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Microsoft is spending $68.7 billion in cash to acquire Activision Blizzard, the game development company behind such high-profile games as “Warcraft,” “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush.” Microsoft says that after the deal closes, it will be the third-largest gaming company in the world by revenue, trailing Tencent and Sony. The company has nearly 10,000 employees, with studios around the world, and has nearly 400 million monthly gaming users. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will remain in his role, reporting to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. With Washington pushing to limit the power of tech giants, the deal may face some headwinds from legislators.
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| Jodie Ginsberg |
The Committee to Protect Journalists appoints Reuters veteran Jodie Ginsberg as president. Ginsberg was most recently CEO at Internews Europe, a nonprofit organization that supports independent media. Before that, she was CEO at Index on Censorship, a UK-based organization that reports on and campaigns against threats to free expression. Ginsberg was at Reuters for over a decade, holding positions that included bureau chief, UK and Ireland. She replaces Joel Simon, who has led CPJ since 2006. “We wanted to find someone who had experience as a journalist and as an advocate,” CPJ chair Kathleen Carroll said in an interview with the New York Times. “You really need granular on-the-ground experience if you are going to be the head of an organization protecting journalists.”
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| Goli Sheikholeslami |
Politico names New York Public Radio president and CEO Goli Sheikholeslami to succeed Patrick Steel, who stepped down last year, as its chief executive. Sheikholeslami will take the company’s reins in February. Politico was purchased for more than $1 billion in 2021 by German publishing company Axel Springer, part of an effort to raise its profile in the American news media. Before arriving at New York Public Radio in 2019, Sheikholeslami was president and CEO of Chicago Public Media, and she has also served as chief product officer at Everyday Health; vice president and general manager, digital at the Washington Post; and a senior vice president and managing director at Condé Nast. Her arrival will “further our vision to build the global news and information leader on politics, policy and regulation in power center across the world,” according to Axel Springer president of news media Jan Bayer.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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