 Vincent Sadusky |
Univision Communications has named Vincent Sadusky CEO. Sadusky is on the board of Hemisphere Media Group, a broadcast and media company targeting Latin American and U.S. Hispanic audiences. Until last year, he was CEO at Media General. Sandusky also served as CFO at Telemundo, the NBC Universal unit that is one of Univision’s main competitors. In March, Univision scuttled plans for an initial public offering that had been seen as a way to provide an exit route for the company’s private-equity owners. In the wake of the IPO’s collapse, the company replaced CFO Francisco Lopez-Balboa with Peter Lori, and CEO Randy Falco announced plans to retire. Univision is currently in the midst of a business review that is expected to lead to cost-cutting and job losses.
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Rather than comply with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation, which is meant to protect the privacy of people visiting websites, such publications as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are opting to cut off access to users in EU countries. A&E Television Networks has blocked several of its websites, including those for its History and Lifetime channels. According to a study conducted by information security solutions firm Alert Logic, there is still a considerable amount of confusion as regards the specifics of GDPR. The main GDPR compliance hurdles cited in the study are lack of expert staff (43 percent), lack of budget (40 percent), and a limited understanding of GDPR regulations (31 percent). But blocking users does not automatically get companies off the hook as regards GDPR violations. Julian Saunders, CEO of software startup Port, told Bloomberg that companies “still hold data on EU citizens and therefore they are required to comply and respond to subject access requests like everyone else.”
 Debra Lee |
BET CEO Debra Lee is stepping down. Lee has been credited with reshaping the company by acquiring more original programming and emphasizing family entertainment. Hired as the company’s first VP and general counsel in 1986, she was promoted to president and COO in 1996 and has also been chairman and CEO since 2005. Scott Mills replaced her as the Viacom unit’s president in December, but Lee stayed on as chairman/CEO. Lee will continue her role on corporate and non-profit boards, and her work with Time's Up and The Recording Academy Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.
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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