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How could the latest twist in the Warner Brothers takeover saga reshape Hollywood?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I am Bissi Adebayo.
As Pokemon turns 30.
One of Japan's biggest cultural exports is still a global moneymaker, and freight trains are running on a new rail link between Hungary and Serbia.
Yes, the blockbuster fight to sign the media mega deal for Warner Brothers Discovery may be over.
Yes, Netflix has backed away from its proposal to buy Warner Brothers, clearing the way for Paramount Skydance to seal the deal for one of Hollywood's most famous studios, for around 100 million and 11 billion.
Luke Stillman is managing director at Madison & Wall, a media and advertising consultancy in New York.
He told us why the streaming giant walked away and what could lie ahead for Paramount.
People prefer Netflix as a builder rather than a buyer.
They're coming off a very strong quarter.
They're going to be one of the biggest sellers of advertising this year.
And from that perspective, taking on a big, complex acquisition just didn't fit the picture we see for their future.
So talking about the Paramount offer now, it was much more comprehensive.
It wanted every part of Warner Brothers.
But what will it mean for viewers if it gets approved?
There are lots of moving parts here, especially in the UK, with Paramount's ownership of Channel 5, Warner's Premier League and Champions League sports rights.
I think for viewers what this means, maybe they're going to pay more for streaming platforms.
Maybe content will be a little more fragmented than it used to be.
It might not be as disruptive as Netflix taking over, but there will certainly be some effect on the consumer.
Where and why might the deal be held up or cancelled?
Paramount always had a cleaner path to approval than Netflix would have.
Their streaming footprint is smaller.
They've already cleared some regulatory hurdles.
And they've committed to paying $7 billion if they don't get regulatory approval.
So we think there's a very high likelihood that this closes.
Is Europe not likely to be a bigger hurdle here, given how tough the regulations are?
It could be, but some German approvals have already been secured.
There's a clock ticking here.
If the deal doesn't close by September 30th, Paramount has to pay a little more each quarter.
And we've seen regulators taking a broader view of TV these days, maybe including YouTube, maybe including social video.
So the competitive dynamics aren't quite what they used to be.
That was Luke Stillman from Madison and Wall there.
Randeep Samal, who is a fund manager at M&G Investments in the UK, is with us.
Randeep, tell us, how has this news been received at your end?
A price tag Netflix wasn't prepared to pay?
It was the price tag that had kept on creeping it up.
A bid that started off at $83 billion has now ended up at $111 billion.
Netflix shareholders are breathing a sigh of relief.
Shares are up 9%.
While Netflix wanted content and Warner Brothers provides that with the likes of Batman and Game of Thrones.
There's a price to pay.
And I think Netflix shareholders are relieved today that they're not overpaying for assets.
Stay right there Randy, because right now we're turning to India, which has posted economic growth of 78.
But that headline number comes after officials changed how the economy is measured.
Our India business correspondent, Archana Shukla, explains.
October to December was really the period and the first full quarter when Indian exporters actually felt the full brunt of US tariffs.
But despite that, the economy held up, and it's largely because of domestic consumption, particularly around the festive season, which is October to December.
And that was the time when the government went ahead with sweeping reforms, like large scale tax cuts to boost consumption.
The other segment that has done very well is manufacturing.
While there has been an impact on exports, which net exports have actually been a drag in this quarter, but overall manufacturing has helped up.
Now, we've also seen officials tweak the way they measure the economy.
Why did they feel the need to change it?
Does it alter the picture much?
India has now revised its full year growth projection to 76, which is higher than what it was projected under the old series, shows that there is an impact of the change in the way they are calculating these numbers.
But it was crucial because there had been a lot of criticism globally about lack of trust in Indian data.
And the government looked at bringing it to reflect the current economic reality.
So the rebasing now reflects different sectors, the new age sectors like digital economy, gig workers, which will get more prominence in calculation of these data.
Other sectors like agriculture and maybe informal manufacturing may carry less weight.
Our India business correspondent Archana Shukla reporting there.
The boom in big tech companies pouring money into artificial intelligence is set to continue.
Amazon says it plans a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, beginning with an initial outlay of around 15 billion, followed by a 35 billion injection in the coming months.
The funding round puts the chat GPT maker at one of the highest valuations ever for a private tech firm.
Randy Ipsomel of M&G Investments is still very much with us.
So we've just heard about Amazon investing heavily in AI.
Now Jack Dorsey's block is cutting nearly half of its workforce.
So how much of that reflects AI disruption?
Yes, big news today in the world of artificial intelligence.
Let's start off with the investments in OpenAI.
$110 billion has been invested in the latest funding round, taking their valuation to $730 billion.
This is a company that does not make any profits currently.
What they want is to continue to develop their business, continue to invest in servers and the language model, so companies going forward will be able to use this.
And I think we've seen a good illustration of that today with Block.
Block is laying off nearly 40 of its workforce nearly 4000 people because Jack Dorsey believes that they are getting so much more efficiencies from AI that they can cut down on the number of people that they need.
We should also bear in mind that the employee numbers have only got back to where they were in 2020.
Randip Sumel of MRG Investments, thank you.
Freight trains are now running on the new high-speed rail link between Hungary and Serbia, cutting journey times and raising hopes of a boost for trade in the region.
The Budapest-Belgrade line is a major infrastructure project backed by China, Russia and the European Union.
Our Balkans correspondent, Guy Deloney, has been tracking this for us. linking two capitals.
You're going to bring the journey times down from more than eight hours to around three and a half hours.
But it's also the connectivity overall in terms of what this is going to do for freight traffic in the region, as well as passenger traffic.
It's going to connect Central Europe better to the ports going into, for example, Greece.
And in all sorts of different ways, it's just going to mean that this part of Europe is better connected to the rest of the continent.
And that will have a ripple effect on the economy.
It certainly will, but it's come at a price.
The Hungarian side of the operation, for example.
So we're just looking at from the border with Serbia through to Hungary's capital in Budapest.
We're looking at a price tag of something approaching 4 billion.
Serbia, just the section which went from Belgrade to the second city of Novi Sad.
That cost around 1 billion.
And people are calculating, well, is this going to pay back?
Our Balkans correspondent, Guy Delaney, there.
Well, Pokemon turns 30 today, and what began with 151 creatures, including Pikachu, has now grown into one of Japan's biggest global exports, spanning video games, films and merchandise.
Sakon Toto is CEO of Canton Games in Tokyo.
It's the quality and the depth of the property.
The Pokemon company has been very, very clever, not only creating a world-class IP at a very, very early stage in the video game lifecycle, but they were able to maintain the power of that IP over such a long time.
And I think it's really their attention to detail and their attention to quality over all of these decades.
Serkin Toto is CEO of Canton Games in Tokyo.
Well, I might not have a favorite Pokemon character, but I do know, as a mom of two, that I spend a lot of money on Pokemon cards.
Well, that's it from World Business Express.
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You can order from an extensive international menu, along with premium drinks.
There's even a bar and an exclusive shower spa on the Emirates A380.
Along with chauffeur-driven airport transfers and the Emirates Lounge.
It's a better way to do business.
