Block programming (also known as a strand in British broadcasting) is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united.
62-494: NickRewind (formerly The '90s Are All That , The Splat , and NickSplat ) was an American late night programming block that aired nightly over the channel space of TeenNick . The block showed reruns of mid-late 1980s, 1990s, and early-mid 2000s children's programming, mostly shows that aired on Nickelodeon during their original runs. Collectively under all of its various brands, TeenNick's overnight classic programming block ran from July 25, 2011 to January 31, 2022. The block
124-485: A 15.4% stake in the company for $ 2.6 billion. Nexstar announced on August 15 that it would acquire a 75% majority share in The CW; the remaining 25% would be shared equally by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. As the deal did not require any regulatory approvals (unlike the "Big Four" networks, which includes CBS, The CW does not directly own any of its stations), Nexstar immediately took operational control of
186-641: A 45-day window to shop for matching or superior offers from other bidders. Redstone will receive $ 2.4 billion for her share in National Amusements. If Paramount were to find a better offer, Skydance would be entitled to a $ 400 million breakup fee payout from the company. Skydance's executive team supported the potential sale of several Paramount assets which were deemed "not strategic" to their plans, including BET and others. In August 2024, Paramount announced it would lay off 15% of its U.S. workforce, amounting to about 2,000 employees. The cuts came as
248-416: A 49% minority stake in film studio Miramax from beIN Media Group for $ 379 million. As part of the purchase, Paramount Pictures reached a long-term deal for exclusive distribution rights to its library, and first-look agreements to co-develop new film and television projects based on Miramax-owned properties. On March 2, 2020, executive vice president Dana McClintock announced that he would depart
310-530: A history of being associated with one another through a series of various corporate mergers and splits. Paramount Pictures was founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company . CBS was founded in 1927, which Paramount Pictures held a 49 percent ownership stake in from 1929 to 1932. In 1952, CBS formed CBS Television Film Sales, a division which handled syndication rights for CBS's library of network-owned television series. This division
372-457: A linear channel on the Paramount -owned FAST service Pluto TV titled 90s Kids , which features the same programming and on-air branding as NickRewind but with a new name and logo. Regular programs on the channel include Rugrats , Hey Arnold! , Doug and CatDog , all of which received frequent airplay on the former block. As part of the launch of "The '90s Are All That" in 2011,
434-438: A presentation to investors, ViacomCBS announced that it would change its name to Paramount Global beginning the following day; in a memo to staff announcing the change, it was stated that the rebranding was intended to leverage the "iconic global name", and would "reflect who we are, what we aspire to be, and all that we stand for". The company primarily does business as simply "Paramount". In May 2022, Berkshire Hathaway acquired
496-456: A regular schedule, is known as a marathon . Block programming in radio also refers to programming content that appeals to various demographics in time blocks, usually corresponding to the top or bottom of the hour or the quarter-hour periods. For example, various musical genres might be featured, such as a country music hour, a three-hour afternoon block of jazz, or a four-hour Saturday night '70s disco show. Generally speaking, block programming
558-422: A result of a $ 6 billion write-down on its cable TV networks. This included the shutdown of Paramount Television Studios . The following month, Paramount sold Vidcon to UK firm Informa . In November 2024, it was reported that Shari Redstone would leave Paramount Global after the company completed its planned merger with Skydance Media. The merged entity will see David Ellison, founder of Skydance Media, assume
620-527: A sale of the BET Media Group to buyers led by BET CEO Scott Mills for $ 1.6-$ 1.7 billion. On July 7, 2024, Paramount's board approved the deal to merge with Skydance. Under the final deal, which has an enterprise value of $ 28 billion, Ellison would be appointed as Chairman and CEO of what is currently being called "New Paramount" and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell would become company president. Before finalization, Paramount Global would retain
