Twitter’s Hackers Include Youth Who Lives with His Mother
New York Times: Twitter's attack was not the work of a single country like Russia or a sophisticated group of hackers. Instead, it was done by a group of young people — one of whom says he lives at home with his mother — who got to know one another because of their...
Facebook’s Zuck, on Electric Surfboard, Attracts Paparazzi
New York Post: New photos show Facebook honcho Mark Zuckerberg zipping around on an electric surfboard in Hawaii. The 36-year-old billionaire — who was recently accused of colonizing the island of Kauai — was caught while his security detail followed behind him on a...
ByteDance’s TikTok Joins Quibi Among Ripe M&A Targets
The Information: The season for M&A may soon be upon us as the pandemic squeezes businesses and makes funding harder to get. One of the most unlikely deals just a few weeks ago, ByteDance selling TikTok, now seems possible. It’s also easy to imagine a sale of...
EBay Nears Major Deal to Sell Operation in Classified Ads
Wall Street Journal: EBay is in advanced talks to sell its classified-ads business to Norway's Adevinta, as the online auction pioneer seeks to refocus on its core marketplace business. A cash-and-stock deal could be announced as soon as Monday assuming the talks...
New York Times Family Owners Called Out as Slaveholders
New York Post: New evidence shows that members of the extended Ochs-Sulzberger family behind the New York Times were once slaveholders. "The same family still owns the Times and allows it to become a leader in the movement to demonize America’s...
Conde Nast Publishes Vogue Magazine with Just 90 Pages
Showbiz411: Anna Wintour may be in a lot of trouble over at Vogue. Her new issue for August may be a bell of bad wether for her. (Get that?) The total number of pages is an anemic 90. More worrisome is that including the back cover and inside covers there are only 23...
Hearst Former Chief’s Daughter, Pal to Warhol, Dies at 80
New York Times: Brigid Berlin, the daughter of former Hearst chief Richard Berlin and one of Andy Warhol's closest friends, has died at age 80. Born into privilege, Berlin rejected her upbringing to become a fixture on the New York underground art scene of the 1960s...
Time Out Founder Dies at 73; Magazine Plans Special Issue
Associated Press: Tony Elliott, the founder of the Time Out city guide publishing brand, has died at 73. The publisher said Elliott had been suffering from lung cancer and died Thursday. Elliott founded Time Out as an entertainment and listings magazine for London in...
Penske Media in Early Talks to Acquire Hollywood Reporter
Los Angeles: Penske Media, the parent company of Variety and Deadline, is in talks that may lead to the purchase of rival showbiz publication The Hollywood Reporter. Talks concerning a potential deal between PMC and THR's parent Valence Media are in early...
Vox Media’s Exiting New York Magaziner to Serve Up Dish
New York: Andrew Sullivan is leaving is longtime columnist gig at New York Magazine and reviving his former blog Dish, which will become a weekly. "A critical mass of the staff and management at New York Magazine and Vox Media no longer want to associate with...
G/O Media Fires Black Muslim Reporter for Leaving the US
Business Insider: G/O Media fired Lifehacker travel writer Imani Bashir for leaving the country, according to the company's union. G/O Media, owned by Great Hill Partners, told Bashir that her contract had been terminated because it "cannot support international...
Analysis: Media’s Second Wave of Layoffs is Already Here
Digiday: 2020 has been an especially grim year for reporters and editors. And with the American economy still languishing, recent headlines about layoffs likely won't be the last of the year. "It probably will get worse," said Jon Schleuss, the president of the News...
Apple, Disney Face Barr Accusation of Kowtowing to China
Washington Post: US Attorney General William Barr on Thursday accused Beijing of pressuring American business leaders to promote pro-China policies in the United States. Disney and other US corporations "risk undermining both their own future competitiveness and...
Disney Unlikely to Rebound from Covid-19 for About a Year
New York Post: Disney theme parks and movie studios won't be back in full force until at least the middle of next year, according to a Wall Street analyst's gloomy prediction. Doug Creutz says the two operations will take a lengthier-than-expected hit from the...
Netflix: We Have Enough New Content to Last Through 2020
CNBC: Netflix's slate for 2020 is not expected to be impacted heavily by the lengthy halt in film and TV production due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nonetheless, Netflix says that safely restarting productions is a top priority for the...
