Movie studios’

deal to proceed

The merger between entertainment giant Paramount and media company Skydance is set to go ahead after Edgar Bronfman Jr. withdrew a competing offer. Bronfman is executive chairman of streaming service Fubo. He told Paramount’s special committee of directors that he would not proceed with his bid. Bronfman is also the former chairman and CEO of Warner Music. He had intitially offered $4.3 billion for Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of Paramount. He then upped that bid to $6 billion. Paramount agreed last month to a merger deal with Skydance that will inject desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape.

Barnes & Noble

owner dies at 83

Leonard Riggio, a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the publishing industry by building Barnes & Noble into the country’s most powerful bookseller but later saw his company overtaken by the rise of Amazon.com, has died at age 83. Riggio’s reign at Barnes & Noble began in 1971 when he used a $1.2 million loan to purchase the company’s name and its flagship store on lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He acquired hundreds of new stores and launched what became a nationwide empire of “superstores” that combined a chain’s discount prices and massive capacity with the cozy appeal of couches and cafes.

Confidence rises

in consumers  

American consumers felt more confident in August as their outlook for the future improved. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 103.3 in August from 101.9 in July. The index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market rose to 82.5 from 81.1 in July. Consumers’ view of current conditions rose to 134.4 in August from 133.1 last month. Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity and is closely watched by economists.

Pfizer, Lilly

to sell to patients

Pfizer Inc. has a new plan to reach potential customers: selling drugs straight to patients. The company launched a website on Tuesday that allows users to schedule vaccine appointments or meet virtually with doctors who can prescribe its medicines for COVID, migraine and other conditions, which are then shipped to patients’ doorsteps. In January, Eli Lilly & Co. launched its LillyDirect portal to sell popular obesity and diabetes treatments, marking the first time a major drug company hawked products straight to consumers. While some doctors have questioned the model’s safety, the emergence of PfizerForAll suggests a potential Big Pharma arms race to sell directly to consumers.