Business

LONDON — Brent oil prices jumped on Friday close to a three-year peak, boosted by tight supplies, particularly in the United States, analysts said.

In late afternoon deals, European benchmark Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November struck $77.87 per barrel — reaching a high last seen on October 29, 2018.

"The price rise is being facilitated by limited supply coupled with robust demand, causing the oil market to tighten noticeably," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Brent prices later stood at $77.68, up 0.6 per cent from Thursday.

New York's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for November rose 0.4 per cent to $73.60 a barrel.

Global supplies have been disrupted because US production remains hampered by ongoing fallout from Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana.

The United States is both the world's largest consumer and producer of crude oil.

"Underpinning the latest bout of price strength is a tightening supply backdrop," added PVM analyst Stephen Brennock. "Latest weekly data showed [US] domestic crude stocks fell to their lowest level in three years amid continued production outages in the Gulf of Mexico."He concluded: "Hurricane Ida may be long gone but it is still causing problems for the US."

MUMBAI — Sony's India unit will merge with ZEE Entertainment, the major local broadcaster said on Wednesday, as the battle for eyeballs with international streaming services heats up.

The merged entity — which analysts say is likely to rival market leader Star and Disney India in terms of viewership and channel offerings — could create the country's biggest entertainment network.

"We have unanimously provided an in-principle approval to the proposal [from Sony] and have advised the management to initiate the due diligence process," ZEE Entertainment said in a statement to investors.

Sony Pictures Networks India will hold a majority stake of 52.93 per cent in the merged entity following a proposed capital infusion of $1.58 billion, the statement added.

Shares in the subscription TV network jumped by 30 per cent on the announcement.

The new entity will be publicly listed on Indian stock exchanges.

India, home to 1.3 billion people, has attracted leading US streaming giants Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video and Disney's Hotstar, keen to tap into the growth in online audiences.

The entertainment market — valued at $24 billion by accountancy giant EY — is already one of the world's biggest, while smartphone adoption is forecast to expand further in coming years.

Sony and ZEE Entertainment currently operate 75 channels in English, Hindi and 10 Indian regional languages, which are broadcast in 173 countries.

"There is a big opportunity in terms of synergies as Sony is doing well in sports and mainstream GEC [general entertainment channels] whereas ZEE has a strong recall in the regional genre, which is less or absent for Sony," Elara Capital media analyst Karan Taurani said.

"Both have a very strong movie catalogue which can be used for OTT [over-the-top web platforms] and TV offerings."

Sony's sports offerings in India include cricket, UFC, WWE wrestling and UEFA football. It also recently showed the Tokyo Olympics.

The merger will also combine subscription-based streaming platforms SonyLIV and ZEE5.

ZEE5 is the biggest publisher of original digital content in India, having released more than 75 original shows in 2020-21 according to the company's annual report.

BELFORT, France — French electricity giant EDF is in talks with General Electric (GE) to buy its steam turbine business for nuclear plants, the companies confirmed on Wednesday, the latest move by the American conglomerate to streamline its operations and cut debt.

The discussions had recently been reported in the press on both sides of the Atlantic, and both firms told AFP there was no guarantee they would lead to a deal.

"EDF is studying the conditions in which EDF's interests could be maintained," a spokesman said.

GE has been shedding assets for several years in a bid to focus on its energy production businesses as well as healthcare and aircraft engines.

It is now looking to sell the nuclear division of its Steam Power unit, which is separate from its nuclear fuel and reactor businesses, in order to focus on turbines fuelled by natural gas or coal.

GE acquired the business in 2014 from France's Alstom, which developed the widely used Arabelle turbines that equip nuclear power plants including the next-generation EPR reactors.

But since then GE has shed thousands of jobs in France and elsewhere, and GE Steam Power recently announced plans to cut 144 French jobs.

The potential purchase by EDF got a cautious welcome in Belfort, an industrial bastion in eastern France that is home to the bulk of the business's sites. 

"I'm glad these talks are underway, I've been calling for this deal for several months," Belfort's mayor, Damien Meslot, told AFP.

"I'll be paying very close attention to the details, so that it's sufficient to ensure continued operations and jobs for Belfort," he said.

PARIS — Shares in Universal Music, the world's biggest major label with a lineup of megastars from The Beatles to Taylor Swift, surged on its stock market debut Tuesday, giving the company a valuation exceeding $50 billion.

With shares leaping from 18.50 euros to over 25 euros ($29), the US-based music giant found itself valued at EUR46.3 billion ($54.3 billion) midway through its first day of trading.

With a roster of four million titles, Universal Music Group (UMG) includes dozens of labels from Def Jam (Kanye West,Rihanna) to EMI Records (Justin Bieber, Metallica) to Capitol Records (Queen, Katy Perry).

