 |
| Michael Bloomberg |
Michael Bloomberg’s campaign says that if Bloomberg is elected president, he plans to sell Bloomberg LP as well as releasing his tax returns. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, campaign adviser Tim O’Brien said: "there will be no confusion about any of his financial holdings blurring the line between public service and personal profiteering." Bloomberg has come under fire from several of his competitors in the campaign over his finances, with much of the controversy stemming from the estimated $400 million Bloomberg has spent on advertising. According to the Financial Times, Bloomberg owns 88 percent of the financial data company he founded in 1981. With around 325,000 subscribers paying $24,000 a year for its services, the company raked in about $10.5 billion in revenue last year, up 5.7 percent over the previous year, the FT reported.
 |
| Andrew Yang |
Andrew Yang has signed on as a political commentator for CNN following his exit from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination after his poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Yang’s first appearance on the network will be during the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas. “Will be on @CNN tonight to talk about the debate!” Yang said in a Tweet. “Maybe I’ll wear a tie.” Most of the attention that his campaign received stemmed from what was known as the Freedom Dividend, a guaranteed $1,000 per month universal basic income.
 |
While American Media’s sale of The National Enquirer to Hudson News chief executive Jimmy Cohen, remains on hold, the company has unloaded its stable of fitness-related magazines, according to a report in the New York Post. Those titles include Muscle & Fitness, Flex and Muscle & Fitness Hers—all of which will transition to digital-only publications. The deal also entails the company’s bodybuilding trade show business. The buyer is Jake Wood, owner of the women’s bodybuilding show Wings of Strength. A source close to the sale told the Post that the price tag for the deal was approximately $70 million.
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.
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. 
