Top News:
Reeves Wiedeman / New York Magazine:
Deep dive inside Condé Nast amid years of drama, downsizing, and shakeups sheds light on Anna Wintour and others' struggle to revert falling influence and sales — “It's dreadful,” Anna Wintour said in early October, looking out the south-facing windows of her 25th-floor office …
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
G/O Media memo to staff says “Deadspin will write only about sports” and to focus 100% of resources on sports; the site also covered politics, culture, and more — Sports—and sports alone—must be “the sole focus” of the website, new management said Monday in a memo obtained by The Daily Beast.
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Kelsey Mckinney / @mckinneykelsey:
Deadspin writer says G/O Media management removed a letter to the readers from Deadspin staff that criticised the recent addition of autoplay videos to the site — Here is the post that G/O leadership has now removed from all of our sites without warning. Please continue to send emails to g-omediafeedback@googlegroups.com https://twitter.com/...
Discussion:
@gmgunion, @chronotope, Deadspin, @williamfleitch, @mckinneykelsey, @katiedrumm, @ashleyfeinberg, @barry and Awful Announcing
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says the company forecasts that HBO Max will reach 50M US subscribers in its first five years after launching next spring — HBO Max will reach 50 million U.S. subscribers in its first five years after launching next spring, according to a forecast issued Monday …
Discussion:
CNBC, Bloomberg, @dadehayes and Variety
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Wall Street Journal:
AT&T reaches a truce with activist investor Elliott Management, agrees to regular share buybacks, new directors, no more major M&A, and more in three year plan — Elliott had challenged telecom giant's strategy; AT&T commits to regular share buybacks, plans to avoid major acquisitions
Discussion:
Variety, @shalini, @ptolemy_3, @xpangler, The Drum, Reuters, Fox Business, CityAM, CNBC, Ars Technica, Business Insider, The Verge, Bloomberg, The Verge, Deadline and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T says it will spend $1.5B-$2B on HBO Max in 2020 and $1B per year in both 2021 and 2022, expects profitability in year four — AT&T is telling investors it has the intestinal fortitude to win in the streaming wars — even as its traditional TV business continues to crumble.
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
How Ben Shapiro's massively popular right-wing site The Daily Wire gets promoted in an inauthentic, coordinated manner by 14 Facebook pages followed by millions — This is the online version of the Popular Information newsletter. You can get independent accountability journalism in your inbox every week.
Amol Rajan / BBC:
Daily Mail soft-launches Mail+, a bulletin-based digital service separate from its free Mail Online that will charge readers for some content in upcoming months — The long heralded next chapter of the Daily Mail's push into digital media will take shape this week, as consolidation across …
Discussion:
Press Gazette
Piya Sinha-Roy / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix says it's testing a feature to allow users to speed up or slow down content on their phones, attracting criticism from filmmakers including Judd Apatow — Viewers can increase or slow down the speed of Netflix shows and movies on their smartphones.
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Playlist, Deadline, @bradbirda113, @juddapatow and @sepinwall, more at Techmeme »
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
The Recount, John Heilemann and John Battelle's short-form video political news outlet, has raised ~$10M seed from investors including Jay-Z and Kevin Durant — A-List investors (Fred Wilson, Jay-Z, Robert Wolf, Kevin Durant) are pouring millions into the journalist's new business.
Discussion:
@thisfamilymeal and @joepompeo
capitalgazette.com:
Capital Gazette shooter Jarrod Ramos pleads guilty to all 23 counts, including killing five employees, in a mass shooting at the Annapolis office in June 2018 — The man who blasted his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom more than a year ago, armed with a shotgun, smoke bombs and a device …
Discussion:
Washington Post, @baltimoresun, @jamesfoleyfund, @brianstelter, The Wrap, @capgaznews, @capgaznews, Axios, VICE and Metro.co.uk
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Federal judge reinstates libel lawsuit by Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann against WaPo, narrowing its scope from 33 published statements to three — A federal judge reinstated part of a lawsuit against The Washington Post filed by the family of a Kentucky teenager that alleged …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Examiner, Fox News, New York Post, Deadline and Washington Times
Matthew De Silva / Quartz:
Spotify says 14% of MAUs listen to podcasts, podcast hours streamed grew 39% QoQ, and podcast engagement is driving increases in free to paid conversion — Spotify's stock price leaped 15% today (Oct. 28) as the music streaming service delivered a surprise profit for its third quarter.
Discussion:
Complete Music Update, CNBC, Financial Times and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
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Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Spotify says its CFO Barry McCarthy, who pioneered the direct listing model for IPOs, is leaving in January and will rejoin Spotify's board
Discussion:
@teddyschleifer and New York Times
Spotify:
Spotify Q3: paid subs rose 31% YoY to 113M; MAUs grew 30% YoY to 248M; revenue up 28% YoY to €1.73B; net income of €241M, up from €43M YoY; stock closes up 16%
Discussion:
Variety, Fortune, @brettbivens, @matt, @teddyschleifer, @claireatki, @ncsh, AdExchanger, Bloomberg, Reuters, VentureBeat, Engadget and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
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