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| Timothy Knight |
Tribune Publishing CEO Timothy Knight is heading out the door, and will be replaced by company chief financial officer Terry Jimenez. Knight joined Tribune Publishing as president in 2017 and was named CEO in January 2019 following the departure of Justin Dearborn. Jimenez, who came to the company from IBM in 2016, has also served as president of Newsday Media Group and controller at the Chicago Tribune. Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund known for extreme cost-cutting and layoffs at newspapers it acquires, purchased a 32 percent stake in Tribune in November. Following that investment, two Alden representatives were added to the company’s board. In a Feb. 3 memo to Tribune employees, Knight said that the company needs to realign its costs “to the current revenue reality.” Tribune Publishing reported revenue of $236 million in last year’s third quarter, down from $255.8 million for the same period in 2018. On Jan. 13, the company offered its latest round of voluntary buyouts to staffers, with any staffer with eight or more years of service being eligible.
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HOLA!USA, which targets affluent U.S. Latinas, is discontinuing its print operations in favor of focusing its attention on the digital and social media spaces. The brand, which offers its content in both English and Spanish, also plans to expand its existing platforms, which include social media channels and the HOLA.com sites, by launching a YouTube channel and dedicated podcast later this year. It will also make additional hires in digital, e-commerce, video production and social. HOLA!USA says its online audience is 80 percent female, with an average age of 32 and HHI of $85,000 per year. Spanish company HELLO! & ¡HOLA! Media, Inc. currently publishes 29 international editions in 10 languages across five continents.
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| George Cheeks |
ViacomCBS has appointed George Cheeks president and CEO of CBS Entertainment Group. Cheeks replaces Joe Ianniello, who became acting CEO following the exit of Leslie Moonves in 2018 in the wake of sexual harassment charges. Cheeks comes to CBS from NBCUniversal, where he was most recently vice chairman, NBCUniversal Content Studios. Before coming to NBC, Cheeks was executive vp, business affairs and general counsel for Viacom Music and Entertainment Group and also served as head of standards and practices for Viacom Media. Ianniello had long been Moonves’ top deputy, and aided the former CBS chief in his battle with CBS controlling shareholder Shari Redstone over control of the company. Cheeks will assume the CEO slot effective March 23.
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.
