Anna Nicolaou Profile Banner
Anna Nicolaou Profile
Anna Nicolaou

@annaknicolaou

5,142
Followers
1,685
Following
371
Media
4,686
Statuses

US media editor @financialtimes Adjunct lecturer @CityCollegeNY before: @globeandmail , @reuters . half-canadian. tips: anna.nicolaou @ft .com

Joined July 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 months
so in summary: Paramount fired its CEO, then hosted an earnings call for only 9 minutes, refused to take any questions, and played the mission impossible song on a loop
85
935
13K
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
10 months
the FT editorial board calls for a ceasefire: “Israel’s collective punishment of the 2.3mn people trapped in Gaza — almost half of them children — must stop”
465
4K
13K
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
music executives have spent the past several months talking about the shrinking power of "superstars" in the streaming era it's hard to reconcile that with midnights, which is doing 90s-boyband levels of sales — beating her own records from a decade ago
12
337
2K
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
this is how scooter braun convinced a private equity fund to buy taylor swift's back catalogue, even as she threatened to destroy it: . .
Tweet media one
33
342
2K
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
context: Jay Sammons is the Carlyle executive who led the private equity group's backing of Scooter Braun in buying Taylor Swift's record label. which turned out to be... less than ideal when she started making a duplicate copy of the asset (aka the music) they bought
@SKKYPartners
SKKY Partners
2 years
Introducing SKKY Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by Kim Kardashian and Jay Sammons that focuses on both control and minority investments in high-growth, market-leading consumer and media companies.
Tweet media one
95
112
1K
12
158
918
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
9 months
here's our story on the flood of sexual abuse claims filed under New York's Adult Survivors Act. Drew Dixon, who alleges that music exec LA Reid sexual assaulted her twice in 2001, says this is a way to "reclaim some fraction of what I've lost".
Tweet media one
5
228
535
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
. @taylorswift13 told us that Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge has "taught me a lot about trust".
Tweet media one
2
51
392
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
new: failed crypto billionaire sam bankman-fried wanted to pay taylor swift more than $100mn for FTX to sponsor her tour. he also wanted taylor to endorse FTX on social media (she said no). cringe details from @nikasgari & @joshckoliver :
Tweet media one
24
104
375
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
more details here > the Swift catalogue earns about $15m a year, according to people who have seen its financials. Shamrock bought at a multiple of about 16 or 17x its historic income. the $300m question is whether that $15m decreases as she re-records:
3
52
327
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
in the past 3 days, there have been more than 100 attacks on journalists in the US — roughly the number typically seen in an entire year. WSJ editor Matt Murray told staff he was “infuriated” by the NYPD's treatment of reporter Tyler Blint-Welsh.
24
222
301
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
1 year
scoop: Universal Music has told streaming services to block AI systems from scraping melodies and lyrics from their copyrighted songs. UMG is concerned about generative AI training itself on popular music without permission/payment:
13
124
264
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
per Universal Music earnings call: taylor swift, olivia rodrigo and billie eilish are now the top 3 artists in vinyl sales $ over the past 30 YEARS
4
37
182
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
we live in hell
Tweet media one
15
41
208
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 months
scoop from @DanielThomasLDN : Will Lewis has suspended his weekly PR newsletter after sponsor AlixPartners asked to “pause” its involvement
8
94
179
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
this would be her biggest first-week album sales ever, topping 1989, red, fearless etc it's on par with sales the backstreet boys/britney/eminem were making in 2000, right before the music industry fell apart
@chartdata
chart data
2 years
. @taylorswift13 's 'Midnights' now aiming for #1 debut on the US albums chart with increased 1.4-1.6 million units first week. It will mark her biggest debut, passing '1989' (via @HITSDD ). #TSmidnighTS
410
3K
19K
1
34
155
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
scoop: UMG is talking w/ streamers to redraw the royalty model — which would revolutionise how musicians get paid from streaming. ideas on the table: - "superfan" subscription - banning 31-second songs - extra pool of $ for artists driving fan engagement
6
70
152
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
