Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Axios raises $20M to fund newsroom expansion, plans to increase staffing to 150 by the end of 2018 — The 10-month-old media startup plans to increase staffing to 150 by the end of 2018, develop new coverage areas, and expand its data analysis and product offerings
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @jimvandehei, The Wrap, Fast Company, Tubefilter, Variety, @maxslaterrobins, @brianstelter, @mathewi, @jeffjarvis and @jayrosen_nyu
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Report: Mashable has agreed to sell itself to Ziff Davis for around $50M, a fraction of the site's $250M valuation less than two years ago — Digital-media firm Mashable has clinched a sale for the company — and it's not for a price that founder Pete Cashmore or investors including Turner were looking for.
Discussion:
Axios, Folio, Mediawire, TheStreet, Ad Age, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Tubefilter, Bloomberg, Fast Company, @keachhagey, TechCrunch, Adweek, @pkafka and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
Tom Turula / Business Insider:
Spotify announces it has acquired Soundtrap, a collaborative online music recording startup, reportedly for at least $30M — Spotify is buying Swedish music tech startup Soundtrap for an undisclosed amount. — Soundtrap is a collaborative online recording studio that was valued at $25 million (SEK 207 million) last year.
Discussion:
Press, RAIN News, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Music Industry Blog and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
The Daily Beast:
Freedom of the Press Foundation plans to stop routing funds to WikiLeaks after funneling $500K in donations over 5 years; Xeni Jardin left group in December — In the heat of the presidential election campaign last year, Xeni Jardin, a journalist and free speech advocate, developed a sickening feeling about WikiLeaks.
Discussion:
The Intercept, emptywheel, @bungdan, @emptywheel, @attackerman, @exiledsurfer, @jswatz and @jswatz
CNBC:
Sources: Comcast has approached 21st Century Fox to express interest in buying some major assets — Comcast has approached 21st Century Fox and expressed interest in an acquisition of some of Fox's assets, sources say. — Comcast is interested in the same set of assets that Disney approached Fox about.
Discussion:
Adweek, Business Insider, Reuters, New York Times, Financial Times, FierceCable, The Week, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Drum, Recode, Axios, The Wrap, The Guardian, Ad Age, TVWeek.com, The Hill, @megjameslat, Los Angeles Times, The New York Observer, @jcmccracken, Hollywood Reporter, Financial Times, TVNewser, CNNMoney, @alexweprin and @cnbcnow
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: BuzzFeed to miss 2017 revenue target by 15%-20%, and 2018 IPO looks unlikely; Vice Media is also expected to miss its revenue target — Prospects for a 2018 initial public offering by the high-profile publisher now appear remote — Digital publisher BuzzFeed is on track to miss …
Sean Illing / Vox:
New study finds China uses “cheerleading”, or flooding the internet with positive news in order to eclipse bad news, as a method to manipulate its population — Now Russia is following China's blueprint. — The art of suppressing dissent has been perfected over the years by authoritarian governments.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook rebrands Mentions, which was only available for verified accounts, as Creator app, opens it to all; app available on iOS now, and Android within months — Facebook wants to turn mindless, passive video consumption into “time well spent,” and now it's giving social media stars …
Discussion:
Facebook, Adweek, Ad Age, Pocket-lint, The Next Web, @baekdal, Refinery29, Forbes, Axios, VentureBeat, Deadline, ZDNet, Fortune, The Verge, MacRumors, Tubefilter and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Forbes says it is reducing print frequency from 14 issues/year to 10 and also cutting 20 people from payroll — Forbes, which in its glory days published its flagship print magazine every other week, is going to cut back to only 10 issues in 2018 as it sliced 20 more people from its payroll.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter confirms it is testing a feature that will make it easier to publish tweetstorms — Twitter confirms it's testing a feature that allows users to more easily create “tweetstorms” - those series of connected tweets that have grown to be a popular workaround for Twitter's character count limitations.
Discussion:
Android Police, Slate, Mashable and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
The Guardian:
At News Corp AGM, Murdoch says “our hands are...full making our existing papers viable”, and that digital advertising has been “tremendously damaging to print” — Speaking at News Corp AGM, Murdoch hails Times, Australian and Wall Street Journal as successes …
Anthony D'Alessandro / Deadline:
MoviePass launches a one-year subscription plan for $89.95 — For a limited time, MoviePass is offering a one-year subscription plan for a flat fee of $89.95, which translates to $7.50 a month (that price already includes a $6.55 processing fee). That price is under this year's 3Q average movie ticket …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Business Insider, Variety, @christoronyi, The Verge, Engadget and /Film, more at Techmeme »
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