Media & Entertainment
All research in Media & Entertainment — 5 reports.
The New York Times Company is a premium, subscription-led media business whose 13.08 million subscribers, about 12.52 million digital-only, fund journalism, sports via The Athletic, games, cooking, and advertising. The core thesis is that its multi-product bundle makes subscriptions harder to cancel: 2025 subscription revenue reached $1.95 billion of $2.825 billion total, and Q1 2026 digital-only subscription revenue rose 16.1%, yet at roughly 32x trailing earnings and 20x EV/EBITDA the stock prices in much of the next leg, with a temporary tax cash-flow windfall flattering free cash flow and AI search threatening top-of-funnel discovery. Rating Hold: a rare scale winner in paid news, but bundle economics, cash-flow quality, and AI optionality already sit close to full value with no margin of safety for new buyers.
Good assets, bad security. The content assets are real (CBS, Paramount+, a vast film library), but linear TV keeps eroding, free cash flow is thin, and the equity is being reshaped by a mega-acquisition of WBD: a $47 billion equity raise plus roughly $79 billion of net debt. The $10.61 margin of safety is hard to verify, with an ideal entry below $7. Rating Avoid: real content assets attached to an unsettled, likely heavily diluted, more highly leveraged future platform, with no verifiable margin of safety for a conservative value investor.
News Corp's non-voting Class A shares are a different share class of the same company as voting NWS Class B shares. The company is a hybrid information-services holding company built from Dow Jones, REA/Move digital real estate, HarperCollins, and news media assets, with uneven moat quality across segments, consolidated ROE only in the mid-single digits, and a governance discount from the Murdoch dual-class structure. Rating Watch: at roughly $26.10, the shares sit within a reasonable value range, free cash flow yield is below Treasuries, and the margin of safety is insufficient, with an ideal buy range of $20-23.
TKO is a scarce sports IP and rights distributor built around UFC and WWE, with strong brands, multi-year media rights contracts, and low capital intensity. The core thesis is that business quality is above most media and entertainment companies, but the current price of roughly $205 implies about 34.5x last year's free cash flow and leaves too little margin of safety. Research rating Watch: a high-quality compounder to track closely, with an ideal buy range of $90-110.
A combination of streaming, studios, and linear television; 2025 FCF of 3.1 billion gives a 4.6% FCF yield, roughly even with the 4.57% 10-year Treasury. The PSKY merger at $31 per share in cash has shareholder approval, and today's 27.03 already carries an event premium; on standalone operating value the ideal buy range is $12-17, leaving the current price neither cheap nor clean. Rating Watch: a strong-asset company mid-transformation whose price already prices in the deal, with too little standalone margin of safety for a conservative long-term owner.