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Gizmodo, the tech media website, is purchased by French digital publisher Keleops. According to a memo to staff from Jim Spanfeller, the CEO of Gizmodo’s current owner, G/O Media, the deal came with a promise from Keleops to “keep Gizmodo’s entire staff intact” as well as “a sale valuation that represents a substantial premium from our original purchase price for the site.” Keleops operates the consumer tech sites Journal du Geek, 01net, Press Citron and iPhon. The company says that the acquisition of Gizmodo is expected to effectively double its current audience size, in addition to “fostering deeper brand awareness and engagement.” G/O Media, which is owned by private equity firm Great Hill Partners, was initially cobbled together out of several websites that were formerly Gawker Media properties. It has recently shed several of its holdings, including The Onion, Jezebel, Deadspin and the A.V. Club. “Acquiring Gizmodo represents a strategic move for Keleops as we continue to strengthen our presence and leadership in the tech media industry,” said Keleops CEO and founder Jean-Guillaume Kleis.
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The Wall Street Journal is going in for a little bit of rebranding. The rebrand, which includes a new tagline, “It’s Your Business,” is an attempt to develop a “reader-first strategy” for the paper, according to WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker. A major part of the rebrand is expected to entail a shift toward reaching younger audiences. Backed by what Axios reports is a “multimillion-dollar investment in paid marketing,” the campaign is aimed at “shifting the perception of the Journal that prospects may have,” said Dow Jones CMO Sherry Weiss. It comes as the paper is involved in several other changes, which include staff layoffs, and the creation of a “National Affairs team,” focused on tackling such “big topics” as abortion, race and immigration.
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The Heinz Endowments approves a $250,000 grant to the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in Pittsburgh to support its latest initiative, the Next Generation Newsroom. The Newsroom is a teaching program designed to support local news outlets and early-career journalists. Content developed from the Newsroom will be shared across the 29 members of the Center’s Pittsburgh Media Partnership, which has a combined reach of 6 million. The Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh is donating $25,000 to the same project. “Robust local journalism is crucial to a healthy and thriving community, and we appreciate the Center for Media Innovation's commitment to equipping young journalists with the tools they need to navigate a rapidly changing sector,” said The Heniz Endowments program director for sustainability Matt Barron. The Center will formally debut the Next Generation Newsroom at Newsapalooza, a first-of-its-kind event for Pittsburgh in celebration and support of journalism, which will be held from Sept. 26 to 28, at Point Park University and its Pittsburgh Playhouse.
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.
