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12:15 PM ET, May 12, 2015

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Internal memo from AOL CEO Tim Armstrong on Verizon takeover  —  In Big Media Push, Verizon Buys AOL For $4.4B [Memo From AOL CEO Tim Armstrong]  —  So this just happened.  AOL, owner of TechCrunch, is getting acquired: U.S. carrier Verizon said in a statement that it is buying the company for $4.4 billion, or $50 per share.
RELATED:
Verizon:
Verizon to acquire AOL at $50 per share at an estimated total value of $4.4B, Tim Armstrong to continue leading AOL operations  —  Verizon to Acquire AOL  —  Deal Creates Unique and Scaled Digital Media Platforms for Consumers, Advertisers and Partners  —  NEW YORK - Taking another significant step …
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Sources: AOL in talks to spin off HuffPost, primarily with Axel Springer, at a valuation over $1B  —  AOL Has Been in Talks to Spin Off HuffPost as Part of Verizon Acquisition Deal  —  According to numerous sources, while it has been negotiating its deal to sell to Verizon …
Dennis K. Berman / Wall Street Journal:
Verizon's AOL acquisition suggests its telecom carrier empire is crumbling more than it shows the power of the physical network  —  Verizon-AOL: A War of All Against All  —  Surprising deal suggests a crumbling empire more than it shows the power of the network
Brent Lang / Variety:
AOL Shares Surge 18% After Verizon Deal
Discussion: Quartz, Forbes and Broadcasting & Cable
Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
ESPN President John Skipper on Bill Simmons: “It Was Business”  —  The chatter at ESPN's upfront presentation Tuesday morning centered on Bill Simmons, conspicuously absent since ESPN president John Skipper abruptly announced Friday that he would not renew Simmons' contract.
RELATED:
Alex Weprin / Capital New York:
ESPN president John Skipper says network will continue to support Grantland after Simmons' departure “at the same level both financially and staff-wise”  —  ESPN president: Simmons split was about ‘business,’ not money  —  ESPN's decision not to renew the contract of Bill Simmons …
Justin Ellis / Nieman Lab:
Knight Foundation invests $1 million in creator-driven podcast collective Radiotopia  —  A little over a year ago, a group of public radio-minded podcast producers banded together with an idea: to combine their powers to grow a shared audience and develop a better business model for fledgling audio entrepreneurs.
BBC:
Secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death in Bangladesh, in third such attack this year  —  Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death  —  A secular blogger in Bangladesh has been hacked to death in north-eastern Bangladesh in the third such deadly attack since the start of the year, police say.
Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
In first public comments on Brian Williams. NBC News Chief Andy Lack promises resolution “soon”  —  NBC News Chief Andy Lack: 'We're Playing Hurt' Over Brian Williams  —  In his first public comments about the saga, NBC News chief Andy Lack acknowledged the damage done to the network by the Brian Williams scandal.
Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewser and @tvnewslab
Brian Flood / Adweek:
ESPN to announce deal with Cablevision that lets advertisers access multiscreen audience data  —  ESPN and Cablevision Are Set to Announce a Game-Changing Data Deal  —  ESPN will announce a first-of-its-kind data deal with a cable TV provider at its upfront presentation tomorrow.
Discussion: Light Reading and FierceCable
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
New questions about bin Laden's death and burial highlight lack of attribution in earlier Vanity Fair reporting  —  Why didn't Vanity Fair tell readers it hadn't seen bin Laden burial photos?  —  Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh has shaken Washington with a massive piece, titled …
RELATED:
Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:
New report by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh on Osama Bin Laden's death prompts doubt, conflicting reports, and a partial NBC confirmation
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Warner Music Says Streaming Revenue Has Passed Downloads  —  Here's another sign that the music industry has shifted from selling songs to selling subscriptions: Warner Music Group says that last quarter, streaming music revenue passed revenue from selling downloads.
 
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 More News: 
Nathalie Tadena / Wall Street Journal:
Report finds Google is still the largest media owner; 136% bigger than the second-largest, Disney, up from 115% last year
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
Associated Press curates stories in book form, including current and historical news, has published 18 paperbacks and e-books since March
David Weinberger / Slate:
NPR opens API to authorized developers to build device-specific versions of NPR One streaming player
Discussion: NPR.org, @fkbarrett and RAIN News
Brendan Klinkenberg / BuzzFeed:
Instagram says it erred in shutting down The Shade Room, a TMZ-style publication that had 700k followers
Joe Pinsker / The Atlantic:
Interview with Sarah Alvarez, founder of Pilotwire, a project that caters to low income news consumers
Natan Edelsburg / The Drum:
The Drum announces Found Remote, a dedicated source for social TV news led by Exec Editor Natan Edelsburg, in US expansion
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Bloomberg Politics co-host Mark Halperin apologizes to presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz for interview questions focusing on his Cuban heritage
 Earlier Picks: 
Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:
Ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling sentenced to three and a half years in prison on espionage charges for leaking info to New York Times reporter James Risen
Steve Hardy / The Advocate:
LSU students develop app to immediately share violent police encounter videos with newsrooms
Discussion: The Rural Blog
Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
New Al Jazeera America CEO Al Anstey promises no news spin and a focus on integrity
Discussion: The Wrap and Politico
 

 
From Techmeme:

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
Alphabet closes above a $2T market cap for the first time; the stock rose 10%, its biggest one-day jump since July 2015, resulting in a valuation of $2.15T

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

Sherry Qin / Wall Street Journal:
ByteDance says it has no plans to sell TikTok, responding to a report suggesting that the Chinese company is considering selling a majority stake in TikTok US

 
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