Mediagazer: Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut plans to step down as CEO after 21 years and transition to a founder-advisor role; Intuit's Rania Succar will take over (Eric Mandel/Atlanta Business Journal)

8:40 PM ET, August 11, 2022

Top News:

Scott Deveau / Bloomberg:

Activist investor ValueAct Capital takes a 7% stake in The New York Times and urges an aggressive rollout of subscriber-only bundles; NYT's stock jumps 10%+ — Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management has built a new position in the New York Times Co., contending the iconic newspaper company …

Discussion: New York Times, Financial Times, @espiers, @newsynick, Wall Street Journal, @felixsalmon, @bernstein and CNBC

Twitter:

Twitter outlines its Civic Integrity Policy ahead of the US midterm elections, including state-specific hubs featuring local news and better account protections — Twitter is the place to find real-time, reliable information about the 2022 midterms - whether you're looking for breaking news from reporters …

Discussion: @twittersafety, New York Post, @shayan86, CNN, The Hill, CNET, Gizmodo, Engadget, @michaelmalice, Reclaim The Net, @donie, @levinejonathan, @w7voa, @tedcruz, @digiphile, @twittersafety, Mediaite, @bretweinstein and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

While Disney has more streaming subscribers than Netflix, Disney+'s US and Canada ARPU was $6.27/month in its Q3, vs. Netflix's ARPU of $15.95/month in its Q2 — But the value of those subscriber bases is much different. — Domestically, for example, Disney+ generated about 39% …

Discussion: Axios, The Walt Disney Company, SlashFilm, @xpangler and Associated Press

Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney lowers its Disney+ subscriber forecast to between 135M and 165M by 2024, and separates its Disney+ Hotstar subscriber guidance, aiming to hit 80M by 2024

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Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
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Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which owns the streaming service Crackle, completes its acquisition of Redbox in a $375M all-stock deal — The acquisition bolsters the combined entity's presence in the fast-growing ad-supported streaming space. — Crackle streaming service owner …

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Nieman Lab:

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Discussion: @niemanlab, @emilybell, @journo_dale and @supriyadwivedi

Asif Shahzad / Reuters:

Pakistan's interior minister says TV channel ARY TV will face sedition charges for airing comments made by an adviser of former Prime Minister Imran Khan — A close aide to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan and a local media house will face sedition charges, accused of inciting mutiny …

Discussion: Al Jazeera

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Fox Entertainment plans to expand its free, ad-supported streaming service Tubi to Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama later in August 2022 — Fox Entertainment's Tubi is upping its free-streaming game in Latin America, set to launch in five countries in the region later this month.

Discussion: Media Play News

Rasha Al Aqeedi / New Lines Magazine:

Veteran Iraqi actress and talk show host Enas Taleb plans to sue The Economist for using her picture as an example of “fat” Arab women in a July 28, 2022 story — The British newspaper ran a story about the epidemic of obesity among Arab women and used the photo of Enas Taleb to illustrate the phenomenon

Discussion: BBC, @leloveluck, @newlinesmag, @amadfarouki, @_amroali, @rashaalaqeedi, VICE, Arab News, Daily Mail, Deadline, Newser and New York Post

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

Fortune, Bloomberg, Forbes, Gizmodo, and Money are growing their dedicated blockchain and crypto teams, even amid a bear market, to better explain the tech — The week the cryptocurrency market crashed in mid-June, Fortune sent Jeff Roberts an offer to become its crypto editor and oversee building a team of reporters.

Discussion: TechCrunch and @jeffjohnroberts

Financial Times:

A look at livestreamed e-commerce, already mature and established in China, which TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Amazon, and others want to bring to the US and Europe — Manrika Khaira regularly broadcasts live on TikTok to her following of more than half a million people.

Discussion: @anjliraval, @cristinacriddle, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, @astaniscia86, @liahaberman, @mattnavarra and @richlightshed, more at Techmeme »

Eric Mandel / Atlanta Business Journal:

Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut plans to step down as CEO after 21 years and transition to a founder-advisor role; Intuit's Rania Succar will take over — Managing Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle — See Correction/Clarification at end of article — Ben Chestnut is stepping …

more at Techmeme »

Jason Nelson / Decrypt:

Mailchimp cracks down on newsletters from crypto-related content creators, suspending the accounts of crypto wallet Edge, intelligence firm Messari, and Decrypt — The email marketing platform Mailchimp has been suspending the accounts of crypto-related content creators and media outlets this week.

Discussion: CoinDesk, Waivly, @decryptmedia and @readdanwrite, more at Techmeme »

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