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Google is said to be in talks with publishers about a news product that would pay a licensing fee for content. The move comes as Facebook, Google, and now Amazon maintain their grip on the lion’s share of digital advertising revenues. Market research company eMarketer predicts that by the end of this year, the big three will account for about 70 percent of all digital advertising dollars in the U.S. In October, Facebook introduced Facebook News to showcase original reporting and to pay for it. But Google’s plan may have little effect on U.S. news outlets. The Wall Street Journal reports that most of the publishers that Google is negotiating with are located outside the U.S.
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ViacomCBS is planning two rounds of layoffs, according to a report in Variety. The cuts are expected to mainly affect employees in the television division of the company, specifically in areas such as marketing, distribution, and consumer products, where there are significant overlaps. In addition, several positions in the company’s corporate diversity and inclusion department are expected to be eliminated. Variety says that it has learned from multiple sources that the first round of cuts, projected to affect around 100 people, could take place as early as Feb. 26, with a second set of cuts expected to begin on or around March 31. In August, Viacom and CBS said the merger would yield $500 million in cost savings. ViacomCBS stock has slid 13.4 percent since the merger closed Dec. 4.
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Dennis Publishing is launching a version of its newsweekly The Week aimed at children from 8 to 14. Headed up by former Prevention editor Andrea Barbalich, The Week Junior, a subscription print magazine, will feature articles, photos, puzzles and activities. Dennis started up a UK version of the kids’ publication in 2015, which it says has become the country’s fastest-growing print magazine. Since the announcement of The Week Junior’s US launch in January, Dennis says that more than 10,000 subscriptions have been purchased. The US edition of The Week, which launched in 2001, currently has over 550,000 paid-for print subscribers, according to Statista.
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.
