Media Maneuvers: Financial Times Buys Stake in Business of Fashion; Tumblr Value Tumbles from $1.1B to $3M; High Times Teams With Clio to Launch Clio Cannibis awards program
Thu, Aug. 15, 2019
By Steve Barnes
The Financial Times has picked up a minority stake in Business of Fashion, a media company with a website, daily newsletter and print magazine that cover the fashion industry... Blogging site Tumblr, which was picked up by Yahoo for $1.1B in 2013, has been sold by Verizon (which acquired Yahoo in 2017) to Automattic, the owner of online-publishing platform Wordpress.com, for $3M.... High Times is partnering with international awards competition Clio to launch Clio Cannabis.
Americans who still follow the local news are statistically more likely to fall within three key demographic groups. (1 reader comment)
CBS and Viacom are reuniting after 13 years of operating as separate companies under the umbrella of Sumner Redstone’s National Amusements, the companies announced.
The Gannett/GateHouse Media merger may be hitting a snag... Facebook is getting into the video-on-demand game... The New York Times grows its revenues, shrinks its profits.
More than a quarter of the largest newspapers in the United States suffered from staff layoffs in 2018, according to recent Pew Research Center analysis.
Gawker reboot put on hold and staff is laid off. Owner Bustle Digital Group says it has other priorities... Newsday Media Group offers buyouts to newsroom, ad, marketing and financial staffers... Johnson Publishing sells Ebony and Jet archives of more than 1M photos and 3.3M unprocessed negatives.
Raj Shah, who was deputy press secretary to president Trump, has joined Fox Corp. and fellow White alum Hope Hicks.
McClatchy will help to fill in the gap being left behind by the closure of The Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio’s daily newspaper, via opening of digital news outlet in the fall... Gannett and GateHouse Media, the two largest newspaper chains in the U.S. by circulation, near merger... Instagram is testing out a program that would keep users from seeing how many likes an individual post racks up. Move deals blow to digital "influencers."
Keith Grossman, a former chief revenue officer at Bloomberg Media, will become president of Time magazine on July 22.
Quentin Schaffer is stepping down from his position as EVP corporate communications at HBO next month. after a 39-year run.
Netflix has recruited Jackie Lee-Joe from BBC Studios for the top marketing spot as the streaming company seeks to bolster its international programming.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned News Group has issued a public apology for hacking the phones of Heather Mills, the former wife of Paul McCartney, and her sister Fiona Mills... The Chicago Defender, a newspaper that has served the city’s African-American community since 1905, will be putting out its last print edition on July 10... Nelson Mandela’s family is partnering with Sugar23, a production company headed up by Academy Award-winning producer Michael Sugar, and ad agency DMA United to launch Mandela Media.
After 67 years, MAD magazine is leaving newsstands, will pull plug on new content... Univision is taking bids from potential buyers... The Atlantic hires Linzee Troubh to help it get into the movie business.
Ken Lerer, a founder of strategic communications powerhouse Robinson Lake Lerer & Montgomery, has stepped down as chairman of struggling BuzzFeed... Texas Monthly sold to oil pipeline scion Randa Duncan Williams, who is the ninth richest Texan... Conde Nast finally sells W magazine. Style editor Sara Moonves, the daughter of former CBS chief executive, becomes editor-in-chief under owner Future Media Group.
Ebony, Jet and Out magazines all face financial hurdles, job losses... Justice Dept. comes out against merger of printing titan Quad Graphics and LSC Communications... Washington Post bulks up investigative reporting capabilities with 10 new hires.
Digital news sites have joined forces in an effort to crack Facebook and Google’s "monopoly" on online advertising.
Norma Sarabia, a correspondent for Mexican newspaper Tabasco Hoy, was shot to death outside her home on June 11, according to the paper. (1 reader comment)
CLS Strategies is providing Washington support for Al Jazeera Media Network, which runs the Arab-language satellite TV network that is based in Qatar. (2 reader comments)
TheStreet has been acquired for $16.5 million in cash by Maven, a digital publishing, advertising and distribution platform used by such publications as History, Maxim and Yoga Journal... Bauer Media retains FTI Consulting to lead RFP process soliciting bids to deliver Woman's World and First for Women... CNN is taking its “Anderson Cooper Full Circle” daily news program off Facebook Watch as the cable network looks to beef up its own streaming strategy.
HBO is pulling the plug on “Vice News Tonight,” the nightly news show from Vice Media that has run on the cable network for the past seven years... Subscribers to The Forward, which ended its print run with the April/May 2019 issue, will now be receiving print issues of Moment in its place... BET Networks, a part of Viacom, is planning to launch a streaming-video service, BET+, in the fall.
Entertainment Weekly is becoming a monthly... Barnes & Noble is acquired by the owner of British bookstore chain Waterstones... Most of Esquire's staff heads for the exits after the resignation of EIC Jay Fielden.
Higher Ground, the production company, led by Barack and Michelle Obama, has signed a partnership deal with Spotify under which it would produce podcasts available only on the streaming platform.
A recent report suggests that the total amount of time Americans spend daily with media may have plateaued.