The share prices of leading media and entertainment companies have plunged since Donald Trump announced on April 2 his unprecedented round of tariffs on imports into the United States.
Among the major US studios, the share price of Walt Disney is down 16%, Warner Bros Discovery has dropped 24% while Paramount Global is down 11% and NBC Universal parent Comcast has fallen 10%.
Meanwhile, Apple’s share price has tumbled 19%, Netflix’s share price has fallen 11%, while Amazon is down 8% and Roku has dropped 20%.
Within Europe, broadcasting groups have also been hit, including RTL Group (-10%), ITV (-15%), MFE-MediaForEurope (-15%), France’s TF1 Group (-10%) and Germany’s Prosiebensat 1 Media SE (-5%).
All have become caught up in the major stock market sell-offs that have convulsed stock markets around the world since the tariffs were announced.
The US has applied a 10% baseline tariff on all goods entering the country. This baseline tariff will apply to countries such as the UK, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
A higher round of tariffs comes into effect on April 9. The European Union will have a 20% tariff rate, while there is 24% rate for Japan, 25% for South Korea and 34% for China.
The tariffs will affect all goods – such as cameras and other TV and film industry hardware being imported into the United States - but will not apply to services such as film and TV programmes.
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