 Lachlan Murdoch |
Lachlan Murdoch is to head the version of 21st Century Fox that will be left following the sale of most of the company’s assets to the Walt Disney Company. Murdoch will become chairman and CEO of the new company, which be billed simply as “Fox.” The new entity includes Fox Sports, Fox Broadcasting Network, Fox News and the Fox Business Network. Murdoch’s appointment follows the announcements that Suzanne Scott will continue as CEO of Fox News and Fox Business Network, while Jack Abernethy remains CEO of Fox Television Stations. Several other Fox execs will be given new titles and responsibilities, including current Fox Sports president Eric Shanks, who is to become the division’s CEO, and Mike Biard, who will be upped to president of operations and distribution for Fox from his post as president of distribution for the Fox Networks Group. In addition to Murdoch’s new title, he is getting a hefty raise. Variety reported on Sept. 28 that his compensation has been hiked to $50.7 million, up from $20.6 million in 2017. All appointments will take effect on the close of 21st Century Fox's Disney transaction and the creation of Fox.
 Julia Turner |
The Los Angeles Times has named Julia Turner deputy managing editor, with responsibility for arts and entertainment coverage. She succeeds Mary McNamara, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and columnist who had requested a return to writing. Turner joins the Times from Slate, where she has been editor-in-chief since 2014. For a decade, she’s been one of the co-hosts of Slate’s “Culture Gabfest” podcast, which she’ll continue co-hosting from Los Angeles. Turner will be taking on a range of departments and products, including those that cover the arts, books, culture, film, music and television, as well as the businesses and technologies that drive them. She will report to Kimi Yoshino, who was recently promoted to senior deputy managing editor. Turner will join the Times in mid-November.
 |
iHeartMedia has agreed to invest up to $10 million in High Times. The deal, which is expected to give iHeartMedia an approximately a 5 percent stake in High Times Holding Corp., would give the marijuana company access to iHeartMedia’s digital and radio advertising platforms. The deal follows High Times’ $11.2 million acquisition of Dope Media, the Seattle-based publisher of Dope Magazine, last month. The company has also recently picked up digital publication Green Rush Daily and Culture Magazine. According to the Wall Street Journal, High Times lost $24.7 million in 2017 on revenue of $14.5 million, most of which came from its festivals and events.
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.
