Company: Last News

Dead and Company have just eight concerts left on their massive 2023 Farewell Tour with John Mayer before hanging it up for good.And if you missed Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart and the boys at Citi Field on June 21-22, we’re here to fill you in with a full account of the show courtesy of the New York Post’s resident Deadhead, Ryan Murphy.Murphy attended night two at Citi Field on June 22 and said the Mets stadium was “crazy packed.”He had floor seats and a “great side view.”At his show, there were no guest artists — besides Mayer of course — and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band played two sets which included covers of Traffic’s “De›ar Mr. Fantasy” and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” along with Ryan’s favorite, the 1978 classic “Fire On The Mountain” from their “Shakedown Street” album wailed by bassist Oteil Burbridge.He added that Weir’s best that evening was “Mama Tried” and Mayer peaked with “Alabama Getaway.”“That’s just my opinion though,” he was quick to note.Over the course of the nearly four-hour set (!), the band kept their banter to a minimum; according to Ryan “they kept it all about the music and their farewell.”Murphy, 31, was also excited to see fans of all ages including “older people jamming out” and “people in the 25-35 age range.”If you’re planning on attending one of the final gigs at Boulder, CO’s Folsom Field Stadium, George, WA’s Gorge Amphitheater or San Francisco, CA’s Oracle Park (where they got their start), Murphy has a few tips.“Definitely arrive early,” he said.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Apple, already the most valuable company on the planet, on Friday saw its market capitalization climb past $3 trillion as the tech colossus reached a historic milestone. The iPhone maker’s shares rose above $192/share in early trading June 30, pushing its market cap over $3 trillion. That’s more than the gross domestic product of most of the world’s countries. On Jan. 3, 2022, Apple briefly topped $3 trillion in market cap during intraday trading — but shares suffered a 27% drop over the course of last year amid a macro-economic slowdown that triggered a broad pullback in tech stocks. In 2023, Apple shares are up more than 50% as Wall Street has once again turned bullish on big tech.

Multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo has announced today that they'll be ending their relationship with Diddy, Bloomberg reports. The two were partnered on the Combs Wines and Spirits businesses Ciroc and DeLeon tequila, and last month, Diddy sued Diageo for being "unwilling to treat its Black partners equally" and for sidelining "Black brands," despite claiming to be leaders in diversity and inclusion.

Now is the time to binge-watch Alaska Daily and The Company You Keep on Hulu.

A judge in Delaware Chancery Court has ruled against a shareholder who sued Disney for documents regarding its opposition to Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law. The decision came as a separate, more sweeping lawsuit moves forward in the state, where Disney has sued Gov. Ron DeSantis for retaliation after the company spoke out against the legislation.

Attorneys for The Walt Disney Co. and Ron DeSantis are proposing very different timelines for the start of a federal trial over the company’s claim of retaliation by the Florida governor.

EXCLUSIVE: Hulu is joining the latest round of programming purges.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Music-owned music distribution company AWAL has launched in India and South Asia, following the acquisition of OKListen, a digital music platform for independent artists and record labels. Based in Mumbai and supported by Sony Music India, AWAL will offer independent artists in the region a range of services including global marketing, creative, synch and brand partnerships, radio promotion and distribution as well as access to real-time music analytics. Vijay Basrur, who founded OKListen in 2012 as India’s first homegrown digital distribution service, has been appointed head of India and South Asia, AWAL, reporting into Lonny Olinick, CEO of AWAL and Vinit Thakkar, managing director, Sony Music India.

EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood publicity firm The Lede Company is accelerating its international expansion with the acquisition of the Paris-Based agency Olivier Bourgis Communication and Marketing (OBCM).

The five people on board the Titan sub are believed to have died, the operating company behind the submersible has announced.

Titanic wreck. The submersible went missing on Sunday off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, after its communication systems began failing an hour and 30 minutes after its descent. 

Naman Ramachandran Actor and producer Jonathan Lipnicki has joined production, post-production and distribution company Buffalo 8 as an executive producer. Lipnicki made a mark with his performance alongside Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire,” before becoming the lead in the family franchise “Stuart Little.” He will soon be seen in the upcoming TBS show “The Joe Schmo Show,” Peter Pardini’s film “Man Goes on Rant” and Britt Robertson-led film “The Re-Education of Molly Singer.” Lipnicki will play a key role in packaging and project development within Buffalo 8’s EP services division, identifying storytelling opportunities and bringing together top-tier talent based on his extensive relationships spanning Hollywood studio films through to the independent sector.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Amazon has said its investments have contributed £4.8 billion ($6.1 billion) of gross value — and 16,000 jobs — to the U.K. economy since 2010. This covers the gamut of the online retail giant’s various subsidiaries, including Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon Publishing, Prime Video, Audible, Amazon Fashion, Amazon Music and Amazon Games, among others. Overall, the company — which revealed the figures on Wednesday — has invested more than £4.2 billion in U.K. creative industries since 2010, and has doubled its investment since 2018. As Prime Video continues to embed in the U.K. creative sector, it can also count the British Film Institute as its next stop. A number of the streamer’s U.K.-shot originals, including “Good Omens” and “Clarkson’s Farm,” will be digitally preserved in the BFI National Archive as part of a new partnership. The Prime Video deal comes almost a year after Netflix reached a similar agreement to induct some of its own originals into the celebrated archive. That deal was struck in September, Variety understands.

EXCLUSIVE: Rain has brought in talent/lit manager and producer Barney Slobodin. He will start in July. Slobodin joins Rain from Cavalry Media, where he helped launch a management division.

EXCLUSIVE: British production company Youngest Media, which was behind series including NBC’s Small Fortune and MTV’s Game of Clones, is being revived as a U.S. production company.

EXCLUSIVE: Voltron Global, the holding company that purchased Tyler Perry’s first expansive Atlanta studio lot, is moving into the content game with a full-service film and TV production company.

Latondra Newton, who has served as Disney’s chief diversity officer since 2017, is leaving the company. An internal memo from Disney chief human resources officer Sonia Coleman announcing Newton’s departure was circulated to staff Tuesday.

Keir Starmer has pledged that Labour’s green energy plan will be “made in Scotland” as he announced its publicly-owned energy company will be headquartered north of the border. Labour plans to create Great British Energy (GBE), a publicly-owned clean energy generation company, if it wins power at the next general election.

Bill Simmons, who sold The Ringer to Spotify in 2020 and has risen through the tech company’s executive ranks, derided Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on his podcast Friday as “f–king grifters.”

Naman Ramachandran The top management of multinational cinema chain Cineworld are to receive up to $35 million to exit the company as it emerges from Chapter 11 proceedings, according to a report. The company’s creditors plan to take control of the company when the bankruptcy proceedings conclude in July, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The lenders committed to pay CEO Mooky Greidinger, his brother and deputy chief executive Israel Greidinger, finance head Nisan Cohen and chief commercial officer Renana Teperberg between $30 million and $35 million in cash in the year following their exit, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the matter. The payout is to “make the bankruptcy agreement more palatable,” the report added.

Christine McCarthy, a significant figure in Disney’s senior management team in recent years, is stepping down and taking a medical leave of absence from the company.