Latest news with #BingChen
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
At Banff, Media Leaders Debate AI as Job Killer
Bing Chen, executive chairman and CEO of Gold House, issued a dire warning on Monday about artificial intelligence: the emerging digital technology stands to eliminate entry-level entertainment industry jobs. 'The notion of replacing entry-level jobs for our children, we have yet to have a solution. Because this is no longer about upscaling. This is about full replacement of you when you were 22, 27 or 28,' Chen told the Banff World Media Festival. More from The Hollywood Reporter Banff: Taye Diggs, Jennifer Whalen to Lead 'New Spanish' Live Script Read (Exclusive) 'Stranger Things' Music Supervisor Nora Felder Joins Banff World Media Festival Board (Exclusive) Chuck Lorre to Keynote Banff World Media Festival But Kevin Johnson, CEO of WPP Media Canada and president and WPP Media, countered the jury was still out on whether AI will cut a swathe through the economy and take over jobs, never to be replaced, or instead could create new opportunities and reshape the workspace. 'I think it's way to early for us to press the button and say our kids are not going to have a job anymore, or worrying about what I feel was the same when computers came in,' Johnson argued during a panel moderated by The Hollywood Reporter's Mikey O'Connell. The panel was held against the background of escalating industry disruption, which includes advertising woes and licensing declines and movie theater uncertainty and a shake-up in streaming. That left global media executives in Banff to unpack the forces transforming the industry, and how they were responding. John Morayniss, CEO of Blink49 Studios, said content creators these days were forced to work with more collaborators and go for increased creative finesse. 'The business of making traditional content is getting harder and harder, and it requires way more partnerships and way more creative ways,' Morayniss said. He pointed to Blink49 Studios making an investment in Stapleview, the Los Angeles-based digital-first comedy producer launched in 2022. 'They have direct relationships with their audience, they understand their audience and they're marketing to their audience,' Morayniss said of Stapleview getting closer to the coal face to mine new viewers for content exploitation. That was a theme picked up by Prentiss Fraser, president of Fox Entertainment Global, who argued having more distribution channels for content at her major studio had helped discover more ways to monetize content in turbulent times. 'There's just a lot of ways to exploit content in our ecosystem that's been created, and then pairing that with the opportunity to build a distribution infrastructure that has the ability to finance projects just seemed like a recipe for great success,' Fraser said. Whether escalating tech innovation, including YouTube and artificial intelligence, industry consolidation, Wall Street market gyrations or just general belt-tightening among content consumers and creators, such economic headwinds and challenges were on the mind of media leaders on stage in Banff. But Gold House's Chen cautioned Banff delegates about getting too caught up in the current debate about whether YouTube can outlast Netflix as the most popular streaming platform amid continuing industry consolidation. We've been here before, he urged. 'Life is so cyclical. It contracts and expands. It contracts and expands, and narratively we are in a similar phase where we were literally a decade ago in 2014, where everyone thinks YouTube is the new hot thing because of time spent,' Chen remarked. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Gold House And Nasdaq Convene Power Players To Celebrate The 2025 A100
Gold Power Summit 2025 at Nasdaq. Now in its second year, the Gold Power Summit—held in partnership with Nasdaq on April 30 — brought together a diverse group of leaders who rarely share the same stage: unicorn founders, top venture capitalists, global chief marketing officers, award-winning creatives, and emerging investors. The summit, which kicked off Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, is both a celebration and a strategic move. It spotlighted some of the most transformative Asian Pacific leaders across culture and commerce with its annual A100 List, reaffirming the rising influence of pan-Asian power in global markets. As the tech and venture capital landscape undergoes a reset, Gold House has been quietly — and powerfully — building a new pipeline. It is focused on connection, creating what it calls an 'ecosystem bell': a symbolic moment in the capital markets where private and public sectors collide to catalyze long-term value. The nonprofit collective is expanding what it means to build, scale, and fund the future by curating intentional ecosystems where capital meets culture. The summit began with a welcome from co-hosts Sehr Thadhani, Chief Growth Officer of Nasdaq, and Bing Chen, Founder and CEO of Gold House. Stephanie Mehta, CEO and Chief Content Officer of Mansueto Ventures, led a fireside chat with Anish Melwani, Chairman and CEO of