Communications Services Tick Up Amid Deal Activity -- Communications Services Roundup

Communications services companies ticked up amid deal activity.

Investment firms Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and EQT look set to offer as much as $15 billion to buy out Dutch television-and-cell-phone giant Royal KPN.

Netflix reached a multiyear agreement with Sony's movie-studio unit, Sony Pictures Entertainment, for domestic streaming rights to its theatrical movies, beginning in 2022. With many Hollywood studios launching their own streaming services, Netflix is eager to safeguard access to new movie releases, which have proved popular as streaming content at a time when cinema traffic remains very low.

Advertising conglomerate Publicis Groupe struck a deal with ad-technology company Trade Desk meant to help it send targeted ads as marketers prepare for big changes in the digital ecosystem.

Shares of ViacomCBS and Discovery Communications, which have been volatile since Bill Hwang's Archegos Capital Management was forced to dump large stakes in the companies, both sold off.

 Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail] 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-08-21 1731ET