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AT&T:
AT&T announces a half-stock, half-cash deal to acquire Time Warner, valuing the company at $85.4B — - New company with complementary strengths to lead the next wave of innovation in converging media and communications industry. —Combination unlike any other …
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Kara Swisher / Recode:
Resistance from Time Warner execs like Jeff Bewkes, head of HBO at the time, doomed the AOL merger, which raises questions about the prospects of the AT&T deal — The 2000 merger with AOL made Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes nauseated, so what's different now? — In the end, I guess you could finally say Steve Case was right.
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New York Times:
AT&T-Time Warner deal will likely face tougher regulatory scrutiny and higher political hurdles than earlier Comcast-NBCUniversal deal — A cable and internet provider decides to buy an entertainment conglomerate. — The merger is met with skepticism by industry analysts and outrage …
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Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Trump wins endorsement from Las Vegas Review-Journal, bought by Republican megadonor and casino owner Sheldon Adelson in late 2015 — Donald Trump has received a scant few newspaper endorsements in the 2016 race, but he's finally received one from a major city newspaper: The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
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Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
If Trump loses, news organizations should break their ratings-driven habit of giving him heavy coverage — In the final pages of Richard Ben Cramer's seminal book about presidential politics, “What It Takes,” Michael Dukakis looks around in wonderment at the scene outside his Massachusetts home less …
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Neil W. McCabe / Breitbart:
Former ESPN analyst Curt Schilling gets daily talk show on Breitbart.com, starting Monday, broadcasting weekdays from 9am-11am ET — The pitching hero of the 2004 Red Sox World Series championship season told Breitbart News: Sunday Edition he launches his daily Breitbart.com talk show Monday.
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Business Insider launches Markets Insider, a markets data and news site with a global focus, powered by data from Finanzen.net, Axel Springer's finance portal — The publisher's relationship with the German media conglomerate is growing closer — Business Insider's partnership …
Tara West / The Inquisitr News:
Gavin MacFadyen, founder and director of London's Centre for Investigative Journalism and a supporter of WikiLeaks, has died — WikiLeaks Director and founder of the Centre for Investigative Journalism Gavin MacFadyen has died. WikiLeaks confirmed on their official Twitter account …
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix says it plans to raise $800M in debt, bringing total long-term debt to $3B, says it will use the new debt for general corporate purposes — Netflix said it plans to raise $800 million through a new debt offering, which would bring its long-term debt load to more than $3 billion.
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VentureBeat
Lauren Johnson / Adweek:
Bezos talks at conference about paywalls, micro-payments, The Washington Post's editorial independence, Trump and the media, and Peter Thiel — Jeff Bezos, Amazon chief and owner of the Washington Post, isn't sure that services like paywalls and tiered subscriptions can work for publishers.
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
Interview with Tim Wu about his new book The Attention Merchants, the origins of modern advertising, and the effects of ads on journalism — Harvesting was perhaps the original U.S. industrial activity. Economic growth relied on the reliable conversion of plants and animals into salable products, like cotton and beef.
Steven Perlberg / Wall Street Journal:
Fusion employees say executives held meetings in four offices discouraging unionization — Executives held meetings in four offices discouraging unionization, employees say — Earlier this month, a majority of editorial staffers at Fusion signed union cards to join the growing list …
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Wall Street Journal