Mediagazer: How Spotify shareholders TPG and Dragoneer used convertible debt notes, which entitled them to more shares if listing was delayed, to force listing by July 2 (Theodore Schleifer/Recode)

4:25 PM ET, February 28, 2018

Top News:

Dan Primack / Axios:

Spotify files with SEC for $1B direct listing, will use SPOT as stock symbol; reports 71M paid subs, up 46% YoY, $4.09B revenue in 2017, up from $2.95B in 2016 — Music streaming giant Spotify today filed for a $1 billion IPO. Axios had previously reported on the company's confidential filing, but the new paperwork is public.

Discussion: CNBC, Business Insider, RAIN News, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Business Insider, MacRumors, BGR, @thekenyeung, @jonerlichman, @mattlynley, @sherman4949, @davidfaber, Consequence of Sound and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Janko Rottgers / Variety:

Spotify says operating loss was $461.2M in 2017, up from $425M in 2016; average user streams 25 hours of audio a month, playlists generate 31% of all listening — Spotify officially filed for a public offering with the Security and Exchanges Commission Wednesday.

Discussion: TechCrunch, The New York Observer and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

Theodore Schleifer / Recode: How Spotify shareholders TPG and Dragoneer used convertible debt notes, which entitled them to more shares if listing was delayed, to force listing by July 2

Associated Press:

Father of Florida shooting survivor admits altering an email from CNN that was sent to other news outlets amid controversy but says it wasn't on purpose — Last week's televised town hall on guns and school safety has led to finger-pointing by the father of a Florida school shooting survivor and CNN.

Discussion: Washington Post, @joeconchatv, @farhip, PEN America, Mediaite, The Wrap, ABC News, Mediaite, @joshgreenman, @jameshasson20, @gregmitch, @parkermolloy, @morningmoneyben, @mattlaslo, @kfile, Gizmodo, @daviduberti, @kfile, @mccanner, Mediaite, TV Tattle and @kfile

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox News host Sean Hannity joined colleague Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night in retracting story alleging CNN had scripted a high school student's question — The about-face from the Fox News hosts comes after a high school student's father admitted to inadvertently deleting words in an email to a CNN producer.

Discussion: @dangillmor, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
After devoting two nights of coverage to claim CNN scripted a question, Tucker Carlson told viewers there's no evidence “right now” the network did so

Discussion: @carlsonsports and @moneyries

Taylor Lorenz / The Daily Beast:

The Oshry sisters, a family of Instagram stars, concealed the fact that their mother is Pamela Geller, an alt-right troll who was banned from entering the UK — Claudia, Jackie, Olivia, and Margo Oshry are a group of sisters in New York living the millennial dream, running viral Instagram accounts …

Discussion: @theperezhilton, @ariellec, @swin24 and @mattzeitlin

Mike Shields / Business Insider:

Little Things, a publisher with 12M Facebook followers that focused on feel-good news and videos, is shutting down, says algorithm changes cut traffic by 75%+ — - The digital publisher LittleThings is shutting down. — The company, like some other media companies, had quickly amassed a big following on Facebook.

Discussion: Press Gazette, TechCrunch, Nieman Lab, Digiday, @ajs, Adweek, @mjwhansen, Forbes, @1236, @bendreyfuss, @peterpham, @alexeheath, @sub8u, The Drum, @stevekovach, @justintrapp, @edzitron, @alexroy144, @pkafka, Wall Street Journal, @lmoses, @lmoses and @newyorkist

Jon Lafayette / Multichannel News:

NBCUniversal to decrease ads by 10% in original primetime programming on all of its television networks and reduce the number of commercials per break by 20% — New pods will feature just two commercials — NBCUniversal said it plans to decrease advertising time by 10% in original primetime programming …

Discussion: Variety, Adweek, @markdavis and FierceCable

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter begins rolling out its Bookmarks feature, which lets users privately save tweets and has been in testing since October 2017, to all mobile users — Twitter today is publicly launching its “Bookmarks” feature, which has been in testing since late last year, following the company's HackWeek project dubbed #SaveForLater.

