 Chris Aronson |
20th Century Fox film president of distribution Chris Aronson is one of the first executives to be let go in the wake of Disney’s takeover of a large chunk of Fox’s assets. Disney is also shuttering the Fox 2000 label, which specializes in mid-budget films that are primarily targeted at female moviegoers, according to a report in Variety. Employees are reportedly being informed department by department about their futures with the newly combined company, with some being told that they will keep their jobs over a transition period lasting either three or six months. The job cuts are one of the avenues toward the $2 billion in annual cost savings that Disney plans to make by 2021. In an email sent by Walt Disney Studios chairman and president Alan Bergman to Fox staff March 21, employees were warned that the integration of the two companies “would entail quite a bit of change,” adding that the company is “only at the beginning of the process.”
 Dan Peres |
Former Details editor-in-chief Dan Peres has been chosen by Bustle Digital Group to help resuscitate Gawker, the cheeky gossip site that was shuttered thanks to a lawsuit brought by pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and bankrolled by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Bustle, which is mainly known for a group of digital properties that target millennial women, acquired the Gawker.com domain in July. At the time, CNN reported that Bustle CEO Bryan Goldberg paid about $1.5 million for the title after placing the winning bid at a bankruptcy auction. From what Peres told the New York Times, it seems that a watered-down version of the old Gawker is likely to be the result of the relaunch. “In the later years,” he told the Times, “they probably took things too far.” The relaunch is expected to take place later this year.
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The Reading Eagle Company, which has published the daily Reading Eagle newspaper since 1868, has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to MediaPost. The company says it intends to operate normally, publishing and broadcasting under bankruptcy rules while it conducts a search for a buyer. In addition to the Eagle, the company publishes the weekly South Schuylkill News, runs radio station WEEU 830 AM and owns Pretzel City Productions along with its commercial printing subsidiary REP. Reading Eagle president and CEO Peter D. Barbey was also the final owner of the Village Voice, which went out of business last fall.
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.