Fox Corp Former CEO, Wife Donate $2 Million to Democrats
Salon: Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch's son and daughter-in-law are two of the biggest backers of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign, federal filings show. James and Kathryn Murdoch each contributed $615,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in...
ViacomCBS Publisher Sets Record from Trump Niece Book
Wall Street Journal: Mary L. Trump's new memoir sold more than 950,000 copies through July 14 in the US, the day it went on sale. The results included preorders and first-day sales and spanned all formats. Simon & Schuster says the results represented a company...
Twitter CEO Vows Transparency in Interview After Hacking
Fast Company: In his first interview since the massive hack on Wednesday, CEO Jack Dorsey pledged to keep one principle in mind throughout the company's investigation: transparency. "We're going to be really transparent — own anything that we made mistakes...
Facebook Readies Launch of TikTok Rival Instagram Reels
NBC News: Facebook will launch Instagram Reels, its answer to TikTok, in the US and 50+ other countries in a matter of weeks. The global launch comes as TikTok is facing scrutiny from Washington over its handling of user data and amid larger tensions between the US...
Spotify Plans Exclusive Podcast Hosted by Michelle Obama
Los Angeles Times: Michelle Obama will launch a podcast later this month on Spotify examining relationships. "The Michelle Obama Podcast" will debut July 29. The podcast is the first program to come out of a partnership between Spotify and Michelle and Barack...
Liberty Media Gets Green Light to Up Stake in iHeartMedia
Politico: The Justice Department has green-lighted a bid by Liberty Media to increase its stake in iHeartMedia, owner of the country's largest network of broadcast stations — a deal that would expand the radio market dominance of a company that already controls Sirius...
Disney ESPN Host Secretly Recorded in Sabotage Attempt
Deadspin: An anonymous source recorded videos of ESPN host Rachel Nichols inside her hotel room without her knowledge and shared them with the sports blog Deadspin. The videos were believed to be an attempt to discredit Nichols's status within ESPN and with the public...
Gannett’s USA Today Says Anti-Fauci Op-Ed is Misleading
Associated Press: USA Today says that a column that the Gannett newspaper solicited and published from presidential trade adviser Peter Navarro criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci was misleading and did not meet fact-checking...
News Corp’s Murdoch Talks of Ties to Australia Amid Woes
Reuters: News Corp.'s Australian business is shaping up as a trouble spot for the company, following a billion dollar writedown and a move to stop printing more than 100 regional newspapers. "Australia remains a critical part of our future," says chief Lachlan...
Conde Nast to Revive The Shadow for Book Series, Movies
Deadline: Conde Nast plans to revive vintage crime fighter The Shadow in a series of books that will also aim to be adapted for the screen. Little, Brown will publish the series, whose first installment is due out in the fall of 2021. Conde Nast has long controlled...
Bonnier Taps New CEO Amid Deal to Sell Off US Magazines
New York Post: Bonnier, the 216-year-old Swedish publishing giant that owns Field & Stream, Popular Science and Saveur, has changed the CEO of its American operation as it nears a deal to sell off its US-based titles. Eric Zinczenko is exiting and will be replaced...
Meredith Turns Fauci Into Fashion Magazine Star at InStyle
Daily Beast: InStyle magazine has a new cover star— Dr. Anthony Fauci. In a special digital issue of InStyle, Dr. Fauci "has been styled less as a kindly uncle and verges into all-out daddy territory." Magazine buyers will find Drew Barrymore gracing the August...
Vox Media to Lay Off 72 Employees as Ad Revenue Slumps
CNBC: Vox Media is laying off 6% of its staff, or about 72 employees, as advertising revenue declined amid coronavirus quarantines. The majority of those laid off were furloughed by the company earlier this year, CEO Jim Bankoff said in an e-mail to...
G/O Media Said to ‘Weaponize’ Dress Code in Firing Staffer
Business Insider: Some G/O Media employees believe that a new dress code was hostile to LGBTQ workers of color, including longtime events planner Victor Jeffreys. "I am a smart, articulate, queer, person of color," Jeffreys says. "I was fired for some combination of...
Report: Few Non-White Editors at Leading US News Outlets
MediaPost: There are only two non-White top editors in the 20 major online and legacy news outlets in the US, according to a new report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford. The report includes data from 100 news outlets in five different...