682-565: A series of related shows which are likely to attract and hold a given audience for a long period of time. Notable examples of overt block programming were NBC 's Thursday evening " Must See TV " lineup, which included two hours of sitcoms and one hour of ER , and Channel 4 's " T4 " program which often ran sitcoms back-to-back for an hour or more. Reruns on cable television are often assembled into similar blocks to fill several hours of generally little-watched daytime periods. A particularly long program block, especially one that does not air on
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#1732791658445744-486: A set weekly schedule. These programs also included programs that originally aired in the 1980s and the 2000s. On November 23, The Splat and Nick at Nite simulcast a Double Dare reunion show upon the series' 30th anniversary. The special featured the cast of All That participating in a new first-run episode of the game; to accommodate the simulcast, The Splat began airing an hour earlier than usual. To align itself with Nickelodeon's cross-platform branding, The Splat
806-538: A substantial loss. By May 17, Sony and Apollo signed non-disclosure agreements allowing them to investigate Paramount's private financial information, further progressing their bid. However, at that time, the companies were reportedly backing away from their all-cash offer and were re-thinking their approach to a deal for the company's assets. In late May, Skydance would revise its offer to acquire National Amusements, paying $ 2.25 billion and stipulating that Paramount's shareholders would receive $ 4.5 billion in cash, with
868-521: A three-way transaction between the companies. On April 18, it was reported that Sony Pictures was interested in acquiring Paramount Global through a joint buyout with Apollo. On April 29, 2024, Bob Bakish stepped down from his role as President and CEO. He was replaced by an office of the CEO, led by Brian Robbins , George Cheeks, and Chris McCarthy . The Los Angeles Times characterized this as an ouster by Redstone due to Bakish's reported opposition of
930-506: Is alive and well on outlets like public radio (such as NPR , the BBC , or CBC ) and in multicultural radio serving broad ethnic and cultural audiences, although even in this realm the idea of block programming is declining due to competition for donations. Some programming blocks have become so popular that they have been transformed to full-fledged 24-hour channels. Current channels which started as program blocks include Disney Junior (which
992-577: Is also a Cartoon Network Programming Block. However, since the 2010s, new programming blocks have become rare due to airing programming in a regular format or with little or no brand reference within the programming block. Paramount Global Paramount Global (also known simply as Paramount ) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square , Midtown Manhattan . The company
1054-493: Is anathema to modern competitive commercial radio, which traditionally uses uniform formats, other than a handful of speciality shows in off-peak hours such as weekends (for instance, the infamous beaver hours in Canadian radio). The general rationale for not using block programming is that listeners expect a certain type of music when they tune into a radio station and breaking from that format will turn those listeners away from
1116-511: Is still a program block on Disney Channel ); the Nick Jr. Channel (based on the Nick Jr. block that still airs on Nickelodeon); Boomerang (which was once a program block on Cartoon Network ); PBS Kids (which is still a program block on PBS ) and MeTV Toons (which was once a programming block on MeTV ). In addition, TV Land airs older shows that were once aired on sister channel Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite program block. Adult Swim
1178-546: The BET and VH1 channels, among others), and other CBS-branded assets), CBS Media Networks (consisting of U.S.-based cable television networks including MTV , Nickelodeon , Comedy Central , CMT , Paramount Network , and Showtime ) and Paramount Streaming (including Paramount+ and Pluto TV ). It also has an international division that manages international versions of its pay TV networks, as well as region-specific assets including Argentina's Telefe , Chile's Chilevisión ,
1240-467: The CBS Studio Center to Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management for $ 1.85 billion. On January 5, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia (whose then-owner AT&T was selling it to Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery ) were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of The CW , and that Nexstar Media Group
1302-613: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On October 28, 2019, the merger was approved by National Amusements, which then announced the deal would close in early December; the recombined company trades its shares on Nasdaq under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS Corporation delisted its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). On November 25, 2019, Viacom and CBS announced the merger would close on December 4 and begin trading on NASDAQ on
