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| Austin Russell |
An 82 percent stake in Forbes Global Media Holdings is being acquired by Austin Russell, founder and CEO of Luminar Technologies, a company that develops vision-based lidar and machine perception technologies, mainly for self-driving cars. Forbes’s current parent company, Hong Kong-based Integrated Whale Media Investments, will hold on to a minority stake in the company, as well as retaining a seat on its board. The remaining stake in the company still held by the Forbes family will now be owned by Russell, who was named youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes in 2021. However, Forbes Media chairman and editor in chief Steve Forbes will remain involved with the company. Russell does not plan to involve himself in the platform’s news coverage or its day-to-day operations. Instead, he will depend on a new board that will allegedly include media, tech and AI experts. Steve Forbes referred to Russell as “a dynamic entrepreneur and thought leader,” and said that “his energy and vision will enable Forbes to continue and enhance the excellent work for which we are known.”
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The Institute for Nonprofit News formally launches its Rural News Network, a website that will incorporate the work of 68 participating newsrooms operating across 46 states. The initiative, which began as a pilot project in 2021, will be supported by dedicated grants from organizations including the Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and Walton Family Foundation. It will let readers sort stories by state and topic as well as find news outlets that address their interests. In addition, RNN will also permit news publishers to republish much of its content for free on their own sites. “This new platform is an important step to shining a light on the nuances of rural communities,” said MacAruthur Foundation program officer Michael Harvey, “adding a vital but often unheard voice to the national discourse.”
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NBCUniversal’s Peacock signs up as the first streaming service to snag exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Sources told the Journal that the price tag on the deal is in the neighborhood of $110 million. While some NFL playoff games have previously been carried on streamers, this marks the first time that a playoff game will not also be carried on a national broadcast or cable network. The game will be played on Jan. 13, 2024 as part of Wild Card Weekend. Amazon Prime Video, which was the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football” last season, was also in the running for the rights to the game. “This will be transformative for sports on digital,” NFL Media executive VP and COO Hans Schroeder said.
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