Last year, it bought Bob Dylan's entire song catalogue for $300 million, one of the biggest acquisitions in music history.

Those investments have paid off with its new valuation looking set to vastly exceed the $39 billion set the night before its listing on the Euronext Amsterdam index.

Trade magazine Music Business Weekly said it had been "expecting an impressive opening for UMG on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange today — but even we weren't expecting this".

UMG is based in California but has been owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi.

With Vivendi shedding a majority stake in its crown jewel, its own shares sank by more than 15 per cent on the Paris CAC 40 stock exchange.

Vivendi is owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore, who has positioned himself as a powerful right-wing media baron in recent years and is looking to focus more on TV, advertising and publishing.

Risky move 

Universal Music, like its rivals Warner and Sony, was once threatened by music piracy but profits have soared in the age of streaming.

Analysts say the industry has been undervalued, with JPMorgan Cazenove estimating that UMG's true worth could go as high as $64 billion, according to Music Business Weekly.

UMG has been a cash cow for Vivendi's media empire, with a turnover of 7.4 billion euros last year, accounting for 46 per cent of the parent company's revenue.

Vivendi is keeping a chunk of UMG, but has already sold off a 20 per cent stake to Chinese tech firm Tencent and 10 per cent to US financier Bill Ackman.

Aware that shedding its number one asset might be a risky move, Vivendi has taken steps — described as "quite extraordinary" by one activist shareholder — to protect its own share price.

It secured agreement from its investors for a massive buyback of up to half its shares following the UMG flotation to build up reserves against any hostile takeover bids triggered by the fall in its share price.

Not just music 

Tuesday's operation involved Vivendi distributing 60 per cent of UMG shares to its shareholders — including to Bollore himself — while the French company kept 10 per cent and maintained a joint-management agreement with Tencent.

UMG, meanwhile, is not just counting on its music to thrive as it goes public.

A prospectus for the IPO said UMG's three main operating businesses are recorded music, music publishing and advertising, but that it is also expanding into areas such as live events, livestreaming, film, television and podcasts.

More than half of UMG's record music revenue came from its vast back catalogue of music (defined as more than three years old), while 46 per cent came from new releases.

But Isabelle Wekstein, a legal expert on the music business, said UMG could not afford to be complacent.

"The growth of streaming subscribers could stagnate, a competitor could emerge in China or India with lower prices, and we are seeing artists self-release more and more," she told AFP.

WASHINGTON — The United States imposed sanctions Tuesday on cryptocurrency exchange SUEX for its ties to ransomware extortionists, as Washington seeks to crack down on a sharp rise in digital crime attacks.

The move marks the first US sanctions against a virtual currency exchange and they come as President Joe Biden's administration has been under pressure to act after high-profile hacks and data breaches.

The attacks on a major US oil pipeline, a meatpacking company and Microsoft Exchange e-mail system caused real-world problems and drew attention to the vulnerability to US infrastructure to digital pirates.

The US Treasury Department, which announced the sanctions, did not say if SUEX was implicated in any of those incidents, but noted that 40 per cent of the exchange's known transaction history was linked to "illicit actors".

"Some virtual currency exchanges are exploited by malicious actors, but others, as is the case with SUEX, facilitate illicit activities for their own illicit gains," a Treasury statement said, adding they are the first sanctions against a crypto exchange.

As a result of the sanctions, any assets of the platform under US jurisdiction are now blocked and Americans are barred from using SUEX.

$10 million reward 

Crypto experts from Chainalysis noted large sums had moved through the platform, much of it from suspect sources.

"In Bitcoin alone, SUEX's deposit addresses hosted at large exchanges have received over $160 million from ransomware actors, scammers and darknet market operators," said a report from Chainalysis, which provides data on cryptocurrency.

SUEX is registered in the Czech Republic, and has branches in Russia and the Middle East.

Chainalysis said the US designation is important because it "represents significant action" by Washington to combat the money laundering that is key to digital crime.

The United States also issued a fresh warning against companies and individuals paying ransoms to unlock their files seized by ransomware hackers.

It noted that Americans could face penalties themselves if they are involved in making ransom payments as the United States already has a blacklist of people and countries, some of which are linked to ransomware attacks.

Tuesday's announcement comes after Washington in July offered $10 million rewards for information on online extortionists abroad as it stepped up efforts to halt a sharp rise in ransomware attacks.

This year has seen a slew of prominent ransomware attacks which have disrupted a US pipeline, a meat processor and the software firm Kaseya — affecting 1,500 businesses, many of them far from the limelight.

Some $350 million was paid to malicious cyber actors last year, a spike of 300 per cent from 2019, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

US officials say many of the attacks originate in Russia although they have debated to what extent there is state involvement. Russia denies responsibility.