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JUST IN: TikTok moves to sell gaming arm

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TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks with buyers including Chinese tech giant Tencent to sell its gaming arm, a company spokesperson said Tuesday, as it seeks to shed once-promising assets in the highly competitive sector.

The discussions would see the firm sell Nuverse, a video game publisher that is a subsidiary of Beijing-based ByteDance.

Nuverse was once viewed by the firm as a vital component in its bid to catch up with Tencent, a leader in the global gaming industry and one of China’s largest media conglomerates.

Efforts to reach a deal are still ongoing, the spokesperson told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The development comes after ByteDance made sweeping reductions to its gaming division last November, including a round of layoffs cutting hundreds of jobs.

The move marked a retreat from the competitive sector — worth $42.2 billion last year, according to official figures – after Nuverse failed to achieve the commercial success ByteDance had hoped for at the time of its launch in 2019.

China is the world’s largest gaming market, and Tencent is the global leader in the sector in terms of revenue.

But it has faced increasing challenges as authorities impose tighter restrictions on gaming, especially for young people.

Since 2021, children under 18 years old have only been allowed to play online between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the school term.

And during next month’s Spring Festival Holiday, users under the age of 18 will face similar limitations, implemented through a real-name verification system, linked to national ID cards, Tencent said.

In a Tuesday WeChat post explaining the rules, Tencent said it hoped “adults and children alike can play games with self-discipline”.

Beijing last month said it might revise newly drafted online gaming rules aimed at limiting in-game purchases and preventing obsessive gaming behaviour, after the regulations triggered a sell-off in major tech stocks.

AFP

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Entertainment

Canal+ acquires MultiChoice Group for $3bn

The acquisition, which gives Canal+ the remaining 55% stake it did not previously own, was approved by South Africa’s Competition Tribunal on Wednesday, July 23.

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South Africa’s Competition Tribunal has approved Canal+’s takeover of of MultiChoice Group. Canalplus calls it a “hugely positive step forward.”

Multichoice Group, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, was bought at $3 billion (approx. 55 billion rand) deal by Canalplus.

The acquisition, which gives Canal+ the remaining 55% stake it did not previously own, was approved by South Africa’s Competition Tribunal on Wednesday, July 23.

The approval comes after months of intense negotiations and regulatory reviews, and paves the way for the deal to be finalized by October 8, 2025.

While the Tribunal gave the green light, it imposed several public interest conditions to protect local content and maintain South Africa’s media sovereignty.

For Canal+, the deal represents a major strategic expansion into Africa’s booming media and entertainment market.

Already operating in 25 African countries with over eight million subscribers, Canal+ is now positioned to significantly scale up its presence, targeting 50 to 100 million subscribers across the continent in the coming years.

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Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Cosby Show Star, Dead at 54

Warner was just 14 when The Cosby Show premiered in 1984, with the actor starring as Bill Cosby’s only on-screen son until the show wrapped in 1992.

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Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for playing Theodore “Theo” Huxtable on The Cosby Show, has died.

He was 54.TMZ first broke the news, reporting his death occurred in Costa Rica and was an apparent drowning.

Per AP, Costa Rican officials said he was swimming at Playa Cocles in Limon when the current pulled him deeper into the ocean.

“He was rescued by people on the beach,” officials said in a report, but he was without vital signs when first responders arrived.

Notoriously private about his personal life, Warner is survived by his wife and daughter, the latter who was born in 2017.

While he has shared photos of them both on social media, their identities have remained private.

Warner was just 14 when The Cosby Show premiered in 1984, with the actor starring as Bill Cosby’s only on-screen son until the show wrapped in 1992.

In that time, he also hosted Saturday Night Live, appeared on Sesame Street and played his Cosby character on spinoff A Different World for a couple episodes.

He also voiced The Producer from 1994-1997 on The Magic School Bus, before costarring on Malcolm & Eddie opposite Eddie Griffin from 1996-2000.

Later work included Jeremiah on Showtime, Sherri Shepherd’s sitcom Sherri, BET’s Reed between the Lines, and, most recently, The Resident and 9-1-1.Warner was also a Grammy winner, picking up the Best Traditional R&B Performance trophy alongside Robert Glasper Experiment featuring Lala Hathaway for the song Jesus Children in 2015.

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Davido’s ‘Timeless’ album wins silver certification in the UK

“Timeless”, which was released on March 31, 2023, explores diverse musical styles such as Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, konto, highlife and Afropop.

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Nigerian music superstar David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has earned the prestigious Silver Certification in the United Kingdom for his fourth album “Timeless”.

Chart Data, a leading platform for music analytics and certifications, said that the acknowledgement comes after the album sold over 100,000 units in the UK, making it eligible for a silver plaque.

“Timeless”, which was released on March 31, 2023, explores diverse musical styles such as Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, konto, highlife and Afropop.

It features 17 tracks and includes collaborations with notable artists like Asake, Skepta, Dexta Daps, Fave, Cavemen, and Angelique Kidjo.

The album enjoyed massive success, breaking multiple streaming records on platforms such as Spotify Nigeria, Audiomack, Boomplay, and YouTube.

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