Ron Meyer
Ron Meyer

NBCUniversal has axed vice chairman Ron Meyer. Meyer had disclosed to the company that he paid hush money to a woman with whom he said he had “a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago.” According to the Los Angeles Times, Meyer made the disclosure after others became aware of the secret payments. A Variety report alleges that the woman at the center of the controversy is actress Charlotte Kirk, whose extramarital affair with former Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara in 2013 and 2014 prompted his resignation from the company in 2019. “Based on Ron’s disclosure of these actions, we have mutually concluded that Ron should leave the company, effective immediately,” NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said in a statement. A co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, Meyer came to Universal Studios in 1995, serving as its president until 2013, when he became NBCUniversal vice-chairman.

The Mail

Vice’s Motherboard tech vertical, is launching The Mail, a weekly pop-up newsletter about the United States Postal Service, which will start up on Aug. 25 and run through the end of November. While access to the main newsletter will be free, there will be an $8 per month paid membership that will include three monthly printed zines that will be mailed out via USPS. The Mail will be written by Motherboard senior staff writer Aaron Gordon, and in addition to producing stories about the USOS, it will report on topics including digital security, hacking and labor. “It's time to talk about the Post Office because it is the thing that binds us together, both metaphorically in terms of its mission—to deliver every piece of mail every day to every American, a mission under attack by the new postmaster general—and because it is one of the few things, if the polls are to be believed, Americans overwhelmingly approve of,” said Gordon in a Vice post announcing the launch.

Sports Illustrated

Meredith Corp. has sued theMaven, the new owner of Sports Illustrated, for more than $1 million, a report in the Des Moines Register says. Meredith acquired the magazine as part of its January 2018 purchase of Time, Inc. It sold Sports Illustrated’s assets to Authentic Brands Group in May 2019, and ABG licensed the magazine's publishing rights to theMaven shortly after that. As part of the deal, Meredith agreed to provide the magazine with services including accounting, human resources, IT and website support. Meredith’s attorneys claim now claim that theMaven ignored invoices related to those services for months and are still $1.1 million behind on bills.