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#17327916584451364-462: The 1980s, it was not uncommon to mix various blocks of talk programming together on one station, but this has declined dramatically in the late 1990s and beyond. A listener to a conservative talk radio station will have little interest in a progressive talk radio , sports radio or hot talk block, which reaches a different demographic; stations that have attempted the block strategy have historically been unsuccessful. Block programming of this nature
1426-1020: The Middle East, Greece, and Turkey. On August 4, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that the company's connected video advertising platform, EyeQ, is set to launch in fall 2020. On September 14, 2020, ViacomCBS announced an agreement to sell the CBSi-owned CNET Media Group to Red Ventures for $ 500 million. The deal included the eponymous CNET tech site, as well as ZDNet , GameSpot , the TV Guide digital assets, Metacritic , and Chowhound . The deal closed on October 30, 2020. On November 17, 2020, various news outlets reported that companies such as Vivendi , Bertelsmann 's Penguin Random House and News Corp 's HarperCollins had considered acquiring Simon & Schuster for as much as $ 1.7 billion. ViacomCBS had expected
1488-481: The Skydance deal. McCarthy was legally designated the company's "interim principal executive officer" in order to comply with SEC regulations stipulating that one person must conduct "the normal course of business". On May 2, Sony and Apollo submitted a non-binding offer to Paramount for a $ 26 billion all-cash offer, with terms unclear at that point. Skydance's exclusive negotiation window ended on May 3, 2024 and
1550-635: The United Kingdom's Channel 5 , and Australia's Network 10 . From 2011 to 2023, the division also owned a 30% stake in the Italian Rainbow S.p.A. studio. As of 2019, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in 180 countries. In 2024, National Amusements held talks for a potential merger or acquisition of Paramount Global, with Warner Bros. Discovery , Sony Pictures , Apollo Global Management , and Skydance Media all considering acquiring
1612-483: The Viacom deal, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate, or Sony Pictures . Moonves also considered Bakish a threat because he did not want an ally of Shari Redstone as a board member of the combined company. On September 9, 2018, Les Moonves exited CBS Corporation following multiple accusations of sexual assault. National Amusements agreed to not propose a CBS Corporation-Viacom merger for at least two years after
1674-495: The bids to be placed before November 26. On November 25, 2020, Penguin Random House agreed to purchase Simon & Schuster for $ 2.175 billion; however, the deal was blocked two years later by U.S. federal judge Florence Y. Pan . On August 16, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to sell the CBS Building to the real estate investment and management firm Harbor Group International for $ 760 million, leasing
1736-487: The block became trending topics on Twitter and the Nielsen Ratings for TeenNick on the debut night increased to between eight and 60 times the ratings TeenNick received in previous weeks, beating numerous higher-profile basic cable programs in the same time slot. Beginning October 5, 2015, the block expanded to eight hours (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and began airing a broader variety of series. Renamed as "The Splat",
1798-432: The block continues to post compilation content from past Nickelodeon shows. The final week of 2011, dubbed "Party Like It's the '90s", featured shows originally featured in the 1995 through 1999 incarnation of SNICK . KaBlam! and Animorphs were excluded and replaced with other SNICK programs of the era. This also included '90s Nick IDs. The December 31 edition, called "Stick Clark's New Year's Sticking Eve", featured
1860-495: The block had its own dedicated website, which featured clips, the schedule, and voting sections. In September 2015, along with the announcement of the block's relaunch as "The Splat", a new keyboard app was announced to be released to the Apple App Store and Google Play. Titled "The Splat Emoji Keyboard" and developed by Snaps Media, the app features pictures and GIFs of 90s Nicktoons characters and various objects. The app
1922-507: The block's name and logo came from Nickelodeon's logo from 1984; a white brush-printed wordmark on an amorphous orange background (often manifested as a "splat" shape, but which was frequently rendered in many others). To align itself with Nickelodeon's cross-platform branding, the block changed its name to NickSplat on May 1, 2017. The block would adopt its final name on March 15, 2019, and discontinue broadcast on January 31, 2022, returning TeenNick to 24-hour programming. The YouTube channel for
