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Vice Media is moving forward with a deal to be acquired by a group of buyers including Fortress Investment Group, one of the company’s lenders. A bankruptcy auction that had been set for June 22 was called off. While several bidders competed for the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, Fortress’s offer was the only one that met the criteria Vice had set for potential buyers, according to a report in the New York Times. Vice co-CEOs Hozefa Lokhandwala and Bruce Dixon wrote in a Thursday memo to staffers that they would forward the bid to bankruptcy court for approval. Fortress recently upped its initial $225 million bid to $350 million—a far cry from the $5.7 billion valuation Vice had in 2017. The Fortress deal beat out an offer from Latino digital media company GoDigital. The Times says that Fortress has already received buyer interest in several of Vice’s business units, the proceeds from which could cover its investment.
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| Zenia Mucha |
TikTok has signed up former Disney chief communications officer Zenia Mucha as chief brand and communications officer. Since leaving Disney last year, Mucha has led communications consultancy company ZM Strategies. She has also worked as a consultant for TikTok. Before coming on board at Disney in 2001, Mucha led communications for New York Governor George Pataki and Sen. Alfonse D’Amato. “Zenia will focus on advancing the strategic vision of our brand and advising key businesses,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in an announcement to employees.
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Meta is responding to a law passed by Canada’s Senate on June 22 by ending the availability of news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. The Online News Act requires Meta, along with Google, to enter into agreements with news publishers to pay them for news content appearing on their sites if that content generates revenue for the company. “We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, which was passed today in Parliament, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada,” said Lisa Laventure, head of communications for Meta in Canada.
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.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
