Of course they didn't. That's pure poppycock.
But it's the kind of April Fools' Day prank that -- when believed for even a nano-second -- accomplishes exactly what every marketer wants more of but keeps getting less of in a fragmented world: attention. Aching particularly for social media buzz that just might go viral, major marketers from Frito-Lay to American Eagle have joined-in early on the April Fools' Day fun. But not just for laughs.
"Brands know that generating conversation on social media is critical not just for top-of-mind awareness, but for the cool factor," says Denise Lee Yohn, author of What Great Brands Do. "They do these goofy thing so they're considered relevant."
Top 10 Low Price Companies To Buy Right Now: Charter Communications Inc.(CHTR)
Charter Communications, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides entertainment, information, and communications solutions to residential and commercial customers in the United States. The company offers cable video programming services, such as basic and digital video, premium channels, OnDemand, pay-per-view, high definition television, digital video recorder, and online video services; Internet services; Charter.net, which provides multiple e-mail addresses, as well as various entertainment, games, news, and sports content; and telephone services. It also provides broadband communications solutions, such as Internet access, data networking, fiber connectivity to cellular towers and office buildings, video entertainment services, and business telephone services under the Charter Business brand name to business and carrier organizations. As of December 31, 2011, the company served approximately 4.1 million video customers; approximately 3.5 million Internet customers; appr oximately 1.7 million telephone customers; and approximately 476,200 commercial primary service units. Charter Communications, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) is reported to be preparing an offer to acquire larger competitor Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) at a price below $135 a share. Time Warner has reportedly indicated that it would likely accept an offer north of $150 a share, so if Charter comes in with its low-ball (a bear hug) offer the primary reason is that it wants to get the ball rolling.
- [By Sean Williams]
Finally, cable operator Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC ) trudged higher by another 2.7% as ongoing rumors continue to swirl about a potential buyout offer from Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR ) . These rumors became even more intriguing when Charter announced yesterday that it had amended credit agreements on $4.8 billion worth of its debt, presumably to give it more room should it decide to make an acquisition. The broadcasting space is certainly ripe for acquisition, but I also wouldn't suggest foolishly chasing names in this space higher on rumors.�
Best Media Companies To Watch For 2014: Liberty Global Inc.(LBTYA)
Liberty Global, Inc. provides video, broadband Internet, and telephony services primarily in Europe and Chile. The company offers broadband services over cable distribution systems, including video, broadband Internet, and telephony; and video services through direct-to-home satellite, or through multichannel multipoint distribution systems. Its analog video services comprise basic and expanded basic programming; and digital cable services include basic and premium programming, digital video recorders, and high definition programming, as well as pay-per-view programming, such as video-on-demand and near video-on-demand. In addition, the company offers voice-over-Internet-protocol and circuit-switched telephony services, as well as mobile telephony services using third-party networks. Further, it owns programming networks that provide video programming channels to multi-channel distribution systems owned by the company and the third parties. As of December 31, 2011, the com pany owned and operated networks that passed 33,262,100 homes; and served 18,405,500 video subscribers, 8,159,300 broadband Internet subscribers, and 6,225,300 telephony subscribers. Liberty Global, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is based in Englewood, Colorado.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.MARKETWATCH.COM]
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management gave Liberty Global's (LBTYA) stock a big boost on Monday after he noted how the company will benefit from increasing demand for broadband, in part due to Netflix's expansion. He also speculated the possiblity of a high-profile takeover from major mobile operators such as Vodafone (VOD) . Liberty Global is a cable holding company owned by John Malone. Shares of Liberty Global were up 2.2% and shares of Vodafone gained 0.6% following Laffont's presentation at the Ira Sohn conference .
- [By Tim Brugger]
Upon Liberty Global's (NASDAQ: LBTYA ) successfully closing its acquisition of Virgin Media (NASDAQ: VMED ) , Tom Mockridge will assume CEO responsibilities of the U.K. communications firm, Liberty Global announced today.
- [By Lauren Pollock]
Liberty Global(LBTYA) PLC has agreed to sell substantially all of its international content division Chellomedia to AMC Networks Inc.(AMCX) in a deal worth $1 billion, allowing the cable company to focus on its core markets.
- [By Holly LaFon]
Besides Yahoo, Loeb�� top holdings are AIG (AIG), Liberty Global Group Inc. (LBTYA) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO), up 42%, 19% and 17%, respectively, from his average purchase price.