NickRewind - Misplaced Pages Continue
1984-513: The block's programming on Pluto TV (which had been carrying much of the same content as NickRewind since May 2019) and Paramount+ . Meanwhile, Nickelodeon will keep its NickRewind social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel open for fans, with the YouTube channel concentrating more on live-action Nickelodeon shows made post-2000, such as iCarly , Victorious and Sam & Cat . On October 17, 2023, Nickelodeon launched
2046-679: The channel was extended to 24/7 programming. The block was ended in 2021. In 2019, a YouTube channel of the same name was created, where archival shows and clips were posted there up until February 22, 2022. In August 2020, Nickelodeon Latin America launched a localized version of "NickRewind" airing older Nickelodeon shows from the 90s to the 2010s, it only aired for a month. A NickRewind branded channel has been available on Pluto TV since August 3, 2020. A NickRewind branded channel has been available on 10Play since August 1, 2023. Block programming Block programming involves scheduling
2108-524: The company after 27 years in CBS Communications. On March 4, the company announced plans to potentially sell its Simon & Schuster publishing unit, with Bakish arguing that it lacked a "significant connection for our broader business". On June 19, 2020, Jaime Ondarza, formerly the senior vice president of Turner Broadcasting South Europe and Africa, became the new head of ViacomCBS Networks International for France, Spain, Portugal, Italy,
2170-472: The company and forcing a merger that was not supported by it or Viacom . CBS Corporation also accused Redstone of discouraging Verizon Communications from acquiring it, which could have been beneficial to its shareholders. On May 23, 2018, Les Moonves explained that he considered the Viacom channels to be an " albatross ," and while he favored more content for CBS All Access (now Paramount+), he believed that there were better deals for CBS Corporation than
2232-407: The company taking $ 1.5 billion in debt reduction funds, which The Wall Street Journal reported an independent committee representing Paramount had ultimately recommended. By June 3, Paramount and Skydance had agreed to terms of a merger. A final deal was expected to be announced in the coming days. However, at that point, Redstone's National Amusements had not formally approved the deal. Redstone
2294-467: The company. By June 3, Paramount reportedly agreed to merger terms with Skydance. However, by June 11, merger talks between Paramount and Skydance had fallen apart, resulting in the proposed merger being called off. The companies would later re-negotiate the deal, and on July 2, 2024, Skydance reached a preliminary agreement to acquire National Amusements and merge with Paramount to create "New Paramount". Paramount Pictures , CBS , and Viacom each had
2356-559: The date of the settlement. On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. CBS Corporation's board of directors was revamped with people who were open to merging; the re-merger was made possible with the resignation of Moonves, who had opposed all merger attempts. The talks had started following rumors of CBS Corporation acquiring Starz from Lionsgate. Reports said that CBS Corporation and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine
2418-401: The deal was called off. On January 12, 2018, CNBC reported that Viacom had re-entered talks to merge back into CBS Corporation, after the merger of AT&T and Time Warner and Disney 's proposed acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox 's assets were announced. Viacom and CBS Corporation also faced heavy competition from companies such as Netflix and Amazon . Shortly afterward, it
2480-535: The network on the same day. The deal was closed on October 3, with CEO Mark Pedowitz stepping down and Dennis Miller taking Pedowitz's role as president of The CW. Paramount's CBS News and Stations unit announced on May 5, 2023, that its eight CW stations would become independent on September 1, per the Nexstar buyout deal. On August 7, Paramount announced that it had agreed to sell Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR for $ 1.6 billion in cash. The sale
2542-487: The next day. On December 4, 2019, Bakish confirmed that the ViacomCBS merger had closed. On December 10, 2019, days after the merger, Bakish announced that ViacomCBS would look to divest Black Rock , the building that held CBS's headquarters since 1964. He stated, "Black Rock is not an asset we need to own and we believe that money would be put to better use elsewhere." On December 20, 2019, ViacomCBS agreed to acquire
NickRewind - Misplaced Pages Continue
