Top News:
Aron Pilhofer:
With The Athletic purchase, NYT will directly compete for subscribers with local news sites that cover college or pro sports, topics once owned by local papers — It turns out, The New York Times does really care about local news — just not in the way we thought.
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis, @bgrueskin, @dangillmor, @jayrosen_nyu, @jamesrbuk, @sharonwaxman, Quantale.'s Newsletter, @qhardy, @jackshafer, @pkafka, @jackshafer, @pkafka, @jeffjarvis, @jeffjarvis, @jeffjarvis, @chronotope, @dkiesow, @chronotope, @pilhofer, @pilhofer, @pilhofer, @davidclinchnews, @pilhofer, @pilhofer, @jeffjarvis, @pilhofer, The Wrap and MediaPost
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Peter Kafka / Vox:
The NYT-Athletic deal is a big bet with significant risk, as growth slows for The NYT and profit remains elusive for The Athletic — A big bet with real risk and reward. — The New York Times wants more subscribers. The Athletic has lots of subscribers but loses money.
Discussion:
Financial Times, The Ringer, @claytravis, @digg, @jessicalessin, @financialtimes, @pottsmark, @ylichterman, @shanbow, @arctictony, @shanbow, @adamlevitan, @markberman, @jeffschultzatl, Defector, Defector, @sizpatel, Awful Announcing, @davidgura, @bryancurtis, @byscottpowers, @ringer, @profblackistone, @scohensea, @mattzeitlin, @oliviawitherite, @thegridkid, @jessegranger_, @tybatiste, @travonne, @melissalockard, @aarongleeman, @zpathletic, @electricalwsop, @liam_twomey, @aarongleeman, @ken_rosenthal, @adamlefkoe, @bydavidgardner, @vosdscott, @willystaley, @maxjrosenthal, @conordougherty, @sbienkowski, @thegridkid, Poynter, @gintautasd, @rafat, @freightalley, @rafat, @pkafka, Talking Biz News, @cnyari, @mathewi, @pkafka, @pkafka, @mikeorren, @nw3, @pkafka, @rasmus_kleis, @brettkollmann, @tvgrimreaper, @rafat, @danprimack, @danprimack, @nichcarlson, @rafat, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @mattietk, @ericliptonnyt, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @daryrezvani, @keganreneau, @john_p_carvalho, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @jeremylittau, @rafat, @freddiecampion, @arashmarkazi, @jeffveillette, @chrisryan_nj, @_zeets, @mathewi, @katie_martin_fx, @dylanbyers, UPI and Sportico
Sara Fischer / Axios:
NYT has agreed to acquire The Athletic in an all-cash deal valuing the startup at $550M; co-founders Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann will stay on after the deal
Discussion:
@sarafischer, New York Times, @sarafischer, Axios, @cdgoldstein, @joshua_newman, @courtsidevc, @business, @kaitlyncmcgrath, @tashanreed, @tomangell, @apompliano, @hiltontarrant, Vanity Fair, The Sport Marketeer, The Drum, @davidgura, Bloomberg, @sarafischer, Huddle Up, The Hockey Tactics Newsletter, @paulkuharskynfl, @joshsternberg, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, Financial Times, @sulliview, Poynter, @dskok, @jessicalessin, @jeffjarvis, @pkafka, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, @dangillmor, @rafat, @nytimesguild, @hollyzachariah, @ckrewson, @ckrewson, Wall Street Journal, Newser, CNBC and Front Office Sports
Bloomberg:
Sources: Sinclair's sports group, Diamond Sports, is close to clinching a deal to stream NBA games on a new service to launch in the first half of this year — - Diamond said to be nearing loan for regional sports networks — The struggling subsidiary gets a boost from NBA digital rights
Discussion:
@business, @richlightshed, @allisonmcneely, @richlightshed, @aagave, The Streamable and Awful Announcing
Lauren Johnson / Insider:
LinkedIn grew its editorial team from 75 to 95 journalists in 2021, its Daily Rundown reaches 159M users, and it has a 40-person team that works with creators — - LinkedIn continues to ramp up its editorial arm with 95 journalists that curate business news.
Discussion:
@rafat, Talking Biz News, @mediaevan and @lmoses
Bloomberg:
John Legend sells the rights to his music catalog from late 2004 through early 2021 to BMG and investment firm KKR — - Companies strike deal for copyrights, royalties from his music — High valuations are pushing more and more musicians to sell — John Legend joined the growing list …
Discussion:
@danprimack, Vibe, Variety, Billboard, Music Business Worldwide, Axios, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, New York Post, Music Business Worldwide and Music Ally
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
John Pinette, Meta's VP of Global Communications, leaves the company after overseeing its public relations teams since 2019 — John Pinette ran the company's public relations teams since 2019 — Meta Platforms Inc.'s head of communications said he is leaving the company in a Friday afternoon post …
Discussion:
Reuters, @newley, CNET, @jason_kint, @yoda, @edzitron and @dilipthecherian, more at Techmeme »
Jennifer Pignolet / Akron Beacon Journal:
Akron's The Devil Strip will not be able to restart publication, and board members say they will resign, after an analysis of the co-op's finances and bylaws — The Devil Strip news magazine in Akron will not be able to restart publication after abruptly laying off its entire staff in October …
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @jbenton, Scene and Heard and Media Nation
Politico:
Ruth Shalit Barrett sues The Atlantic for $1M, claiming the magazine defamed her in an editor's note retracting her October 2020 article on niche sports — The mad, mad saga over a controversial 2020 article takes another turn. — A writer whose article was controversially retracted …
Discussion:
The Hill, @joshgerstein and Cathy Young
Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit could go public as soon as March 2022 at a valuation of up to $15B; the company was last valued at $10B in August 2021 — - Social media company could go public as soon as March — Reddit could be valued at as much as $15 billion in listing
Discussion:
Protocol, more at Techmeme »
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India's antitrust watchdog orders an investigation into Google after complaints from news publishers that the company is abusing its news aggregation dominance — India's antitrust watchdog has ordered an investigation into Google following complaints from news publishers who allege that the search giant is …
Discussion:
@justiacom, @chandrarsrikant, Livemint, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, The Indian Express and Reuters
Reuters:
Two journalists were killed in Haiti on Thursday after suspected gang members shot at a group of reporters who arrived to interview the leader of a rival gang — Two Haitian journalists were killed Thursday on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince after suspected gang members opened fire on a group …
Discussion:
CNN, @kylieatwood, The Guardian, LatAm Journalism Review, Al Jazeera, Committee to Protect … and France 24
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
A California court orders Twitter to reveal the identity of a user who tweeted photos mocking a billionaire, after the user didn't respond to a copyright claim — Back in November we wrote about a very bizarre attempt to abuse copyright law to uncover who was behind a Twitter account, @CallMeMoneyBags.
Discussion:
@blackamazon, @rmac18, @mmasnick, @natlseccnslrs and @mmasnick, more at Techmeme »
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