Discussion: Adweek and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

Analysis of posts on anonymous forums shows how extremists tried to undermine news reports and push conspiracy theories to broader media after Parkland shooting — Forty-seven minutes after news broke of a high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the posters on the anonymous chat board 8chan …

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Infowars says YouTube gave it a second strike for Florida shooting videos, says it can't post new content for 2 weeks; 3 strikes in 3 months would close account

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Jezebel, @moorehn, @willsommer, @willsommer, @willsommer and Axios

Associated Press:

Two officials close to Slovak PM Robert Fico, who were named in slain journalist Jan Kuciak's last story, have resigned until investigation into murder is over — https://apnews.com/0b2e032629694f85bf95 086832ea7641 — BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — An investigative journalist shot dead …

Press Gazette:
Slovakia-based Canadian journalist Tom Nicholson says reporter Jan Kuciak had told him he was working on a story about the Italian mafia before he was killed

Discussion: Associated Press

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

How a chat between two reporters who covered Pulse and Sutherland Springs mass shootings led to creation of a Facebook group for journalists covering trauma — The Orlando Sentinel reporter reached out to the San Antonio Express-News reporter on the night of Nov. 15, 2017.

Discussion: @kristenhare, @luluramadan, @luluramadan, @kristenhare and @underoak

The Wrap:

Roku rejects protesters' demand that it drop NRAtv, says it does not “curate or censor based on viewpoint” — A groundswell of online supporters are pushing several major tech companies, including Apple and Google, to sever ties with the National Rifle Association's TV channel …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Mashable, Business Insider and Techdirt

Joseph Otterson / Variety:

Apple orders a 10-part psychological thriller series executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan — M. Night Shyamalan is heading to Apple. — The streaming service has given a straight-to-series order to a psychological thriller series from writer Tony Basgallop that Shyamalan will executive produce.

Discussion: TVWeek.com, Business Insider, Engadget, Fast Company, /Film, The A.V. Club, TechCrunch, MacRumors, The Verge, 9to5Mac and AppAdvice.com

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New Media Investment Group:
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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
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Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Three Dutch publications are suing the European Union over an EU project which classified them as “disinforming outlets”

Jessica DiNapoli / Reuters:
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Al Tompkins / Poynter:
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Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Sources: White House Communications Director Hope Hicks told House investigators that her role sometimes required her to tell white lies on behalf of Trump

Heidi N. Moore / Columbia Journalism Review:
The public's crisis of trust in journalism is mirrored in newsrooms where a toxic culture has created a rift between reporters and executives

Discussion: @ninabernstein1, @moorehn and @raju

Alex Ritman / Hollywood Reporter:
London police are investigating a complaint of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein from a 10th alleged victim; the incident reportedly happened in mid-1990s

Earlier Picks:

Bloomberg:
Baidu's video streaming service iQiyi files for US IPO with $1.5B placeholder target; reports suggest it's aiming for a public market valuation of ~$10B

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, South China Morning Post, BBC, Channel NewsAsia and CNNMoney, more at Techmeme »

John Shinal / CNBC:
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John Schwartz / New York Times:
Inside the 10-month partnership between NYT and Times-Picayune covering coastal erosion and sea-level rise, NYT's first collaboration with a local news outlet

Discussion: @jswatz, @sulliview, @bluestein, @thwilliamson, @kdoctor and @adamgoldmannyt

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
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Discussion: RAIN News, MediaNama, hypebot, Livemint, Yourstory and The Economic Times, more at Techmeme »

Cliff Kuang / Co.Design:
Knight study of 45M tweets examines how Asian Americans, African Americans, and feminists interact with media, with “hate-tweeting” often fueling sharing

Discussion: Adweek, @fastcodesign, @ftrain, @jdesmondharris, Knight Foundation, The Root, @dfreelon, Digital Trends, @dfreelon and Informed and Engaged

Natasha Bertrand / The Atlantic:
Twitter DMs show Trump confidant Roger Stone and WikiLeaks communicated directly in October and November 2016, contrary to their denials in 2017

Discussion: Paste, bookforum.com, @natashabertrand, Mediaite, @natashabertrand, @neeratanden and @kpoulsen

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox News wins appeal against TVEyes, a service that enables searching, watching, sharing of TV clips; ruling says TVEyes' product not justified as fair use

Discussion: Radio & Television … and TVNewser

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Comcast offers about £22B for Sky, a 16% premium on the offer from Murdoch's 21st Century Fox

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Multichannel News, The Wrap, Forbes, Seeking Alpha, CNNMoney, Fortune, CNNMoney, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety and The Guardian

From Techmeme:

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft begins rolling out Windows 11 Start menu ads that show app “recommendations” from “a small set of curated developers”; users can disable the ads

Joanna Nelius / The Verge:
Qualcomm details its Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips; benchmarks from a demo suggest the chips match Apple's M3, Intel's Core Ultra 9, and AMD's Ryzen 9

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
The US OFAC sanctions four Iranian nationals over cyberattacks on the US government, defense contractors, and private companies, and the DOJ unseals indictments

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