Alphabet’s Legal Chief Departs After Misconduct Accusation
CNET: The top lawyer at Google parent Alphabet is leaving the company, a departure that follows the publication last year of a scathing account of an extramarital relationship with a colleague. David Drummond will be retiring on Jan....
Amazon CEO Inspires Male Techies to Get Cosmetic Surgery
Washington Post: More male tech workers are turning to plastic surgery thanks to pressures gathering momentum in Silicon Valley. Some simply aspire to re-create the work-life balance embodied by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who looks buff in a fitted shirt in his...
News Corp Invests $70 Million in Real-Estate Portal Parent
Your Story: News Corp and its Australian group firm REA have invested around $70 million in Elara Technologies, which owns realty portals PropTiger, Makaan and Housing.com. Singapore-based Elara could use this fund to expand its business in...
Hearst to Unify European Teams with ‘One Hearst’ Strategy
MediaPost: In an effort to boost collaboration, leverage scale and unify its businesses across its European titles, Hearst Magazines introduced a “One Hearst Europe” strategy. Titles and teams in European markets will align under function rather than country....
G/O Media to Relaunch Deadspin in Chicago Amid Tensions
New York Post: The owner of Deadspin said it’s looking to relaunch the irreverent sports site in Chicago, even as it breaks off tense conversations with its writers union in New York. G/O Media claims that the union has been “harassing...
Group Nine Media Unveils Ecommerce Solution Sparkle Ads
MediaPost: When Group Nine Media acquired Pop Sugar last year, the women-focused publisher’s Sparkle platform came with it. Sparkle is a mobile-optimized publishing platform specializing in social commerce. ...
News Corp Staffer Slams ‘Misinformation’ Over Aussie Fires
Quartz: A senior News Corp. employee sent an all-staff email calling for the "falsehoods" about Australia’s devastating bushfires to stop. Emily Townsend, a commercial finance manager, wrote: “I have been severely impacted by the...
Analysis: Are the 2020s When Print Media Comes to an End?
WWD: If you look through enough comments by several media executives in recent years, most foresee a time when the period of printed media comes to an end. “At least 10 years is what we can see in the U.S. for our print...
Alphabet Nears $1 Trillion Value on Ad-Growth Hopes in 2020
Bloomberg: Alphabet shares rose as much as 1.7% following a flurry of positive analyst commentary on the Google parent’s 2020 prospects. In particular, analysts were broadly positive that Alphabet would see strong growth in its ad business, helped in part by...
Facebook Won’t Back Down on Political Ads, Even False Ones
Associated Press: Despite escalating pressure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Facebook has reaffirmed its freewheeling policy on political ads, saying it won’t ban them, won’t fact-check them and won’t limit how they can be targeted to specific groups of...
Apple Says News Subscription Service Hits 100 Million Users
New York Post: Apple News has racked up more than 100 million active users, the Silicon Valley giant revealed as it works to get its news subscription service off the ground. The Apple News user base has grown from more than 85 million around this time in...
Disney’s ESPN Hires Instagram Star in Quest for Young Fans
Variety: ESPN’s next potential superstar hasn’t thrown fancy passes on the field, and isn’t known for his prowess on the court. Omar Raja’s game is figuring out how to get sports fans chatting about, liking and passing along the video clips he makes of top athletes...
ViacomCBS Displays Video’s Future on Large In-Car Screens
CNET: With Byton set to launch its electric M-Byte SUV later this year -- featuring an ultrawide 48-inch display stretching across the vehicle's dashboard -- the automaker has announced partnerships with ViacomCBS and others to bring their content on the...
Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Trends on Social Media After Royal Exit
Hollywood Reporter: No sooner had Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the shock announcement that they were standing down as senior royals, effectively retiring from the British monarchy, "The Crown" had begun trending on...
AT&T’s Audience Network to Become a Channel for HBO Max
World Screen: AT&T is transitioning Audience Network this spring to become an HBO Max preview channel. Audience Network launched as FreeView in 1999, focusing on music and concerts. It rebranded as Audience Network in 2010, when it expanded into scripted original...
