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The Atlantic, bucking the media cutback wave, has announced plans for a major expansion across the company. The number of staffers will rise by as much as 100 over the next 12 to 18 months, according to a memo to staff from Atlantic president Bob Cohn. That's a 30 percent boost in talent. The expansion will add engineering, design, data, consumer marketing and sales team employess. There will be greater coverage of entertainment, business and technology. The company’s branded content studio and consultancy as well as its flagship conference, Washington Ideas, are also expected to grow. Emerson Collective, the non-profit foundation started up by Laurene Powell Jobs, acquired a majority stake in the company last July. The memo said that the company has been “profitable and consistently expanding over the last several years.”
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Dish Network’s Q4 2017 financials show that consumer flight from cable and satellite TV providers to streaming services is continuing. The company says that SlingTV, its internet-delivered TV service, grew by 47 percent in the fourth quarter vs. the previous year and now has 2.2 million customers, placing it ahead of such “virtual Pay-TV” providers as Hulu’s live TV service and AT&T’s DirecTV Now. Things were far less bullish for DishTV, the company's satellite service. A report in the New York Post places the number of subscribers the service lost in the fourth quarter at 121,000. However, that leaves it with 11.03 million customers, still generating most of the company’s revenue. “DISH TV is really the engine that's funding our future,” said Dish president and CEO W. Erik Carlson at a Thursday earnings call.
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The Publicity Club of New York’s Feb. 13 lunch with six top personal finance/money editors and reporters can now be seen on its website. “Your Money & Personal Finance” featured Suzanne Woolley of Bloomberg News. Jill Schlesinger from CBS News, CNBC Digital’s Rick Levinson, CNNMoney’s Katie Lobosco, Lauren Young from Reuters and Yahoo! Finance’s Lisa Scherzer. Members of PCNY can view the video of the event for free at https://publicityclub.org/pcny-presents-your-money-personal-finance/. For non-members, there is a $19.95 charge. PCNY’s next media luncheon will take place on April 17.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