2604-535: The revival of "U-Dip," another Nick in the Afternoon feature, as an homage of the large list of objects dropped on New Year's Eve across the United States. Nickelodeon's trademark slime won the vote. The block started at 10 pm and ended at 2 am, with a re-air from 2 am–6 am, to accommodate the occasion. On September 11, 2015, the block's Facebook page announced a new program block called "The Splat". It
2666-401: The running. On June 11, National Amusements announced they had failed to reach an agreement with Skydance to acquire Paramount. By July 2, 2024, Skydance renegotiated the deal and reached a preliminary agreement to acquire National Amusements and merge with Paramount. The deal was referred by National Amusements to Paramount's special committee. Also, Paramount reportedly entered talks for
2728-467: The space back under a short-term lease. On September 28, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to partner with software and data firm VideoAmp. On October 28, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to acquire a majority stake in the Spanish-language content producer TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico. On November 30, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to sell
2790-410: The station; likewise, a station that airs its programming in hodgepodge blocks will have difficulty building listener loyalty, as listeners' music will only be on for a few hours of the day. This argument for homogenized radio was also a driving force behind the effective death of freeform radio in the late 20th century. The case of talk radio is indicative of the decline of block programming: prior to
2852-651: The studio. On March 30, 2018, CBS Corporation made an all-stock offer slightly below Viacom's market value, insisting that its existing leadership, including long-time chairman and CEO Les Moonves , oversee the re-combined company. Viacom rejected the offer as too low, requesting a $ 2.8 billion increase and that Bob Bakish be maintained as president and COO under Moonves. These conflicts had resulted from Shari Redstone seeking more control over CBS Corporation and its leadership. Eventually, on May 14, 2018, CBS Corporation sued its and Viacom's parent company National Amusements and accused Redstone of abusing her voting power in
2914-404: The talks about the re-merger continued. On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their merger; the combined company was to be named ViacomCBS, with Shari Redstone serving as chair. Upon the merger agreement, Viacom and CBS jointly announced that the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. The merger required approval by
2976-570: The two media companies. CBS Corporation announced its plans to acquire Viacom as part of the re-merger deal for up to $ 15.4 billion. On August 2, 2019, it was reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom agreed to merge back into one entity, with both companies agreeing on the management team for the merger. Bob Bakish would serve as CEO of the combined company with the president and acting CEO of CBS Corporation, Joseph Ianniello , overseeing CBS Corporation-branded assets. On August 7, 2019, CBS and Viacom separately reported their quarterly earnings as
3038-496: Was acquired by theater operator company National Amusements . Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures was acquired by Gulf and Western Industries in 1966, which then re-branded itself as Paramount Communications in 1989. Viacom then purchased Paramount Communications in 1994. In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation (the renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation , which had merged with CBS in 1995). The merger
3100-497: Was completed in 2000, resulting in CBS reuniting with its former syndication division. On December 31, 2005, Viacom was split into two companies: CBS Corporation , the former's corporate successor, and the spun-off Viacom company. On September 29, 2016, National Amusements , the parent company of CBS Corporation and Viacom, wrote to Viacom and CBS Corporation encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company. On December 12,
3162-459: Was completed on October 30. On December 20, 2023, it was reported by Axios and The New York Times that David Zaslav , CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had met with Bob Bakish and had discussed a possible merger. Spokespeople for the two companies stated that the talks were preliminary and may not resulted in a deal, while Fox Business reported via internal sources that Zaslav was "not in deal mode". On January 10, 2024, National Amusements
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#17327916584453224-469: Was considered a leading bidder. Reports indicated that ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia could include a contractual commitment that would require any new owner to buy new programming from those companies, allowing them to reap some continual revenue through the network. Then-network president/CEO Mark Pedowitz confirmed talks of a potential sale in a memo to CW staffers, but added that "It's too early to speculate what might happen." On February 15, 2022, during
