 |
The Financial Times has picked up a minority stake in Business of Fashion, a media company with a website, daily newsletter and print magazine that cover the fashion industry. The FT is taking the lead in the company’s Series B funding round, alongside such current partners as Index Ventures and Felix Capital. Founded in 2007 by former McKinsey consultant Imran Amed, BoF’s annual sales rose more than 50 percent annually between 2013 and 2018. It currently has an international audience of about five million for its online, print and events business, with 35,000 paying members. Annual subscriptions run $240 per year in the U.S. While FT Strategies, the FT’s consulting division will be providing BoF with support and tech expertise, BoF and the FT will remain editorially independent. “This investment will give us greater presence in the B2B and industry agenda,” said FT Group chief executive John Ridding.
 |
Blogging site Tumblr, which was picked up by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013, has been sold by Verizon (which acquired Yahoo in 2017) to Automattic, the owner of online-publishing platform Wordpress.com, for a price that several sources put at just $3 million. Automattic will take on Tumblr’s 200 employees. In an interview with tech website The Verge, Automattic chief executive Matt Mullenweg said that he is looking to increase the advertising revenue that Tumblr brings in. As regards the two platforms, he said that “there’s a lot of overlap in what both do. I would love for them to interoperate. I do believe that long-term, there’s an opportunity to merge backend technology so that Tumblr is actually powered by WordPress.” Mullenweg also plans to maintain the ban on adult content that was put in place at Tumblr last year.
 |
High Times is partnering with international awards competition Clio to launch Clio Cannabis. The new awards will recognize individuals and companies involved in marketing and advertising cannabis products. “Clio Cannabis is poised to set the bar for creative work in a rapidly expanding industry, help to build an understanding of a developing category and elevate the marketplace to solicit creative contributions from top talent and agencies,” said Clio president Nicole Purcell. Submissions in the following categories will be accepted starting Aug. 26: advocacy, brand design, digital/mobile, film/video, partnerships & collaborations, print & out of home, product design, social media and social good. Clio currently runs awards programs centering on the advertising, sports, fashion, music, entertainment and health industries. For more information about the awards, go to http://www.cliocannabisawards.com/.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
