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MW 24 January 2018

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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 24 JANUARY 2018 11 Allegations of sexual miscon- duct by actor Kevin Spacey and others have cost online streaming service Netfl ix $39m (€31.86m) because of unre- leased content it was unable to "move forward with," the com- pany said. While Netflix did not specifically blame Spacey, its chief financial officer David Wells said the charge was "related to the societal reset around sexual harassment". Although write-downs happened regularly, the firm has not "had one of this magnitude," he said. Reports citing a source familiar with the matter said the charge was related to content starring Kevin Spacey, with whom Netflix cut ties last year. The streaming service temporarily halted production of House of Cards to write out Spacey's character, and decided against releasing the film Gore, which starred Spacey as American writer Gore Vidal. Netflix also pulled the plug on a second stand-up show from comedian Louis CK, after he admitted to sexual misconduct in November. The $39m charge was disclosed in the company's fourth-quarter earnings report, and is one of the first signs of the financial cost incurred by a studio or production company following allegations of sexual misconduct against an individual. Spacey has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 30 men, who came forward in the wake of allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein. After the initial accusation in October, Spacey offered an apology and said he has no memory of the incident. The scandal also hit Imperative Entertainment LLC, which reportedly spent more than $10m to reshoot Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World replacing Spacey with Christopher Plummer, who was one of the main characters in the film. Despite the costly charge for Netflix, its market capitalisation soared past $100bn for the first time on Monday after its quarterly shareholder bulletin revealed it had brought in 6.36 million subscribers between October and December last year. Along with 1.98 million customer additions in the United States, the company ended the year with 117.58 million streaming subscribers around the globe, despite a price increase in October. Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Kevin Spacey sexual harassment scandal costs Netfl ix $39m Kevin Spacey at the House of Cards season 4 premiere The pound jumped above $1.40 to a fresh post-Brexit high The pound moved to its highest level against the dollar since Britain voted to leave the European Union in June 2016 , climbing above the psychologically sig- nifi cant level of $1.40 in the process. By just after 8.15am GMT yesterday, sterling had pulled back from those gains to trade at around $1.3950, a fall of roughly 0.3% from the beginning of the day's trading. "The British Pound attracted most of the traders' attention after breaking above $1.4 earlier today," Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at forex firm FXTM, said. "The 1.4 is not only a psychological level, but it has also been considered a key support level during the past three decades prior to the Brexit vote." While most analysts expected sterling to post gains during 2018, the speed at which it has appreciated early in the year has confounded expectations. The currency is up by almost five cents against the dollar since the beginning of the year, and is the best performing of the G10 basket of major currencies over the past six months. It may seem as though sterling's rise reflects growing confidence that the UK and EU will be able to strike a Brexit deal beneficial to both parties — and to a certain extent that is true. However, much of the appreciation is down to the continually weakening dollar as investors worry about the future direction of the US economy under the Trump presidency. The recent US government shutdown has only served to exacerbate those concerns. Should weakness in the dollar continue, ING FX strategist Viraj Patel believes that sterling could reach $1.53 this year, a level higher than the days before the referendum.

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