3286-630: Was formed on December 4, 2019, as ViacomCBS through the merger of the second incarnations of CBS Corporation and Viacom (which were split from the original Viacom on December 31, 2005). The company took its current name on February 16, 2022. Paramount's main properties include the namesake Paramount Pictures film and television studio, the CBS Entertainment (consisting of the CBS and partially owned The CW television networks and television stations , BET Media Group (which oversees
3348-428: Was later confirmed that The Splat would launch on October 5, 2015, and run for eight hours. The same general format and program library were being used, with less repetition of series; whereas The '90s Are All That aired most of its shows five days a week, The Splat added a few shows into the rotation that had either not yet been seen on the previous block or had only aired as special presentations, no longer airing them on
3410-525: Was not renewed, although the company was still interested in buying Paramount. The following day, Paramount's board members met, considering a "go-shop" approach for other such offers; it was ultimately decided that they would begin negotiations regarding Sony and Apollo's offer while still holding non-exclusive talks with Skydance. That same day, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett stated in an annual meeting that he had sold all of his shares in Paramount at
3472-419: Was preceded by The '90s Are All That , which debuted the night of July 25, 2011 (early July 26) and was inspired by a large amount of interest in classic Nickelodeon series from the 1990s by users of social media outlets such as Facebook . From October 7, 2011 to October 23, 2011, the block aired in an earlier time slot, from 10 p.m. to midnight. Response to the debut was very positive; hashtags pertaining to
3534-530: Was released in October 2015, coinciding with the launch of The Splat. In 2016, Nickelodeon UK launched a British version of "NickSplat". Instead of it being a block, it's an online-only service on Nick.co.uk. For a limited time in 2017, Nicktoons UK broadcast some of the shows from the block. On December 12, 2016, Nickelodeon Netherlands & Flanders launched a Dutch version of "NickSplat" simply called "Splat". The block airs on weeknights at midnight since
3596-439: Was renamed NickSplat on May 1, 2017. On March 18, 2019, the block, along with its social media presences, was officially renamed "NickRewind". On January 31, 2022, the branding ended, though traditional TeenNick content had begun to air overnights in mid-December 2021. Although there was no initial announcement, the end of the block was confirmed by NickRewind's Twitter account on February 2, 2022, with viewers directed to watch
3658-565: Was renamed CBS Films in 1958, again renamed CBS Enterprises in January 1968, and finally renamed Viacom (an acronym of Video and Audio Communications) in 1970. In 1971, this syndication division was spun off amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies (these rules were eventually abolished completely in 1993). In 1986, Viacom purchased MTV Networks and Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. from Warner Communications and American Express . In 1987, Viacom
3720-602: Was reported that the combined company could be a suitor for acquiring the film studio Lionsgate . Viacom and Lionsgate were both interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company (TWC). Following the Weinstein effect , Viacom was listed as one of 22 potential buyers that were interested in acquiring TWC. They lost the bid, and on March 1, 2018, it was announced that Maria Contreras-Sweet would acquire all of TWC's assets for $ 500 million. Lantern Capital would later acquire
3782-513: Was reported to be considering a deal or merger regarding Paramount Global, with Skydance Media considering an all-cash bid of $ 2.5 billion for the earlier company. During this time, Paramount announced it would be laying off 800 employees. On February 27, 2024, CNBC reported that Warner Bros. Discovery halted the merger talks with Paramount. On April 2, 2024, Paramount and National Amusements approached Skydance for an exclusive acquisition window agreement. Shari Redstone and David Ellison sought
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#17327916584453844-513: Was reportedly displeased with the revised terms, as she would now received less money for her shares and Skydance wanted Redstone to assume legal liabilities in the case of shareholders lawsuits unhappy with the deal. She considered a sale of her company to another bidder, with such names as writer and producer Steven Paul , businessman Edgar Bronfman Jr. , Bain Capital , Patrón Tequila founder John Paul DeJoria and businessman Barry Diller in
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