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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.
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. 
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
