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Gannett’s digital business had a healthy Q4 2022, despite an overall revenue decline at the company. While the $730.7 million Gannett racked up in total revenues in the fourth quarter represented an 11.6 percent drop from Q4 2021, digital-only circulation revenues rose 29 percent, hitting $35.5 million. Gannett ended the quarter with 2.04 million paid subscriptions—up 24 percent from a year earlier. The company’s digital marketing solutions platform brought in $119.7 million, a jump of 9 percent. "We also continued to make significant progress towards debt reduction,” said Gannett chairman and CEO Michael Reed, “repaying $47 million of debt while ending the year with a cash balance of $94 million.” Circulation revenues, however, took a 16.5 percent hit, bringing in $256.7 million vs $307.3 million in Q4 2021.
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NPR has announced plans to shed about 10 percent of its employees—about 100 positions—in response to a $30 million gap in the organization’s budget. “The ad industry has weakened and we are grappling with a sharp decline in our revenues from corporate sponsors,” NPR chief executive John Lansing wrote in an email to staffers. It is not yet known exactly where the cuts will fall, but an NPR spokeswoman said the final decision is to be made by March 20. The organization has already put a near-freeze on hiring into place, along with the elimination of most travel and suspension of internships. Lansing’s memo said that the coming cuts will not “disproportionately impact people of color or any other historically marginalized group.”
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| Carlos Watson |
OZY Media chief executive Carlos Watson is arrested on charges of conspiring to commit securities fraud and conspiring to commit wire fraud, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. His arrest comes after former OZY chief operating officer Samir Rao pled guilty to fraud and identify theft charges in federal court. Among other things, Rao is accused of having impersonated a YouTube executive during a February 2021 fundraising call with Goldman Sachs, after which he stepped down. (Both Watson and Rao previously worked for Goldman Sachs). Another OZY official told a magistrate judge that she falsified financial information about the company being told to do by two company executives. While the company announced in October 2021 that it was ceasing operations, it soon backtracked on those plans. “As alleged, Carlos Watson is a conman whose business strategy was based on outright deceit and fraud,” said Breon Peace, the US attorney for the eastern district of New York. “He ran Ozy as a criminal organization rather than as a reputable media company.”
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.