LVMH North America. Other notable speakers included Christina Wootton (Chief Partnerships Officer, Roblox), Melody Lee (CMO, Mercedes-Benz USA), Nikil Viswanathan (Founder & CEO, Alchemy), Mike Van (CEO, Billboard), Mike Xu (GrubMarket), and Soyoung Kang (eos Products). Topics spanned innovation and AI to global brand storytelling and next-gen creator economies — conversations that signal not just what's trending, but who's driving it. The key themes were: leading with imagination, innovating with intention, and anchoring culture with conviction. Gold House's 20205 Gold Power Summit This year's A100 honorees reflect that ambition and included AI pioneers like Demis Hassabis (CEO, Google DeepMind) and Sridhar Ramaswamy (CEO, Snowflake) to cultural leaders like Jon M. Chu, Laufey, and Drew Afualo. While the list spans industries, it shares one common thread: transformation. Honorees will be celebrated across a series of marquee events from May 9–10, including the A100 Celebratory Reception at the Academy Museum, an exclusive Honorees Dinner presented by OpenTable, and the Gold Gala, North America's most prestigious Asian Pacific American celebration. This year's gala also includes the Billboard x Gold House Founders Party. Meanwhile, landmarks across North America — from the Empire State Building to the CN Tower—will light up in gold as part of Gold Lights, a coordinated tribute echoing Gold House's motto: 'We don't just change culture—we make it.' 'Gold House doesn't just award achievement—it engineers access,' said co-founders Bing Chen and Jeremy Tran, who serve as CEO and COO, respectively. 'By building bridges between culture and capital, we can power tomorrow for all.' Behind the scenes, the room was equally influential. It included VCs from GV (Google Ventures), B Capital, Vesey Ventures, J2 Ventures, Siam Capital, and Wesley Chan, co-founder of Google Analytics and general partner at FPV Ventures, who announced a new $525 million early-stage fund backing founders with conviction. His announcement underscored a growing wave of Asian-founded venture capital firms reshaping early-stage innovation. These investors weren't just present to celebrate — they were there to source and support the next generation of transformative companies. Notable founders in attendance included Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI (named A1 in Business & Technology), and Ankur Jain, founder of Bilt and a 2025 New Gold honoree. 'If the A100 List showcases the what—the visionaries redefining industries — then the summit embodies the how: uniting capital, creativity, and conviction to drive cultural and market transformation.' The data backs up the need. Despite being the fastest-growing domestic demographic and a global majority, the Asian Pacific community remains underrepresented in venture funding. Gold House is working to close that gap through initiatives like Gold House Ventures, which has helped raise over $2.5 billion for 115 companies, half of which are led by female founders. Gold House Ventures Accelerator and the newly launched Gold Bridge strategy aim to foster pan-Pacific growth by connecting early-stage founders with investors, policymakers, and industry-specific operators across the U.S. and Asia. This year's event also underscored Nasdaq's evolving role as more than a stock exchange: a convener of innovation ecosystems. As the home to many of the world's most pioneering companies driving technological innovation, Nasdaq has proven a fitting and strategic partner for Gold House. The partnership signifies a shift: corporations aren't just platforms for capital — they're platforms for cultural relevance and inclusion. In a world marked by increasing fragmentation, Nasdaq is focused on connection. 'Nasdaq brings together ecosystems systematically, with an eye toward convening across lines and around themes, topics, and trends at the intersection of business and culture,' said Sehr Thadhani, Chief Growth Officer at Nasdaq. 'Nasdaq is widely known as an exchange, but we're so much more; we're the trusted fabric of the global financial system, intentionally rethinking the traditional way exchanges have operated to make the capital markets more open, accessible, and dynamic.' Gold House has quietly built one of the most influential ecosystems for Asian Pacific executives, creators, and entrepreneurs. It continues to expand its initiatives across multiple pillars: 'Whether it's shaping narratives in Hollywood or placing diverse board members at major companies, the organization is leveraging every tool at its disposal to create a lasting impact.' Collectively, these efforts seek to reshape perception and power for Asian Pacific communities by mobilizing both capital and culture. While A100 honorees celebrate visibility, the Gold Power Summit delivers infrastructure, linking capital, creativity, and community. At a time when cultural identity and business influence intersect more than ever, this summit served as both a celebration and a call to action: to invest in collective power. Gold House's mission is unmistakable: 'We don't just want seats at the table. We build new tables—together.'
