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| Jason Kilar |
WarnerMedia has named Hulu co-founder Jason Kilar CEO, effective May 1. Kilar succeeds John Stankey, who was promoted to AT&T president and chief operating officer in September. (Warner Media became part of AT&T in June 2018.) In addition to serving as CEO of Hulu from 2007 to 2013, Kilar was co-founder and CEO of video streaming service Vessel and senior vice president of worldwide application software at Amazon. His appointment comes ahead of AT&T’s May launch of streaming service HBO Max. Kilar’s “experience in media and entertainment, direct-to-consumer video streaming and advertising is the perfect fit for WarnerMedia,” said Stankey.
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Bustle Digital Group, which includes such properties as Nylon and Elite Daily, has laid off 24 staffers, according to a report on website TechCrunch. In addition, the company has shut down The Outline, a culture site that it acquired in 2019 and its seven staffers are all among those who have been axed. A BCG spokesperson said that it will still host The Outline’s archives online and that the site’s founder, Josh Topolsky, will explore other options that would allow it to continue. “The unprecedented impact of COVID-19” was cited as a major factor behind the decision.
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The News Media Alliance, a nonprofit organization that represents nearly 2,000 news organizations across the US, is part of group of industry leaders that have asked the United States Postal Service to institute a five-cent-per-piece rate reduction for the next 90 days—or until the end of the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report on MediaPost. The group’s letter says that the failure to do so could hurt the USPS as well as the industries that depend on it. “The long-term viability of the Postal Service will depend on preserving commercial and nonprofit mail volume,” it notes. The move follows a request in March from a coalition including the Association of Magazine Media that the USPS reconsider proposed rate hikes that “would authorize a cumulative 41 percent rate increase on magazines and periodicals over five years that will cost mailers about $8 billion per year.”
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.
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.
