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California Wine Growers Recalibrate; Paramount Circles Warner; Google’s Search Boss Faces AI Future

By Nat Ives

 

Good morning. This is Katie Deighton filling in for Nat Ives. Today, wine brand owners in California are lowering prices and ripping up vines; Paramount's Larry Ellison makes a play for Warner Bros. Discovery; and Google says reports of search’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

Mitch Davis, the COO of Jackson Family Wines, inspects bunches of grapes that will be harvested in coming weeks at La Crema winery. Christie Hemm Klok for WSJ

California's wine brands are in trouble, Laura Cooper reports. 

Vineyards have an oversupply of grapes. People are drinking less, especially younger drinkers, and tariffs have caused the biggest foreign market for U.S. wine—Canada—to dry up overnight. A Sonoma growers trade group is estimating that between 2,000 to 5,000 acres of vineyards could be removed over the next several years, and assumes not all of those will be replanted.

Jackson Family Wines, the owner of the well-known Kendall-Jackson wine brand, is considering replacing some grapes that it has too many of with more popular varietals like Sauvignon Blanc.

The company is also lowering some prices in an effort to appeal to consumers feeling the pinch after years of inflation, said Shilah Salmon, a senior vice president at the company

“We see this magic line of $19.99,” she said. “When you start to get over that, it’s a hard line for a lot of people, especially at the grocery store” where nearly half of U.S. wine is purchased.

 
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Paramountaineering

Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. Allison Dinner/EPA/Shutterstock

David Ellison, the son of billionaire Larry Ellison and chief executive of Paramount, is making a play for all of Warner Bros. Discovery before it splits, Joe Flint and Lauren Thomas write.

Warner Chief Executive David Zaslav four months ago unveiled a plan to split the media giant into two, with its TV and movies studio and streaming business in one publicly traded company and its cable networks in another. Paramount in late September approached the company about a potential majority-cash offer heavily backed by the Ellisons, according to people familiar with the matter.

Warner’s board is aware of the proposal, some of the people said, and Zaslav has so far resisted overtures from Paramount. Ellison is now considering his options, which could include a more aggressive approach, such as taking an offer directly to shareholders, some of the people said.

Paramount has a market value of around $19 billion while Warner has a market value above $40 billion. While it would be unusual for a company to swallow another roughly twice its size, having the financial backing of the Ellison family—and potentially other investors—could allow Paramount to pull off such a large transaction.

 

Quotable

"It really comes from the most common influencer you see when you type in ‘Vermont Foliage’ on TikTok or Instagram."

— Burlington, Vt. artist Alex Bonson, who created the collectible figurine ‘Influencer Trespassing on Private Road’ in response to the influx of leaf-peeping hordes. The doll sports a long braid under a wide-brimmed hat, and clasps a smartphone.
 

Searching for Answers

Liz Reid, Google’s head of search. Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Google's search boss is trying to convince the public that artificial intelligence hasn’t killed the company's golden goose, Tim Higgins reports.

Conventional wisdom is that AI-powered chatbots and assistants will replace the need for search. Google's head of search, Liz Reid, said the advent of AI chatbots is helping fuel users wanting more information.

Google at the same time is arguing AI is disrupting its ad business, which has been found to be a monopoly. Its lawyers in a recent filing said that the ad industry is already seeing significant disruptions.

“Even at the liability stage a year ago, the Court heard about ad-tech products that are continuing ‘to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities,’ including tools that facilitate ad purchasing across channels,” the filing said.

 

The WSJ CMO Council Summit

This Nov. 18 and 19, CMOs will gather in New York for the WSJ CMO Summit, featuring marketing leaders such as Vanessa Broadhurst of Johnson & Johnson, Cheryl Krauss of Chubb, Alicia Tillman of Delta Air Lines, Laura Jones of Instacart and Taylor Montgomery of Taco Bell. Together, they’ll explore fan-fueled growth, AI in marketing and the evolving CMO-CEO partnership.

Join the CMO Council and be part of the conversation shaping the future of marketing leadership.

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Keep Reading

Chris Spangler and his sons Lucca and Finn set out carrying river sluices on a recent expedition. Chris Spangler

America's latest, oldest hobby? Panning for gold. [WSJ]

Gen Z's version of the ‘lipstick effect’ looks more like buying matcha and designer sneakers during an economic downturn. [Business Insider]

Procurement execs are starting to show up at ad industry events. [AdAge]

British publisher alliance Ozone signed a group of U.S. publishers, and is now pushing its pitch harder to the buy side. [Digiday]

Rossi Ralenkotter, the Las Vegas tourism boss behind the ‘What Happens Here, Stays Here’ campaign, died. [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

Why Microsoft redesigned all of its Office icons. [Fast Company]

 
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