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Gannett is setting a wave of cost-cutting measures in motion. The company says the mix of "temporary and permanent actions" includes requiring that employees take five days of unpaid leave in December, offering voluntary buyouts, suspending 401(k) contribution matches and freezing all but essential hires. Gannett's stock price has slid 70 percent for the year, and the company has more than $1B in debt from its 2019 merger with Gatehouse Media. The publisher slashed 400 jobs earlier this year following weak second-quarter earnings and also paused hiring for 400 more. In addition to USA Today, Gannett publishes more than 220 dailies.
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| Kevin Gentzel |
Newsweek is bringing over Gannett chief revenue officer Kevin Gentzel to serve as the publication's global chief commercial and growth officer. At Gannett, Gentzel led all advertising and marketing solutions revenue in North America. At Newsweek, he will oversee the entire commercial business side of the operation, including direct sales and programmatic advertising programs, consumer and B2B events, the development of innovative digital marketing solutions, and other key revenue streams. "He joins Newsweek at a critical juncture. The company's successful digital transformation has turned us into a profitable enterprise, and Kevin will be instrumental in propelling our dramatic growth even further," said Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad.
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Netflix is launching "Basic with Ads," an ad-supported tier that will run $6.99 a month, on November 3. The new tier will start in 12 countries, including the US, UK and Canada, with plans to expand the program over time. Priced $1 a month less than Disney+ and Hulu with commercials and $3 less than HBO Max with ads, Basic with Ads is set to run four to five minutes of commercials per hour with spots of 15 to 30 seconds in length. Another difference is that while Netflix's premium tier streams at 1080p resolution, viewers with ads will be downgraded to 720p resolution. According to the Wall Street Journal, Netflix will also collect the date of birth and gender of ad-tier subscribers, more information than it now asks customers for, and plans to eventually use that information for ad targeting.
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. 
