 Laurene Powell Jobs |
BuzzFeed’s news division may be the latest target of the Emerson Collective, the non-profit organization led by Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. A report in Thursday’s Financial Times cites two sources who say that BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith has had discussions with an Emerson representative concerning a possible investment by Emerson in the company. Emerson already has substantial investments in other media organizations, including The Atlantic, news and information website Axios, film production company Anonymous Content, and non-profit journalism endeavors ProPublica and the Marshall Project. BuzzFeed has been going through a difficult period. A November Wall Street Journal report said that the company expected to miss its 2017 revenue target by approximately 15% to 20%, and it subsequently laid off several dozen employees and engaged in a series of organizational changes.
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Viacom’s board of directors has formed a special committee of independent directors to evaluate a potential combination with CBS Corporation. According to a Viacom press release, the committee has retained independent legal counsel and independent financial advisors in connection with this evaluation. If the union takes place, it will bring back together the two companies that Sumner Redstone split up in 2006. The companies had explored a merger in 2016 on the recommendation of Redstone and his daughter Shari, who control CBS and Viacom through privately held National Amusements Inc. The press release warned that “there can be no assurance that this process will result in a transaction or on what terms any transaction may occur.” News of the possible merger sent Viacom shares up 1.5 percent to $33.70 in after-hours trading, and CBS shares rose 0.5 percent to $59.25.
 Siobhan O'Connor |
Siobhan O’Connor, who was most recently executive editor at Time magazine, is heading to Medium, the online publishing platform founded by former Twitter CEO and publisher Evan Williams. She will take the position of vice president of editorial at the company. O’Connor leaves Time in the wake of Meredith’s takeover of Time Inc., which was finalized on Feb. 1. Time has also seen the recent exits of editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs and deputy managing editor Michael Duffy. At Medium, O’Connor will be charged with commissioning paid writers to generate content that will encourage readers to pay $5 to get past the site’s paywall.
 Asif Satchu |
Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, dick clark productions and film and television studio MRP have joined forces and will now be known as Valence Media. Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk, the co-founders and co-CEOs of MRC, will serve as co-CEOs of Valence, and Todd Boehly will serve as chairman. Each of the other two divisions within Valence will maintain its individual brand and current leadership team. At dcp, Allen Shapiro will become executive chairman, and Mike Mahan will become CEO. Billboard-Hollywood Reporter president John Amato will become CEO. The combined company will have divisions or investments in television, film, live entertainment and digital media, and an enterprise value approaching $3 billion. Valence anticipates growing both organically and through acquisitions. WPP, an early investor in MRC, will remain a strategic investment partner in Valence.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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