7 months
new: Universal Music will pull its music from Tiktok from tomorrow (the nuclear option, after a year of tense negotiations)
Tweet media one
0
69
141
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
1 year
it's official: KKR is buying Simon & Schuster for $1.62bn
Tweet media one
29
55
121
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
scoop: Warner Bros is looking to sell its music library, which spans soundtracks to films like Batman. it's the latest move by Zaslav to make Warner leaner/squeeze money out of its IP. sources say the catalogue could be worth more than $1bn
9
63
123
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 months
we dove into Will Lewis's PR firm, through which he counseled Boris Johnson after the “Partygate” crisis in 2022
Tweet media one
2
70
122
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
new: in recent weeks Disney executives including CFO Christine McCarthy have been approaching the company's board with concerns about Chapek. more details here w/ @JFK_America @alexebarker
2
33
121
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
scoop: the new company would be valued at $150bn. AT&T's board is meeting today at noon to approve the deal. AT&T is expected to control most of the combined entity. w/ @JFK_America
2
44
100
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
unrelated to anything: I wrote about how investors value rap music lower than rock, and asked some smart people why. Rap is the dominant genre in the US. but it trades at a 15x multiple to earnings, while rock & pop trade at 20x
9
30
96
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
the widening Covid gap between the US & the rest of the world means big Hollywood movies could, for the first time, premiere outside America. movie studios that a month ago would never premiere a film with NY/LA closed are rethinking that now:
6
46
97
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
we are unionizing!
@josheidelson
Josh Eidelson
3 years
Scoop: Financial Times U.S. journalists are organizing and seeking voluntary recognition from management, saying they have over two-thirds support for unionization @newsguild @CWAUnion
6
101
235
0
11
97
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
scoop: David Bowie’s estate is in advanced talks to sell his entire publishing catalogue for $200m. A deal could be announced in the next couple weeks.
7
46
87
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
greatest subhed alert
Tweet media one
4
12
83
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
disney is playing 'hakuna matata' ahead of a call with investors
6
9
80
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
spent time with Lucian ahead of the UMG listing. He was candid about nearly dying from covid, bouncing back from trauma & the industry comeback he helped shape. ft appearances by @taylorswift13 , @theweeknd & Elton John:
2
31
79
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
scoop: Second City, devastated by the pandemic, is being sold to private equity, ending 30+ years of family ownership w/ @JFK_America
14
71
80
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
this week is 5 years since the weinstein story, brad pitt is the producer of new Hollywood Movie about the weinstein story, there aren't enough ellipses for this..............................
@nytimes
The New York Times
2 years
Breaking News: A new court filing by Angelina Jolie details allegations that Brad Pitt abused her and their children on a plane in 2016. Pitt "grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her," choked one child and struck another in the face, the filing says.
740
4K
12K
0
11
77
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
in order to get a patent for mRNA, Katalin Kariko had to tell a bald man it would help grow hair back. fascinating read on the money, drama and science behind the vaccines, from @bydavidcrow
4
39
76
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
1 year
Fox fired Tucker after an accumulation of offences over several years, including clashes w/ senior execs. He believed he was untouchable. former Rupert staffer: “Anytime somebody starts acting like they’re bigger than the platform, they go"
6
19
73
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
netflix is now the largest media company (by market cap) over disney. shares are up 32% this year
Tweet media one
3
39
74
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
Tweet media one
1
10
68
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
1 year
combined, big name investors - the Murdochs, Disney, Martin Sorrell - lost $1.5bn on Vice. some investors blame TPG for Vice's demise, including James Murdoch who was "very disappointed". details on the loan sharks & financial troubles here: w/ @sindap
11
25
68
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
same morning: Buzzfeed reports revenue is 31% lower than it promised to investors last year. Buzzfeed told investors it would make $520m in 2021, and this would soar to $1.1bn in 2024. actual 2021 revenue: $398m.
