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Forbes pulls the plug on its plans to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company. The deal, which was announced last August, would have taken Forbes public through a merger with Hong Kong-based SPAC Magnum Opus Acquisition at a valuation of $630 million. As part of that deal, Forbes agreed in February to a $200 million investment from cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Since the deal was announced, Forbes says its financial performance has been solid, with Q4 2021 profits up 80 percent from the previous year. The fate of the SPAC marketplace as a whole, however, has been spotty at best. BuzzFeed’s value has declined by more than 50 percent since its December 2021 SPAC deal, and more than 35 SPAC mergers have been called off since the start of November, according to financial markets platform Dealogic.
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Creem, the magazine that was Rolling Stone’s slightly edgier cousin during its 1969 to 1989 run, is returning for an encore. The comeback is the brainchild of JJ Kramer, son of the magazine’s original publisher, Barry Kramer. Headquartered in New York (though it anticipates opening an office in its original hometown of Detroit), the new Creem will have a staff led by former Vice magazine publisher John Martin as CEO. It will include a website and newsletter (to be named “Fresh Creem”), a digital archive of the original Creem’s 224 issues, and a quarterly print edition, which will be a subscriber-only publication. “Just like Creem in its first iteration, the collection of people makes it what it is,” Kramer told the Detroit Free Press. “We have an editorial team developing today’s unique points of view and voices.”
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Gannett has split its media properties from its digital marketing business in a corporate restructuring that creates two new business units. The Gannett Media business unit, which will focus on news, content, such operations as print and distribution, business-to-business marketing solutions (including advertising) and subscription growth, will be headed by Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president of news for Gannett and publisher of USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network. The other unit is Digital Marketing Solutions, which includes LOCALiQ, a provider of digital marketing services. Kris Barton, Gannett’s chief product officer, will lead that unit. Chief revenue office Kevin Gentzel and president of US publishing operations, Bernie Szachara will be leaving the company.
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. 
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.
