 Les Moonves |
CBS is investigating claims of sexual misconduct by CEO Les Moonves following a story in the New Yorker by Ronan Farrow. While the story deals with CBS as a whole, Moonves is singled out as someone who is said to have been accused of sexual misconduct. CBS said in a statement that it is “committed to investigating claims that violate the Company’s clear policies.” The story hits as the legal fight between Moonves and CBS vice chair Shari Redstone intensifies. Redstone wants to merge CBS with Viacom, both of which she controls through voting shares in National Amusements, a Redstone-family owned trust. Moonves wants CBS to maintain its independence from Viacom. Before today's stock plunge, Moonves had piloted the company to a 1,200 percent increase in its share price over the past nine years, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and he recently told Wall Street to expect record financial results this year.
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Viacom has acquired youth-oriented digital media company AwesomenessTV, currently a joint venture of NBCUniversal's DreamWorks Animation, Hearst and Verizon. CNBC reports that Viacom will be paying around $300 million for the company—a steep discount from its 2016 valuation of $650 million. Viacom says that Awesomeness CEO Jordan Levin will depart after a transition period and that the company will integrate with Viacom Digital Studios. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish has been building out its digital footprint, picking up VidCon, an online video conference popular with teens, earlier this year.
 Paul Buccieri |
A+E Networks Group has named Paul Buccieri president. Buccieri, who was previously president of A+E Studios and A+E Networks, succeeds Nancy Dubuc, who left the company to become CEO of Vice Media in March. Before coming to A+E Networks, Buccieri was chairman of ITV Studios U.S. Group and ITV Studios Global Entertainment. He also previously served as president of programming, production and development at Fox Twentieth Television. In his new position, Buccieri will oversee all of the A+E Networks’ operations, including A&E, Lifetime, History, LMN, FYI and VICELAND, as well as A+E Studios and other properties.
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New York Daily News, which slashed its staff by 50 percent earlier this week, is now hiking the newsstand price of the paper—also by 50 percent. Beginning August 6, the cover price will rise from $1 to $1.50. According to the New York Post, the price of the Daily News Sunday edition will jump from $1.50 to $2. But the extra 50 cents might not be all that successful of a moneymaker: The Alliance for Audited Media reported that the paper’s daily circulation for the first quarter of the year was just 164,472. The cuts at the paper once called “New York’s Picture Newspaper” included the elimination of all staff photographers.
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.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