@MarkDiStef
Mark Di Stefano
2 years
🚨 Breaking: Three of the most senior editors at Buzzfeed News, including the publication’s editor-in-chief Mark Schoofs, are resigning as further job cuts hit the organisation.
63
224
597
10
35
66
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
working on this story w/ @JFK_America was one of the things that kept me almost sane last year. We wrote about the Hartford Courant, America's oldest newspaper, the hedge fund trying to take it over, and what it all means:
4
30
66
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
some details from our deep dive on disney: - Disney considered selling A&E and Freeform in 2019. now, bankers say, it's too late - There was a time when Bob Iger & Kevin Mayer discussed moving ESPN content over to ESPN+ as soon as 2022 -
3
15
63
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
i talked to Issa Rae about los angeles, why she's jaded about "diversity" in hollywood, and the protests. it was a dream!
2
6
57
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
best detail from this story: just after laying off THOUSANDS of people Peleton introduced a new CEO on a company-wide zoom call to the soundtrack of WHO LET THE DOGS OUT. our late stage capitalism is alive & well
3
26
59
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
looking back at this story i apparently wrote last week, it's striking how the polls were so wrong, but the statisticians who actually call the races were...completely correct
Tweet media one
1
16
54
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
8 years
Biggest cheers of the night when Hillary declares "I prepared to be president". "That was her moment" crowd says. #debatenight
0
25
52
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
here's Lloyd Blankfein describing David Zaslav to me:
Tweet media one
5
9
53
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
last weekend, the top 10 movies in the US made $7m combined. this weekend, one movie alone is expected to make $400m in China. we dug into why China = the box office now, and what it means for Hollywood. w/ @cdcshepherd
4
18
51
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
I've spent the past few months reporting w/ the incredible @kayewiggins on how songs became a financial asset class. for anyone who cares about music, Wall Street, Steve Schwarzman or Leonard Cohen, here's our 30,000 foot view:
3
19
50
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
disney is saving >$400m a month by furloughing 100,000+ workers at its (closed) theme parks. the decision helped maintain its credit rating, but sits uneasily w/ some shareholders as bob iger's bonus programme stays in place. disney had this to say about it:
Tweet media one
@TonyTassell
Tony Tassell
4 years
Disney and the unequal reality of coronavirus America - this fantastic @FT Big Read by @alexebarker @annaknicolaou says a lot about capitalism and the crisis
2
19
22
3
21
49
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
big moment for my lamp
Tweet media one
2
0
49
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 months
While Lewis’s words rattled the WaPo newsroom, the tone will be familiar to anyone who has worked at a British paper. Blunt words & savage autopsies over the day’s coverage were common when Lewis and Winnett were forging their careers on Fleet St
4
25
49
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
netflix market value has fallen from $308 billion at the peak of the pandemic, to $95 billion today
5
9
46
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
nearly all investors in Buzzfeed's spac asked for their money back. a finance professor calls it "the kiss of death". Jonah Peretti told the FT: "It doesn't change our strategy" and "I'm not an expert on spacs"
3
18
46
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
7 years
you have to stream a music video on YouTube for 58 hrs for the artist to make $1, & more fun facts from the @RIAA :
Tweet media one
2
16
38
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
update from BBG spokesperson: "We've updated that function to go to the bio page just like anyone else. Thanks for pointing out what was clearly an oversight when the site became a campaign site."
