How are the Black Friday sales going? We’ve been pretty busy scouring through deals - there’s too much! Let us know your favorite deals and we’ll share our favorite hauls!
This week we have Ticketmaster’s Bad Blood; Tough Break in China; and A Familiar Face at Disney.
Analytics, Digital, Design In Action
Bad Blood
In the wake of the major problems surrounding Ticketmaster’s management of Taylor Swift tour ticket sales last week, a U.S. Senate antitrust panel will hold a hearing on the lack of competition in the industry. Over the past few days there has been a lot of bad blood between Ticketmaster and enraged Swift fans over the disastrous rollout of tickets for the singer’s “Eras” tour. During the pre-sale process, which was only supposed to be open to around 1.5 million verified Swift fans, 14 million people, including bots, tried to get tickets.
Ticketmaster is the world's largest ticket marketplace, and we partner with Event Organizers to make their tickets available through our marketplace, which includes websites, apps and Fan Support centers across 29 countries.
Tough Break in China
Two weeks after Apple warned of production delays in China amid heightened COVID-19 restrictions, it is facing more challenges as worker protests broke out at its largest manufacturing partner Foxconn.
Hundreds of workers at the world’s largest iPhone plant in central China clashed with the police, according to videos shared over the last few days by Foxconn workers on Douyin and Kuaishou, China’s versions of TikTok.
In late October, the COVID outbreak at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory, which typically has some 200,000 workers, sent people who feared COVID fleeing on foot, according to social media posts at the time. Since then Foxconn has tried to lure labor back with raised salaries. Local governments across Henan Province, where Zhengzhou is located, have been assigned to mobilize residents to join Foxconn.
Meanwhile, Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase caused dismay among thousands of gamers by saying hits such as 'World of Warcraft' will not be available in China from next year as a 14-year partnership ended.
Originally signed in 2008 and last renewed in 2019, the distribution accord has been fruitful for both companies, feeding NetEase with globally recognized hits and giving Activision a gateway into the world’s biggest PC and mobile gaming arena.
A Familiar Face at Disney
Disney said that former CEO Bob Iger is returning to head the company as Bob Chapek is stepping down from the CEO post. Iger, who officially left the company last year, is set to take command immediately. The company said that he will serve as the CEO for two years.
Chapek’s 11-month tenure hadn’t been great for the company, as its stock value has dropped by more than 40% at the time of writing. Under his management, the company fired senior content executive Peter Rice and passed up an opportunity to get digital rights for streaming the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
On the other hand, Iger is widely considered entertainment industry royalty, celebrated for his management acumen and creative chops. He turned Disney into a global powerhouse by acquiring marquee brands such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox.
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