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Bloomberg News will cut about 90 employees, mostly editors, from its staff, according to the New York Times. In a memo to staffers, Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait placed some of the blame for the move on “unnecessary back-reading or re-editing,” adding that after the reorganization, editors will report to managing editors, who would assign them stories. However, Micklethwait said new hires in priority areas such as data journalism would offset the layoffs and that he expects the company to end 2021 with as many journalists as it had before the pandemic. “We have always sought to make the newsroom better — to make us more nimble, to improve our content, and to help us ‘chronicle capitalism’ in an even more comprehensive way,” he said. Overall, Bloomberg News has more than 3,100 editorial and research employees, and Bloomberg Media is expected to bring in at least $100 million this year from consumer digital subscription revenue.
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Condé Nast is looking to trim down the amount of rent it pays for its offices in One World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The company is withholding the $2.4 million in rent it owes for January 2021 and says it may withhold more in the future if it does not reach an agreement with its landlords, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Durst Organization. Condé Nast wants to reduce its square footage and its rent per square foot at the office tower. A spokesman for Advance, which owns Condé Nast, told the Wall Street Journal that the company “continues to be in discussions about bringing the lease in 1WTC into line with current market conditions and its ongoing needs at that location.” The company has also started looking for 400,000 square feet of alternative office space for at least some of its operations, with some of that space located in Jersey City, NJ.
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Google has launched News Showcase, which pays publishers for news content, as part of its Google News app in the UK and Argentina. The service, which covers over 120 publications in the UK and 40 in Argentina, also gives readers the ability to access some of a publication’s paywalled content for free. To read that content, users must register with the individual publisher. Participating publications receive a monthly fee to curate news stories for the service, as well as for granting access to their paywalled content. The UK publications participating include Reuters, the Financial Times, The Independent, the New Statesman, and The Telegraph. News Showcase was released in Germany and Brazil last year and in Australia last week. It now includes content from over 450 publications worldwide.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
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. 