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
searching “Mike” or “Mike Bloomberg” on BBG terminals directs users to...his campaign site. (a perk not afforded to the other candidates!). w/ ⁦ @adamsamson ⁩ ⁦ @Philgeorgiadis
4
12
34
3
16
45
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 months
scoop: Youtube is offering music labels lump sums of cash to get more artists to allow their songs to train AI. currently, only a handful of artists have signed on to an earlier test phase, including Charli XCX. Youtube wants to expand this to dozens of artists. more here:
Tweet media one
3
22
43
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
7 months
Microsoft is paying Semafor to use its AI tech for a breaking news feed called Signals. It'll be written entirely by journalists; chatgpt helping w/ research. @semaforben says it's the most important product launch since Semafor's founding. more details:
2
17
43
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
11 months
new: Spotify has struck deals with the biggest book publishers - PRH, Hachette, S&S, HarperCollins & Macmillan - to give Spotify subscribers 15 hours of audiobook listening a month. in the UK this goes live now, in the US in a couple of months
2
7
43
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
it's official: Vice has bought Refinery29 in a mostly stock deal — the new company is valued at $4bn. chief Nancy Dubuc says Vice is on track to be profitable by early next year.
2
11
38
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
2023 culture is the tv channel that brought us cozy treasures like gossip girl and gilmore girls now airing golf that Saudi Arabia is funding to make it less bad that they kill journalists
0
9
39
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
yes swagger a known solution to deadly viruses
@therecount
The Recount
3 years
“When a mayor has swagger, the city has swagger. We’ve allowed people to beat us down so much, that all we did was wallow in COVID.” — NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D)
2K
458
3K
2
4
39
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
@JFK_America Murdoch's investment happened in tandem with Vice's acquisition of Refinery29, valuing the combined group at $4bn.
3
28
36
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
Jonah Peretti says he made the mistake of “investing in news beyond where revenue could support it”
Tweet media one
3
13
38
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
9 years
favourite hot take yet from FT reader: http://t.co/WAVqb8VgI4
Tweet media one
3
43
39
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
i am begging you to not send me an email with the word "folks" in it
3
1
39
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
yes, i did frame this (very large) autographed taylor swift poster and place it in my bedroom
Tweet media one
0
2
35
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
new: Sean Hannity is trying to avoid sharing some information in a billion-dollar lawsuit against Fox News, citing "reporter's privilege". but in the past, he has denied being a journalist.
1
22
33
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
a24 (the company behind Euphoria & Moonlight) has raised $225m from private equity, valued at $2.5bn. first investment a24 has taken since founded a decade ago. a24 has been fielding acquisition offers for....awhile
3
8
38
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
new: this month, a 2-year restriction on asset sales lifts for Fox. the Murdoch inner circle is talking about another bold corporate gambit -- such as selling parts of the empire or reuniting others w/ the team @alexebarker & @JFK_America
3
14
37
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
7 years
almost as if half the population wants to see themselves represented on screen
@ShawnRobbinsWho
Shawn Robbins
7 years
52% of #WonderWoman 's opening day audience were women, 53% age 35 and under. First modern Marvel or DC film w/ female majority. #BoxOffice
23
732
2K
0
15
37
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
strange twist: Disney won the rights to air cricket on television, but not to stream it on Disney+. Viacom18 won the streaming rights. Disney+ subscribers in India (aka cricket fans) currently make up more than a third of Disney+ subscribers.
5
16
37
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
alex & I went long on HBO Max, the mad dash to launch a product during a pandemic, and the twists & turns at WarnerMedia over the last year. @alexebarker
0
9
34
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
searching “Mike” or “Mike Bloomberg” on BBG terminals directs users to...his campaign site. (a perk not afforded to the other candidates!). w/ ⁦ @adamsamson ⁩ ⁦ @Philgeorgiadis
4
12
34
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
scoop/succession latest: James Murdoch is spending millions to help startups curb disinformation
4
24
33
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
personal news: I sat next to a coughing/sneezing unmasked delta variant for 3 hours, indoors, also unmasked. I did not get covid. the vaccines are a MIRACLE; this is not an ad for @pfizer i'm just vv grateful. be safe🖤
2
0
33
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
wrote a hot take on why spotify is not the future of the music industry. UMG's licensing deals for Facebook, Tiktok & YouTube shorts all expire at the end of the year. Social media royalties will be key to revenue growth as a public company:
2
9
30
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
how is this an exclusive when the FT published the same story 2 hours ago?
