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| Kevin Delaney |
Quartz editor-in-chief and co-CEO Kevin Delaney, one of the business news platform’s founders, is stepping down. His departure is part of an overall realignment of Quartz’s executive team. Co-CEO Jay Lauf will now serve as chairman of Quartz, while Zach Seward moves from chief product officer and executive to the CEO position. Chief commercial officer Katie Weber will be president. Quartz, founded in 2012 by Atlantic Media, was purchased last year by Japanese company Uzabase for between $75 million and $100 million, according to the New York Times. While Quartz says that it averages about 20 million unique views per month, that has not yet resulted in profits. The Times says that financial filings indicate that the platform has lost $16 million on nearly $12 million in revenue in the first six months of 2019. Delaney will remain at the company through the end of the month and subsequently become an adviser to the company. A replacement as editor-in-chief has yet to be named.
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Thomson Reuters is moving into the events sector with its acquisition of FC Business Intelligence. The London-based company will rebrand as Reuters Events and operate as part of the Reuters news division. FCBI, founded in 1990, is a global producer of exhibitions and conferences in such sectors as pharmaceuticals, energy, transport, insurance and technology. It has worked with such clients as MasterCard, Pfizer, Best Buy and Target. According to Reuters president Michael Friedenberg, FCBI has 130 employees and is growing at a rate above the industry average. He indicated that Reuters is open to other acquisitions in the events business, as well as pursuing organic growth by expanding into additional sectors.
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When Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, makes its debut on Nov. 12, that debut may not include Amazon’s Fire TV streaming device. According to the Wall Street Journal, a battle over ads is a major reason why Amazon has yet to sign a deal to carry the new service. Amazon wants the right to sell what the Journal calls a “substantial percentage” of the ad space for the Disney apps that run on the platform. While Disney+ will not carry advertising, several of the other Disney apps currently available via the Amazon Fire TV device (including those for ABC, ESPN and the Disney Channel) do, and that could lead to a decision to ban all of the company’s apps from the device. Apple’s new entry, Apple TV+, which is set for a Nov. 1 release, hasn’t firmed up a deal to appear on Amazon’s device, either. According to Apple, Apple TV+ will appear on Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and VIZIO platforms “in the future.”
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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