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Forbes, which is going public through a partnership with Magnus Opus Acquisition Limited, is receiving a $200 million strategic investment from cryptocurrency and blockchain infrastructure provider Binance. Binance chief communications officer Patrick Hillman and Bill Chin, the head of its venture capital arm, are expected to join Forbes's board of directors on the closing of the deal. Forbes CEO Mike Federle said that following the transaction, "Forbes, already a resource for people interested in the emerging world of digital assets, can become a true leader in the field." In 2020, Binance filed a defamation suit against Forbes over an article about the company's corporate structure, but that suit was dropped In February 2021.
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Dotdash Meredith is ending the print version of six of its magazines. The April issue will be the last one in print for Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, Eating Well, Health, Parents and People en Español. The company says that about 200 employees—or five percent of its workforce—will lose their jobs as a result. In a memo, Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel claimed that the shutdowns are "not a cost-savings exercise" but are instead "about embracing the inevitable digital future for the affected brands." He added that the company has more than 100 open jobs across its divisions and that it hopes to fill some of those slots with the axed employees. The magazines were acquired when Dotdash, which is a subsidiary of Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp, bought Meredith Corporation for about $2.7 billion last year.
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The European Publishers Council, a group of chairmen and CEOs of leading European media corporations, has lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Google for its ad tech practices. The EPC says the complaint is part of its "bid to break the ad tech stranglehold Google currently has over press publishers, and all other business in the ad tech ecosystem." Since Google's acquisition of online advertising company DoubleClick in 2008, the organization says that Google controls as much as 90-100 percent of the market share in segments of the ad tech chain. It requests that the EU impose conditions to restore conditions of effective competition. "We call on the Commission to take concrete steps right now that will actually break the stranglehold that Google has over us all," said EPC chairman Christian Van Thillo.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
