Mediagazer: Amid buyouts and possible layoffs, McClatchy's board increased CEO Craig Forman's monthly stipend for travel, housing, and security from $5,000 to $35,000 (Amanda Darrach/Columbia Journalism Review)

10:55 AM ET, February 6, 2019

Top News:

In Q4, The New York Times added 265K digital subscriptions, bringing total number of digital subs to 3.4M but profit decreased to $74.7M from $90.5M a year ago — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)— The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today fourth-quarter 2018 diluted earnings per share …

Discussion: New York Times, @oliverdarcy, The Wrap, @bydanielvictor, @adamgoldmannyt, @reformedbroker, @hblodget, @bdentonphoto, @brianstelter, @emilybell, @adamgoldmannyt, @ericliptonnyt, @jeffjarvis, @brianstelter and @gerryfsmith

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Spotify buys Gimlet Media, a podcast producer and network, sources say for ~$230M, and Anchor, which makes it easier for users to record and distribute podcasts — Daniel Ek says he wants to spend up to $500 million on acquisitions this year — Spotify is a streaming music company that wants to become a podcast company, too.

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue of ~€1.5B, up 30% YoY, operating profit of €94M, says it has 207M MAUs, up 29% YoY, including 96M premium subscribers, up 36% YoY

Discussion: The Guardian and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Kyle Pope / Columbia Journalism Review:

Craig Newmark donates $10M to Columbia Journalism School to launch new ethics center and $5M to Poynter to create separate ethics and leadership center — For many of the past few decades, the rules around journalism ethics have been largely settled. We know the appropriate ways to treat sources …

Discussion: Poynter, Poynter, Columbia, @kellymcb, @stevecollny, @kylepope, @doristruong, @kellymcb, @kellymcb, @kellymcb, @macloo, @emilybell and @raju

Melissa Locker / Fast Company:

Vox Media's General Manager Andrew Golis is leaving the company to join New York-based radio station WNYC as chief content officer — New York Public Radio announced today that long-time digital media executive Andrew Golis has a new job as WNYC's chief content officer.

Discussion: www.wnyc.org

David Faber / CNBC:

Sources: Liberty Media has joined the bidding for the regional sports networks that Disney is trying to sell to finalize a deal with Twenty-First Century Fox — - Disney is selling the networks to complete its deal to acquire movie production and television assets from Twenty-First Century Fox.

Discussion: Awful Announcing

Anjali Robins / CNBC:
Disney beats estimates with Q1 net income of $2.79B on revenue of $15.3B vs. $15.14B expected; media networks revenue increased 7% YoY to $5.9B

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, @stevekovach, AdExchanger, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, The Walt Disney Company and Yahoo! Finance

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Disney says ESPN+, its standalone subscription streaming service that launched in April, has 2M+ users, up from 1M in September

Discussion: CNBC, more at Techmeme »

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Sources: Reddit is raising $150M to $300M in a Series D led by Tencent at a $2.7B pre-money valuation — Reddit is raising $150 million to $300 million to keep the front page of the Internet running, multiple sources tell TechCrunch. The forthcoming Series D round is said to be led …

Discussion: Fortune, @emilybell, @dhh, @shiruken, @carnage4life, @badlogicgames, @joshconstine and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

21st Century Fox reported strong overall Q2 earnings, but its Television unit had a $22M loss, yet had 19% growth in ad, affiliate, and content sales — Continuing to put up steady results across its TV and film operations, 21st Century Fox posted a dip in earnings in its fiscal second quarter …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

YouTube CEO says the number of channels with 1M+ subs nearly doubled and the number of creators who earned five or six figures grew 40%+ in the last year — In a post on Tuesday about her 2019 goals, YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki touted several milestones Google's massive video site surpassed …

Discussion: YouTube Creator Blog, Variety, TechCrunch, Music Ally, @susanwojcicki and Adweek, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube says its experimental Instagram-like Explore tab has expanded beyond the iOS app to more devices and now suggests smaller, up-and-coming creators

Discussion: Social Media Today, Digital Trends and Gizchina.com

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

FT launches Sifted, a new site targeting young European entrepreneurs, running on part subscription and part sponsorship to keep it free for its target audience — The Financial Times has backed a news website for the European start-up world, which its founder has said will tap into a …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

Leaked audio: Vice news chief Josh Tyrangiel says Vice is nearing a deal with Hulu for a new show, and revenue loss after end of HBO show contributed to layoffs — “We now have paper. We now have pens. The pens are not on paper," Vice executive Josh Tyrangiel says of the deal

Discussion: Digiday, @levinejonathan, @tomhbunting and @plbarghouty

Amanda Darrach / Columbia Journalism Review:

Amid buyouts and possible layoffs, McClatchy's board increased CEO Craig Forman's monthly stipend for travel, housing, and security from $5,000 to $35,000 — BuzzFeed, HuffPo, Gannett, Vice. This has already been a ruthless year for layoffs in digital journalism.

Discussion: @byrosenberg, @samthielman, Miami New Times, @levinecarrie, @aodespair, @chrispreperato, @byrosenberg, @moorehn, @aliciak2010, @sarahesmith23, @cmonstah, @ssuttell, @tess_novotny, @maryannetalbott, @scottleadingham, @alex_burness and @moorehn

Greg Dool / Folio:

American Media, publisher of National Enquirer, Us Weekly, and Men's Journal, has acquired TEN: Publishing's 14 brands in its Adventure Sports Network — National Enquirer publisher American Media has acquired TEN: Publishing's Adventure Sports Network, a group of 14 action sports brands …

Discussion: Forbes, MediaPost, Pinkbike.com and SGB Online

Owen S. Good / Polygon:

Machinima is now officially closed, two weeks after it went offline, with layoffs of 81 people but a “select number” remaining to work at AT&T's Otter Media — Parent company confirms shutdown two weeks after everything went offline — Machinima is officially no more.

Discussion: MediaPost, Deadline, @matthewmercer, @robgabel, @utxjgthedon and @xpangler

Ellie Hall / BuzzFeed News:

Custom and Borders Protection has apologized after BuzzFeed News deputy news director David Mack was grilled by a CBP agent over the site's Trump coverage — A top Customs and Border Protection official apologized Tuesday to a BuzzFeed News reporter who was aggressively questioned by an agent …

Discussion: @joshuahol, @oliverdarcy, @davidmackau, New York Post and Mediaite

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