Mediagazer: Court docs reveal Vice's financial struggles and fundraising history; Vice held $834M in debt in May 2023, raising $1.3B+ in debt and equity funding since 2017 (Mark Stenberg/Adweek)

3:20 AM ET, July 25, 2023

Top News:

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

The much-hyped “Barbenheimer” opening weekend netted $155M for Barbie and $80.5M for Oppenheimer, for $300M in total in the US and Canada for just the 4th time — The much-hyped “Barbenheimer” box office battle over the weekend proved to be a win for movie theaters that needed to add some sizzle to their summer.

Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Q&A with Josh Goldstine, Warner Bros. president of global marketing, on Barbie's marketing campaign, which rival studio execs estimate to have cost ~$150M

Discussion: Insider, The Wrap, UPROXX, New York Times and Screen Rant

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Twitter rolls out its updated “interim” X logo, replacing the iconic bird, following Elon Musk's weekend announcement; X.com now redirects to twitter.com — Twitter has removed the iconic bird logo and adopted ‘X’ as its official logo. This move comes after Elon Musk announced the change over the weekend.

Discussion: @elonmusk, @lindayacc, @elonmusk, The Verge, New York Times, @lindayacc, CNN, NBC News, Fast Company, Insider, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Bloomberg, @chafkin, @martingrasser, NPR, CNBC, CNN, @lindayacc, Forrester, @lindayacc, @espiers, Variety, @rmac18, Engadget, Fortune, TIME, @mrerikjackson, The Hill, KNSD-TV, Vibe, @mollyjongfast, New York Post, @rmac18, @lindayacc, @mabintou, Mother Jones, @jack, The Guardian, Digital Journal, CBS News, Us Weekly, PRWeek, @valueterminal, Gizmodo, @mikeisaac, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, @wagatwe, New York Magazine, @ivanthek, The Daily Beast, @elonmusk, @rmac18, Ars Technica, @carnage4life@threads.net, MediaPost, Poynter, The Register, @news_by_nick, @tomgara, Slate, ABC4 Utah, Fox News, Agence France-Presse, New York Daily News, KGET-TV, Global News, Complete Music Update, Hollywood Life, Sydney Morning Herald, @levie, @tomcoates, @tedlieu, @jdcmedlock, @elonmuskaoc, @emilcdc, @bendreyfuss, @yosephpaulos, @jamestobyne, @karaswisher, @loupas, @jujuujba, @benedictevans, @killedbygoogle, Insider, New York Post, The Guardian, New Republic, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Slate, @carnage4life@mas.to, @parkerortolani@threads.net, Times of San Diego, Ad Age, Boing Boing, The A.V. Club, UPROXX, The Week, Consequence, Forbes, Vanity Fair, Metro.co.uk, The Wrap, Billboard, Digital Music News and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Spotify confirms raising US Premium to $10.99/month, up from $9.99, the first increase since its US launch in 2011; Duo rises by $2, Family and Student by $1 — After 12 years, the price of Spotify Premium is increasing in the US. The subscription will now cost $10.99 a month, the company announced today.

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

TikTok rolls out support for text posts, available via the app's Camera page and letting users add sounds, locations, stickers, and more — As Twitter shoots itself in the foot with a rebrand this morning, TikTok has announced that it's rolling out support for text posts.

Jean Yamamura / The Santa Barbara Independent:

The Santa Barbara News-Press, which has published a paper since 1868 and received a Pulitzer, ceases publication and files for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy — Publisher Ampersand Claims Few Assets and Many Creditors — More than 150 years of history ended on Friday when the Santa Barbara News …

David Folkenflik / NPR:

NPR names Edith Chapin as its SVP for news and editor-in-chief; she's been serving in the position on an acting basis since fall 2022, after joining NPR in 2012 — NPR has moved to shore up its leadership at a time of significant transition, naming veteran news leader Edith Chapin …

Discussion: Current, @isalara, @davidfolkenflik, @elbordeaux, @vivian, @greenfield64 and The Wrap

Brian Merchant / Los Angeles Times:

Studio executives embraced Silicon Valley's magical thinking of hypergrowth and disruption for the past 10 years, only to slash worker pay as the boom times end — In one respect, the actors and writers of Hollywood uniting on the picket lines in a historic, industry-shaking strike is a tale as old as time …

Discussion: @andrewbucholtz, @olaasm, @adamconover, @bcmerchant, @ben@werd.social, @rodhilton@mastodon.social, @incitatus@mastodonapp.uk, @carnage4life@mas.to and @peter@thepit.social

