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Meredith, which acquired Time Inc. in 2018, has now been acquired itself. Barry Diller's IAC has reached an agreement to purchase Meredith in a roughly $2.7 billion all-cash deal. Upon completion of the deal (which is expected by the end of the year), Meredith will combine with Dotdash, IAC's digital publishing division, to form a new company that will be known as Dotdash Meredith. Dotdash executives told investors that combining the companies' portfolios will make Dotdash Meredith one of the country's 10 largest digital media outlets. Dotdash chief executive Neil Vogel will head up the new company. Despite Dotdash's digital focus, Vogel said that Dotdash Meredith will not be abandoning print. While Meredith CEO Tom Harty said that employees' jobs are not changing because of the deal, an IAC spokeswoman said that the new company will be based in Dotdash's New York headquarters.
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| Kelly Campbell |
Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming channel, names Kelly Campbell president. Campbell's departure from Hulu, where she also served as president, was announced on Oct. 4. Before coming to Hulu as chief marketing officer in 2017, Campbell was with Google for 12 years, holding a variety of senior marketing posts. In her new position, she will be responsible for Peacock's streaming business, live and original content, as well as working with NBCUniversal executives on TV, film, news and sports programs that stream on the platform. While Hulu owner Disney says it has 42.8 million subscribers, NBCUniversal says that in July Peacock had 54 million subscribers, with 20 million monthly active users.
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Fox Weather, a new free, ad-supported streaming service from Fox News Media, is launching on Oct. 25. In addition to leveraging the existing meteorologists and weather resources at the cable channel and the Fox local stations, the service has hired Amy Freeze, the weekend meteorologist for WABC New York, as an anchor. Sharri Berg, who was previously COO, news & operations for Fox Television Stations, is serving as Fox Weather's president. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch says the company is investing $200 million - $300 million into its streaming efforts this year. "We're seeing tremendous interest in brands who would not be traditional news advertisers coming to show tremendous interest in Fox Weather," he claimed.
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. 