0
2
29
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
a Chinese filmmaker won the most coveted prizes at the Oscars last night, quoting Confucius in her acceptance speech. but the Chinese govt has censored the news. We dug into the state of the relationship between China and Hollywood:
2
6
27
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
scoop w/ @JFK_America & Henny:
7
15
29
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
9 months
new: a woman has accused longtime music executive Jimmy Iovine of sexual abuse, harassment and retaliation. Iovine is the latest powerful music figure to be sued in recent weeks, as victims rush to meet a Thanksgiving deadline in New York to file historic claims.
Tweet media one
0
32
28
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
i thought i had wework fatigue, but this brilliant piece by @ericgplatt & @edgecliffe is packed with fascinating details and is the clearest explanation i've seen yet of how it all fell apart. well worth a read: via @financialtimes
0
24
28
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
3 years
SCOOP: Pimco, which has $2.2tn assets under management, has partnered with BMG to buy music copyrights. this is the biggest investor yet to enter the fray as the wall street storms the music industry
2
18
28
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
really worthwhile read, especially after listening to Disney talk for 5 hours about how they’re spending $15bn to make spinoffs of spinoffs of spinoffs of spinoffs of Star Wars
@GregJaffe
Greg Jaffe
4 years
Disney laid off 32,000 workers as its stock price was soaring to an all time high on Friday. This is the story of one of those workers, who spent 14 years with the company, and her struggle to provide for her daughters and stay afloat.
71
1K
3K
2
6
25
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
i started writing this this months ago, after i had to stay home from work for weeks because of a migraine, and fell into a 2-week netflix k-hole. obviously things have changed but it seems relevant today too!
6
5
28
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
8 years
my 14-year-old role model @rowblanchard
Tweet media one
0
2
24
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
Spotify's content policies "do not entail what guests our podcasts invite on, it’s more about the content itself” said Daniel Ek. When I asked about the content, which included anti-vaccination conspiracies, Spotify's PR said we had run out of time.
3
10
26
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
8 years
"35 million Canadians just breathed an enormous sigh of relief" - @rolandparis
1
22
26
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
lovely to wake up to this: @Edgecliffe and I won an LA Press Club award for our profile of Universal Music's Lucian Grainge. thank you to @LAPressClub and congrats to all the ace journalists honoured last night 🖤
Tweet media one
0
1
25
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
there's been a lot of talk (internally and externally) about the price of HBO Max. last year, WarnerMedia & Discovery held talks about launching a joint service for $8 a month. it was foiled by Iger
Tweet media one
0
6
26
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
1 year
new: Spotify removed tens of thousands of AI-generated songs over suspected "fake streaming" ~ about 7% of Spotify tracks from Boomy AI has made it a lot easier to game the system. the record labels are not happy.
2
13
26
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
7 years
scoop: 60 million people now pay for Spotify
0
13
25
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
2 years
I've spent the past few months reporting w/ @kayewiggins on Blackstone's music investments. Here's our first story, w/ details about how Steve Schwarzman himself got pulled into a fight between Hipgnosis and a songwriter you probably know
0
3
26
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
4 years
@claireatki true, but there are also all the millennials still outside crowding bars/restaurants! we are all a mess
0
1
22
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
tim cook is crying about a video streaming announcement fyi everyone
2
3
26
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
7 months
this is a wild look at the AI-zombie future of distressed media sites, by the great @Knibbs
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
1
10
25
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
5 years
apple is spending more than $6bn on content for its upcoming streaming service (up from an initial $1bn commitment). they've spent more per episode on The Morning Show than Game of Thrones. scoop w/ @tim (we are both good at being on vacation)
1
12
25
@annaknicolaou
Anna Nicolaou
8 years
@laurenduca thank you for speaking up again & again.
1
0
21