Report: Streaming Wars Propel ‘Peak TV’ Past Previous Peak
Fox Business: The streaming revolution has helped set a brand new record for the number of scripted dramas and comedies available on TV and video platforms. According to data collected by Disney's FX, 532 scripted series were produced in 2019, an increase of 7...
Prediction: Streaming to Pull More Ads Away from Old Media
CNBC: Michael Kassan, CEO of advertising advisory firm MediaLink, said as TV ratings decline with consumers shifting to streaming, there’s increasing demand from brands to reach consumers on new streaming platforms. “There’s got to be a place for...
Verizon to Drop Video Bundles in Effort to Stem Cord-Cutting
Bloomberg: Verizon said its Fios video and internet service would abandon the cable-industry tradition of locking customers into bundled packages, the latest effort to contend with the rise of cord cutting. The new model, called Mix & Match, lets consumers choose...
Zillow Veteran Plans Tech-News Venture Backed by Comcast
Talking Biz News: Former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff has turned his attention to tech in Los Angeles where he is leading the launch of a news-and-events company to cover it, called dot.LA. The venture has attracted $4 million seed funding with participation from...
Gannett CEO Keeps Pay Secret While Wielding Ax to Staffers
Business Insider: Gannett CEO Mike Reed has been tasked with drawing up as much as $300 million in cost cuts to America's largest newspaper chain. But thanks to a deal with a private-equity firm, Reed's compensation will stay shielded from the public and his own...
News Corp Names eBay Exec to Lead Digital Real-Estate Unit
Real Deal: David Doctorow, a senior exec at eBay, will be the new CEO of Move, the News Corp. subsidiary that operates Realtor.com. Effective Feb. 3, Doctorow will take the helm from and report to Tracey Fellows, who is News Corp.’s president of global digital real...
Hearst Magazines Union Effort Attracts Support from Warren
WWD: Elizabeth Warren might have just hampered the likelihood of Hearst management approving her as one of their magazine cover stars in the run-up to the 2020 election, but she certainly won the hearts and minds of hundreds of its...
Meredith to Buy Digital Recommendations Platform SwearBy
MediaPost: Meredith is deepening its ecommerce and affiliate business through the acquisition of word-of-mouth recommendation platform SwearBy. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. SwearBy provides a space for women to crowdsource and share favorite...
Conde Nast Picks ‘Pose’ Star for First Man on Cover of Allure
New York Post: Billy Porter is making history, yet again. The “Pose” actor covers the February 2020 issue of Allure magazine — and is the first person who identifies as male to do so. Known for his over-the-top looks, the only surprise is that it’s taken the mag so...
News Corp’s Sun Claims Scoop Led to Royals’ Announcement
Press Gazette: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have rushed their announcement about stepping down as “senior” royals and failed to inform the Queen as a result of the Sun’s scoop the same day. The paper revealed that the royal couple were “looking to move to...
Forbes Appoints Tech, Product Chiefs as Digital Boss Departs
Talking Biz News: Forbes announced Thursday the appointments of Nina Gould as chief product officer and Vadim Supitskiy as chief technology officer. Gould and Supitskiy are Forbes veterans who oversaw a redesign of the company’s...
Mansueto’s Inc Magazine Plans Website Redo, Move Into TV
New York Post: “I think there is some TV in our future,” says Scott Omelianuk, the new editor-in-chief of Inc. “There’s a whole range of things entrepreneurs need, from educational products to software.” However, his first order of business is redesigning Inc’s...
Hearst Former Cosmopolitan Editor Aims to Reinvent Career
Forbes: Where do you go after you’ve reached the top? That’s the question facing a generation of editors as the magazine industry continues to shrink and transform. A number of high-priced editors in chief have been replaced by younger, less expensive...
BuzzFeed Names Refinery29 Alum as New Chief Tech Officer
TechCrunch: BuzzFeed’s technical team has a new leader — incoming chief technology officer Peter Wang, who’s leaving his role as CTO of healthcare community The Mighty. Wang has plenty of experience in the media industry, having served as CTO at...
Survey: Media Execs Say They Can’t Rely on Old Biz Models
Variety: About 50% of media and entertainment execs said their company cannot rely on traditional business models to survive, according to a new survey by consulting firm EY. Indeed, 34% indicated that their company will no longer exist in five years unless their...