Best Media Companies To Watch For 2014: Time Warner Inc.(TWX)
Time Warner Inc. operates as a media and entertainment company in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Networks, Filmed Entertainment, and Publishing. The Networks segment provides domestic and international networks, premium pay and basic tier television programming services, and digital media properties, which primarily consist of brand-aligned Websites. Its premium pay television services consist of the multi-channel HBO and Cinemax premium pay television services. This segment provides programming to cable system operators, satellite service distributors, telephone companies, and other distributors; sells advertising; and licenses original programming to domestic and international television networks. The Filmed Entertainment segment produces and distributes feature films, television and other programming, and videogames; distributes home video products; and licenses rights to its feature films, television programming, and characters. T he Publishing segment publishes magazines and books; and operates various Websites, as well as engages in marketing services and direct-marketing businesses. This segment publishes magazines on style and entertainment, lifestyle, news, and sports. The company?s brands include TNT, TBS, CNN, HBO, Cinemax, Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, People, Sports Illustrated, and Time. Time Warner Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]
Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty ImagesStephen Colbert (left) practices his network performance with Jimmy Fallon. From a fallen dot-com darling scoring a rare hat trick to a discount retailer discounting its headcount, here's a rundown of the week's smartest moves and biggest blunders in the business world. CBS (CBS) -- Winner David Letterman is leaving his late-night talk show next year, and CBS allowed only a week to pass between that announcement and naming his replacement. Stephen Colbert will take over "The Late Show." It may seem like a gutsy call. Colbert's satirical skewering of political conservatives is polarizing, even if his talk show persona is unlikely to embrace the character that made him a Comedy Central late-night star. It's still an attention-grabbing announcement and one that should benefit CBS as well as its sister company and Comedy Central parent Viacom (VIA). Time Warner (TWX) -- Loser "Game of Thrones" kicked off its highly anticipated fourth season on Time Warner's (TWX) HBO on Sunday, but it wasn't just the show's power-hungry characters that were out for blood. Online users were incensed to find an outage on HBO Go preventing them from watching the premiere for several hours. HBO Go has been a major component of the premium movie channel's success in recent years, included at no additional cost with HBO subscriptions to justify the platform's high cost relative to Netflix (NFLX) and other growing streaming video services. Subscribers expect reliability when they're paying up for a premium service, and they just didn't get it. A big reason why this outage is making news -- as HBO Go subscribers had to stay off social media to avoid spoilers -- is because there was a similar disruption last month during HBO's "True Detective." Yelp (YELP) -- Winner Yelp may not be very popular with its investors, nor with some irate merchants, but it got some love from Wall Street this week. Three analyst firms -- Oppenheimer, SunTrust and
- [By Alex Planes]
At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced iWork for iCloud, a direct competitive volley against Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) and (to a lesser extent) Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) in cloud-based productivity software. Chipping away at Microsoft's long-standing dominance with Office would go a long way toward eliminating the Windows-maker as a significant competitive threat in the mobile world. More recently, Apple partnered with Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX ) HBO GO and Disney's (NYSE: DIS ) WatchESPN to allow its TV set-top box users access to more diverse on-demand content. Even though Apple has come under significant pressure as the mobile space saturates, its shares are still worth looking into at today's prices.
- [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]
While Time Warner is expensive relative to its historical price to earnings multiple, it is still relatively cheap compared to competitors like Discovery and CBS. There is talk of a possible merger between Time Warner and Liberty Media, which would boost the share price, but that’s just speculation at this point. Many analysts predict Time Warner will move toward the mid- to high-sixties in the near-term. Revenues should benefit from an impressive lineup of summer films. Additionally, Time Warner�� competitive advantage is relatively safe as there are high barriers-to-entry in creating profitable media content. With a healthy and growing dividend to boot, Time Warner is an OUTPERFORM.
Best Media Companies To Watch For 2014: News Corporation(NWSA)
News Corporation operates as a diversified media company worldwide. Its Cable Network Programming segment produces and licenses news, business news, sports, general entertainment, and movie programming for distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators primarily in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The company?s Filmed Entertainment segment produces and acquires live-action and animated motion pictures for distribution and licensing in entertainment media, as well as produces and licenses television programming worldwide. Its Television segment operates 27 broadcast television stations in the United States. The company?s Direct Broadcast Satellite Television segment distributes programming services via satellite and broadband directly to subscribers in Italy. Its Publishing segment provides newspapers and information services, such as publishing national newspapers in the United Kingdom, approximately 146 newspapers in Australia, and a metropolitan and a national newspaper in the United States; book publishing services, including the publishing of English language books worldwide; and integrated marketing services comprising the publishing of free-standing inserts, which are marketing booklets containing coupons, rebates, and other consumer offers, as well as provides in-store marketing products and services, primarily to consumer packaged goods manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The company also sells advertising, sponsorships, and subscription services on the company?s various digital media properties and outdoor advertising space on various media primarily in Russia and eastern Europe; and provides data systems and professional services that enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver individualized instructions. News Corporation was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon Friedman]
The new News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA ) has a lot to prove as a stand-alone company.
This News Corp. is the product of a split between the former media conglomerate also known as News Corp., which then consisted of one company containing ample entertainment, broadcasting, and print-media assets. When the old News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch chose to divide it into two separate companies, with trading commencing on July 1, the new News Corp. inherited the print-journalism assets, including The Wall Street Journal and the�perennially money-bleeding�New York Post, as well as book publisher HarperCollins and Dow Jones (for which I worked, as a media columnist at MarketWatch, from 2007 till early this year).
- [By Seth Jayson]
News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA ) reported earnings on May 8. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q3), News Corp. beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share. - [By Pato Kehoe]
Quality video content has continuously increased in value over the past years, and this firm has a made a point of following the money trail by producing and broadcasting an ample amount of high quality products. From award winning shows like ��odern Family��or ��he Simpsons,��to its popular sports programming, Twenty-First Century Fox has constantly satisfied the market's thirst for entertainment. The News Corp (NWSA) spin-off, for one, was a highly beneficial strategy for this company, setting it apart as a pure-play entertainment firm. By concentrating resources and management on the cable network business and shaking off Rupert Murdoch�� print segment, the firm was able to boost its EBITDA growth as well as its return on capital (ROC). The current metrics of 28.80% and 154% respectively are quite impressive and will be highly beneficial for investors if they can be sustained.
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