Chapter 1: What is Warner Bros. Discovery considering in the current media landscape?
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GM's stock soars after the automaker reports better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. Plus, why Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring a sale.
There is so much uncertainty about where the audience is going and how best to capture that audience and advertisers and the people who run these big companies naturally feel that they need to be bigger to compete.
and what's behind a surge in renters turning to fraud to apply for luxury apartments. It's Tuesday, October 21st. I'm Alex Ocelev for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. General Motors shares soared after its latest quarterly results.
The automaker's third quarter was surprisingly strong, even with the pain of tariffs, a slowing electric vehicle market, and supply crunches. GM said it is making faster-than-expected progress, reducing a multibillion-dollar tariff bill. Speaking on this morning's earnings call, GM CEO Mary Barra said the company is also moving quickly to downsize its money-losing electric vehicle business.
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Chapter 2: What factors are driving the consolidation in the entertainment industry?
Warner said it's gotten interest from, quote, multiple parties. WSJ media and entertainment reporter Joe Flint joins me now with more. Joe, what can you tell us about this interest in Warner Brothers Discovery's assets?
The Wall Street Journal's previously reported Paramount has made offers for Warner Brothers Discovery, and they have now made two offers, both of which have been rebuffed. Warner Brothers Discovery issued a statement this morning saying they have received interest from multiple suitors for some or all of the company. They're not disclosing who the suitors are.
There's a round up the usual suspects list going around the industry. The others are very likely more interested in the Warner Brothers studio, library, and
So Warner had previously announced that it was planning to split itself up. So given this announcement today, what happens with some of those plans?
The chairman of the company issued a statement this morning saying the split is still the preferred option of the company. Now, this can be also seen as a bit of a negotiating ploy. But for now, they said they're going to explore these other options, keep marching forward with the split with an idea of completing it in the middle of 2026 at the latest.
It seems like this is part of a bigger consolidation push within the entertainment industry. What's driving that?
fear fear is partially driving the consolidation there is so much uncertainty about where the audience is going and how best to capture that audience and advertisers and the people who run these big companies naturally feel that they need to be bigger to compete well paramount has not commented specifically about warner brothers or any potential acquisitions
David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount, did say the other week at an industry conference that any deals they did would be more about increasing their content, increasing their market share. The more toys you have, the more you can bring people into your store. That's basically the thinking.
That was WSJ reporter Joe Flint. Thank you, Joe.
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Chapter 3: How did General Motors perform in its latest earnings report?
Unilever said it still aimed to complete the spinoff of its ice cream business this year and was considering a workaround to be able to list its shares. The rent's just too high for a lot of people. So in some cities, renters are turning to fraud. They're fudging financial information on their applications, like lying about their income.
There's even a market in fake rental application packages, which can include doctored employment letters and financial documents. The surge in renter application fraud, especially in new luxury buildings, is causing plenty of headaches for both landlords and tenants. Debra Acosta covers real estate for The Journal and is here to tell us more.
Debra, you write that Atlanta is the epicenter of this surge of fraudulent renter applications. Why is that?
Atlanta has a situation in which they've had a ton of these brand new luxury buildings hit the market in the past few years. There's all these rental units available on the market. There's not really enough people who can afford to live in them. I spoke with someone who helps these landlords combat the fraud.
And he said that whenever there's a brand new building that's empty and leasing up 100%, that really attracts a lot of fraudsters because they see that there's going to be a ton of new people coming in. And that's where they can kind of squeeze themselves in, likely without getting noticed.
The other thing that's happening is the advent of AI has made it a lot easier for people to forge these applications. And three, during the pandemic, a lot of individuals were getting these stimulus checks that allowed them to afford these apartments. But then as that money ran out, suddenly they found themselves in a situation where they were living beyond their means.
Is this type of fraud also happening in other cities? What's fascinating is that it's not just Atlanta. It's really spread across the country in Miami, in Washington, D.C., and in Houston and in other parts of the country.
Is fudging your application really a crime?
So if you use a false social security number to hide your credit history, that is fraud. Yes. Is anybody going to go after you criminally for doing that? That's an open question. I spoke with someone at the Department of Justice who said, you know, this is kind of small potatoes for us. This is not the kind of thing we're really going after.
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