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The New York Times is acquiring sports media platform The Athletic in an all-cash deal that values the company at $500 million. Launched in 2016 by Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann (who will be staying on after the deal). The Athletic employs approximately 600 people, with around 400 editorial staffers. The subscription-based platform says that it has more than 1 million subscribers. Adding those subscribers is a plus for the Times as it works toward the goal of 10 million paid digital-only subscribers by 2025. According to Axios, The Athletic was being pressed to sell due to the amount the cash it has lost in the last two years.
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WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS are putting the CW Network up for sale. Nexstar Media Group which is the largest owner of WB affiliate stations following its 2019 acquisition of Tribune Media, is said to be the main candidate to pick up the network. However, Deadline reports that several other suitors are in the mix. In a memo to staff, CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz said that “ViacomCBS and Warner Bros. are exploring strategic opportunities to optimize the value of their joint venture in The CW Network.” The CW has never been profitable on its own, but there is considerable value in the shows it produces for its studio parents, which are also distributed internationally and on streaming platforms.
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| Deborah Turness |
The BBC hires former president of NBC News International Deborah Turness as CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs. Turness joins the BBC from Independent Television News, where she has served as CEO since April. At NBC, she was the first woman in the US to serve as president of a network news division. Turness succeeds 40-year BBC veteran Fran Unsworth, who has led the network’s news division since January 2018, and is retiring at the end of this month. BBC chief executive Tim Davie called Turness “a passionate advocate for the power of impartial journalism and a great believer in the BBC and the rolw we play, in the UK and globally.”
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.
