodic series and hence won’t be affected until next year.

Financial pressure seems to be the only thing that gets the attention of the C-suite denizens. At some point, Wall Street will demand the companies resolve this work stoppage.

The irony is, the AMPTP companies could have resolved this issue 75 days ago … and saved everyone a shit ton of lost revenue.

For the rest of the IMDb article, go here.

For the latest updates on the strike and news resources, go here.

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