Mediagazer: American Media, publisher of National Enquirer, Us Weekly, and Men's Journal, has acquired TEN: Publishing's 14 brands in its Adventure Sports Network (Greg Dool/Folio)

9:10 AM ET, February 6, 2019

Top News:

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: VentureBeat and Spotify, more at Techmeme »

New York Times Company:

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, @adamgoldmannyt, @ericliptonnyt, @jeffjarvis, @brianstelter and @gerryfsmith

Kyle Pope / Columbia Journalism Review:

Craig Newmark donates $10M to Columbia Journalism School to endow Newmark ethics center and $5M to Poynter to create another 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, Columbia, Poynter, @kellymcb and @emilybell

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, Music Ally, TechCrunch, @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

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

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 — - Investors and analysts are looking for new details on the company's direct-to-consumer plans and an update on its pending $71.3 billion acquisition …

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, The Wrap, @stevekovach, AdExchanger, 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: @dhh, @shiruken, @carnage4life, @badlogicgames, @joshconstine and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

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, @xpangler and @utxjgthedon

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 …

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

Washington Post:

Competing theories emerge on how National Enquirer obtained intimate texts between Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, with its ties to Trump figuring prominently — When the National Enquirer published explicit text messages between Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos and the woman he was having an affair with …

Discussion: Business Insider, @blairreeves, @amyjbrittain and @connortryan

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:10 AM ET, February 6, 2019.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Editorial Assistant, Remote US — Launch Potato

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Nick Martin / Splinter:
How Time Warner executive pay soared as staff was cut while William Barr, Trump's nominee to be attorney general, chaired the board compensation committee

Discussion: @bridgeproject21 and @patdennis

Columbia Journalism Review:
French investigative news site Mediapart faced an attempted raid without a warrant from prosecutors who work for Emmanuel Macron

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Facebook bans 22 more Alex Jones-linked Pages as it implements a new policy update, after finding admins repurposing old Pages with content from banned Pages

Discussion: Recode, @oliverdarcy, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Engadget and CNN, more at Techmeme »

Kim Severson / New York Times:
The Los Angeles Times is resuming a print section dedicated to food in April, to be delivered on Thursdays, with new staff members to fill its pages

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, @rozrbentley, @mattdpearce, @gustavoarellano, @raju, @pfmpfmpfm, @beejoli, @latguild and @maxwelltani

The New York Times Company:
Michelle Agins, the second black female photographer to be hired at the NYT, has been awarded the National Press Photographers Association's highest honor

Discussion: @nytimespr

Earlier Picks:

BuzzFeed News:
The US-arm of China's English-language state TV broadcaster, CGTN, has registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA)

Discussion: @miriamelder and @buzzfeedben

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Researchers at Medill Local News Initiative analyzed 13TB of subscriber data from local papers, found high correlation between regular reading and sub retention

Discussion: Local News Initiative, @dabeard and @janebsinger

Jaclyn Peiser / New York Times:
Around one-third of the content published by Bloomberg News uses some form of automated technology, with more news outlets beginning to rely on AI

Discussion: American Press Institute, @lisagibbs954, @amlwhere, @sigalsamuel, @ap_corpcomm, @fpmarconi and Jewish Telegraphic Agency, more at Techmeme », Thanks:@steverubel

Washington Post:
The Washington Post adds International Women's Media Foundation and James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to Press Freedom Partnership

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The New York Times is offering free online subscriptions to 3M+ students, made possible by 30,000 contributions from readers

Discussion: What's New in Publishing, @tjdoyle and @sarafischer

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page