Company

Symbol

P/E*

Price 11.25.03

52-wk high/ low

Institutional Investment

Market Cap/ #Shares

Sales/ Income

B=billion

M=million

Book Value

Debt/ Equity Ratio

Insider Trading (last 12 months)

Viacom**

VIA.B

27.40*

39.15

49.75

33.11

65.7%

61.93 B

1.756 B

25.85B

2.47 B

36.66

.15

$50,000 Sold

News Corp.**

NWS

30.20

34.20

37.80

22.41

6.6%

45.55 B

1.332 B

20.98 B

1.42 B

16.06

.39

None filed.

ADR.

Disney**

DIS

44.80

22.99

23.80

14.84

63%

46.99 B

2.044 B

26.64 B

1.06B

11.71

.50

$1M Sold

$136,000 Bought

Sony Corp.**

(ADR)

SNE

73.80

33.85

42.05

23.16

9.4%

31.25B

923.3 M

63.55 B

459 M

22.17

.39

None filed. (ADR)

InteractiveCorp,

Formerly USA

Interactive

IACI

80.60

`32.62

42.88

20.73

65%

23.21 B

711.6 M

5.87 B

159.5 M

20.70

.08

$89M sold,

including $28.7 M by Barry Diller.

$1.392 B bought (Liberty Media Corp.)

Vivendi Universal

V

N/A

22.75

22.84

12.00

6%

24.31 B

1.069 B

61.08B

-24.47B

13.78

.75

None filed.

ADR.

Time Warner Inc.

TWX

N/A

16.09

17.89

9.90

63.1%

70 B

4.351 B

42 B

-42.89B

12.66

.46

$140 M sold, mostly from Ted Turner

Company

Description

News and Comments

Disney

The Walt Disney Company. From Mickey Mouse and Disneyland to ABC TV, EPSN, A&E, Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone, Miramax and 60 radio stations.

Box office releases include Brother Bear, Scary Movie 3, The Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted House. Expanding into movies on demand and Disney branded cell phones and broadband. Rumors had it that Disney was looking to buy Six Flags Magic Mountain. No definitive word yet.

InteractiveCorp.

Sold entertainment assets to Vivendi Universal Entertainment in May 2002 and became an agoraphobic’s dream! Barry Diller owns Hotels.com, Expedia.com, Match.com. and the Home Shopping Network, and is expanding his online empire.

Switched to profitability this year. Online sales, especially for singles and bargain shoppers have become the norm! However, current earnings expectations were recently reduced due to higher than expected operating costs. Company continues in aggressive buying of Internet companies, including HotWire.com.

News Corp.

Rupert Murdoch’s media empire includes: Fox Film Corporation, Fox Broadcasting, scores of newspapers, TV stations, cable and satellite operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America and HarperCollins Murdoch’s family owns about 30% of this $41.78B company.

Box office releases include Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Recently struck a deal to sell LA Dodgers, a $10M+ cash bleed, for $375M (reportedly). The deal includes Dodger Stadium and other real estate.

Sony Corporation (Janpanese ADR)

Sony Records, Sony Pictures, Sony Play Station + Japanese insurance company, Japanese online banking company and Japanese advertising company.

Box office releases include Radio. See this week’s feature article.

Time Warner

Old and new media model, from tv and print to the Internet. Time Warner dropped AOL from the name and changed their stock symbol this year.

Box office releases include Elf, Gothica, The Matrix Revolutions and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. An investor group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Edgar Bronfman, Jr.'s Lexa Partners, Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners will buy Time Warner's Warner Music Group, including its recorded music operations and Warner/Chappell music publishing business for approximately $2.6 billion in cash and other consideration, including the option of TWX buying back into the business on favorable terms in the future.

Viacom

MTV, CBS, UPN, BET, Paramount Studies, Showtime, Comedy Central, Infinity Broadcasting, 81% Blockbuster, 39 TV stations & Simon & Shuster.

Paramount Pictures president John Goldwyn is resigning as the vice chairman of the motion picture group and president of Paramount Pictures, and will leave once a successor can be found. Apparently School of Rock wasn’t big enough to offset disappointing box office numbers around two Angelina Jolie films, Lara Croft: Cradle of Life and Beyond Borders. Prior Goldwyn blockbusters included Titanic, Braveheart and Forrest Gump.

Vivendi Universal S.A.

Evolved from a water utility into the world’s #3 media company (behind AOL Time Warner and Disney). Currently, however, V has splashed down to reality, and is selling off entertainment holdings. Still owns Seagram, Canal (EU pay-TV) and Veolia Environnement (world’s #1 water distributor).

Box office releases this year include: The Cat in the Hat and Love Actually. Universal Music Group and DreamWorks SKG jointly announced that they have extended their distribution and fulfillment agreements for film and home video to October 2010, and that UMG has entered into an agreement to acquire DreamWorks Records. Vivendi Universal and GE announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for the merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment. The new company, to be called NBC Universal, will be 80%-owned by GE, with 20% held by the shareholders of Vivendi Universal Entertainment. The deal should close in 2004.