 Harvey Weinstein |
The Weinstein Co. has reached an agreement with its unsecured creditors that clears the way for Lantern Capital to acquire the company. TWC declared bankruptcy in March. The unsecured creditors’ committee represents accusers of former TWC head Harvey Weinstein, among others. The agreement will remove the need for further litigation, and ensures the close of the sale. TWC and Lantern said the sale price would be $289 million, down $21 million from the initial $310 million price. The companies had previously considered a $23 million price cut. While the deal was expected to close last month, Lantern reportedly got cold feet, and has since claimed that TWC misled it. The sale is expected to close next week, contingent on its approval at a bankruptcy court hearing scheduled for July 11.
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Tariffs are taking a hit at the U.S. newspaper industry. Tariffs being levied on the Canadian paper used to make newsprint are hiking costs for many U.S. newspapers, putting an additional squeeze on an industry that is already hurting. In January, duties of from 4.42 percent to 9.93 percent were levied after the U.S. Commerce Department made a preliminary determination that Canadian paper suppliers had received financial assistance from the country’s government. A Commerce Department finding in June added another 22.16 percent to the price tag of paper from some Canadian paper producers and exporters. The hikes are leading to cutbacks in other areas of some publishers’ business—particularly when it comes to payroll. The Tampa Bay Times has said it is cutting about 50 jobs to compensate for what it says is an additional $3.5 million in expenditures on paper.
 Ed Schultz |
Ed Schultz, who hosted “The Ed Show” on MSNBC from 2009 to 2015, died on Thursday at his Washington, D.C. home. While Schultz started out hosting a conservative radio show in Fargo, N.D., he announced that he was a Democrat in 2000, subsequently moving his show toward a more left-wing, though staunchly middle-class, point of view. By 2005, he was hosting a liberal-leaning radio show funded by Democracy Radio, a New York nonprofit. At MSNBC he joined a lineup that included such liberal stalwarts as Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann. After MSNBC canceled “The Ed Show,” Schultz joined Russian-government backed news outlet Russia Today, hosting a prime-time program called “News with Ed,” which was still on the RT lineup at the time of his death. Russia Today was forced to register as a foreign agent earlier this year. “We are devastated by the news of the sudden death of our brilliant anchor, one of the best TV journalists in America, Ed Schultz,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement. Schultz was 64.
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.
