Top News:
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
A spokesperson for Donald Trump says his blog, used to share statements after he was banned on Facebook and Twitter, has been permanently shut down — - Former President Donald Trump's blog has been permanently shut down. — The page, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” …
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Dan Mangan / CNBC:
National Enquirer's publisher has agreed to pay $187,500 in a FEC settlement over a 2016 hush-money payment to Karen McDougal, who alleged an affair with Trump — - The Federal Election Commission will let former President Donald Trump avoid any punishment for directing hush money payments to his alleged ex-mistress Karen McDougal.
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Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
The Atlantic is spinning out its content and communications agency Atlantic 57, which will be rebranded Long Dash under the umbrella of Atlantic Media — The Atlantic is putting some separation between the publication and its agency Atlantic 57. The latter will be spun out into its own division …
Discussion:
The Rebooting, @seangriffey and AgencySpy
Michael King / The Streamable:
HBO Max with Ads launches for $9.99/mo, $5 cheaper than the ad-free plan, with a 15% discount for a year. and a maximum of four minutes of ads/hour — After announcing that their ad-supported plan would launch in early-June, HBO Max officially launched HBO Max with Ads for $9.99 a month.
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Kate Clark / The Information:
Sources: Union Square Ventures has invested in publishing tool Mirror.xyz, which resembles Medium but adds funding options via NFT sales, at a $100M valuation — Union Square Ventures, an early backer of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has invested in crypto publishing tool Mirror.xyz …
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Katherine Doherty / Bloomberg:
Source: Mudrick Capital sold all its AMC Entertainment stock Tuesday, the same day the chain said Mudrick had bought $230.5M in new shares; stock up 22%+ — - Investment firm takes advantage of rally fueled by day traders — Sale follows Mudrick Capital's $230 million purchase of shares
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Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
AMC is raising $230.5M and is in discussions with landlords of theaters formerly operated by Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres
AMC is raising $230.5M and is in discussions with landlords of theaters formerly operated by Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Wired, @pauldavidson, The Wrap, Insider, /Film and Boxoffice
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Discovery CEO David Zaslav announces the new name for the combination of Discovery and AT&T's WarnerMedia: Warner Bros. Discovery — The merged company will go by Warner Bros. Discovery. — Discovery and AT&T's WarnerMedia shocked the media and entertainment world with their May 17 news …
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Jem Aswad / Variety:
YouTube says it has paid over $4B to the music industry in the last 12 months and has added more paid members in Q1 2021 than in any other quarter since launch — YouTube paid out more than $4 billion in royalties to artists, songwriters, and rights-holders, according to a new blog post …
Discussion:
Forbes, The Wrap, Music Business Worldwide, musically.com and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
About 120 staffers in Hearst Magazine's sales, marketing, and ad unit, or just over 5% of the division's workforce, have accepted buyout offers — The voluntary buyout offers Hearst Magazines extended to 600 employees in its sales, marketing and ad side has resulted in close to 120 staffers raising their hands, sources tell Media Ink.
Rachel Chitra / Reuters Institute for the Study …:
At least 474 Indian journalists have died from COVID-19 through May and reporters are now calling for vaccination access and timely medical care — Labelled “presstitutes” and “unpatriotic”, reporters are dying with little to no support from their newsrooms or their government
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@caithlinmercer, @risj_oxford, @saileepawar94 and @meeraselva1
Jamie Smyth / Financial Times:
Australia's competition commission chair calls the media bargaining code a success, after publishers make deals with Google and Facebook that may be worth $187M — Google and Facebook could pay about A$200m a year for media content following world-first law
Discussion:
@johnthornhillft, @hoofnagle, @dangillmor and @jason_kint
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify announces Only You, which gives users personalized playlists and insights based on habits, and Blend, letting two friends merge tastes in a playlist — Spotify loves when people share its annual Wrapped music breakdown on social media, so it's making that more of a year-round treat.
Discussion:
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