Washington Post:
South Korean and Indian filmmakers are hoping the Hollywood strikes will give them more bargaining power with US streaming services and a precedent to follow

Discussion: @jintakhan

Catherine Perloff / Adweek:

Mailchimp owner Intuit is launching SMB MediaLabs, which lets advertisers target QuickBooks' 7.1M customers on social media, online publishers, CTV, and more — Targeting QuickBooks' customers across digital media is a promising new revenue line — Financial services giant Intuit …

Discussion: Intuit SMB MediaLabs, @lefterisjp, @catherineperlo1, @johnathanbarnes and @sean_kaushal

Sports Business Journal:

Sources: MLS Season Pass is nearing 1M subs including season-ticket holders; team execs say they are frustrated due to lack of transparency in viewership stats — Apple's Eddy Cue began speaking to a room filled with MLS owners and executives last week in Washington, D.C. …

Discussion: @turnersavesthat, @GreenFire@mstdn.social, Awful Announcing, @worldsoccertalk, The Streamable, @tvanswerman, @alexmsilverman, 9to5Mac, @griffin_author, @tvgrimreaper, @zone_nhl, @jheaps4 and @usmnt_thoughts

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Court docs reveal Vice's financial struggles and fundraising history; Vice held $834M in debt in May 2023, raising $1.3B+ in debt and equity funding since 2017 — New documents reveal a yearslong slide into increasing financial desperation — The digital media company Vice filed …

Discussion: Media Voices, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, @markstenberg3 and @adamry_n

Washington Post:

Mandiant: a Chinese PR firm used newswire services to place pro-Beijing content on the subdomains of 32+ US news outlets, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Welcome to The Cybersecurity 202! Tim here. If you're remotely interested in boxing, or maybe even if you aren't, you'll definitely want to be watching Saturday night.

Discussion: @nakashimae, @nakashimae, CNN, @nakashimae, @nakashimae, @ericgarland, @heminator and Mandiant

New York Times:

Sources: Altice USA is exploring a sale and other strategic options for Cheddar News; Altice USA acquired the streaming news network for $200M in 2019 — Rebranding the social network as X marks the billionaire's latest gamble to reinvent the company, after buying it last year for $44 billion.

Discussion: @bmorrissey, @tomgara, @dannygroner, Semafor, @ryanvailbrown, @benmullin, @seangriffey, The Wrap, @scottnover, Insider and @sherman4949

Washington Post:

The previous big strikes reshaped Hollywood and fueled reality TV's rise; the current ones will likely turn established actors into TikTok stars and vice versa — The last big strikes reshaped the movie business and fueled the rise of reality TV. The latest walkout likely …

Discussion: Digiday, Brightcove, Rolling Stone, The Information, Study Hall, Foreign Policy and Deadline

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:20 AM ET, July 25, 2023.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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:

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph Media Group reports 2022 revenues up 4% YoY to £254.2M, digital subscription revenue up 31% YoY to £57.9M, and subscriptions up 2% YoY to 734K

Discussion: The Guardian, Reuters, Financial Times, London Evening Standard, Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, The Times and @guardiannews

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Sources: Disney is reviewing its film release schedule for the rest of 2023 and may delay some titles because striking actors won't help promote the pictures

Discussion: Comic Book, @tvgrimreaper and @bart_smith

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Internal memo: WBD President of International TV Distribution Robert Blair plans to leave the company after 25 years due to a “necessary structural change”

Discussion: @jelmes_tv, @variety, Broadcast, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Cord Cutters News

BBC:
BBC newsreader George Alagiah, who joined the broadcaster as a foreign correspondent in 1989 and presented BBC News at Six for the past 20 years, dies at 67

Discussion: The Guardian, BBC, @markaustintv, @bbcpress, @chrisckmedia, @nickbryantny, @scottygb, @sarfrazmanzoor, @mariannaspring, @sangitamyska, @clairehopkin.bsky.social, @johnsimpsonnews, @pressgazette, @rhonddabryant, @mrneilmorrow, Variety, Sky News and Press Gazette

Earlier Picks:

Natalie Pressman / CBC News:
Canada's smaller news outlets, like Cabin Radio, the Northwest Territories' only entirely-online news organization, worry about the Online News Act's impact

Discussion: @gregorytaylor1

Patrick Sykes / Bloomberg:
Turkish shows, initially made for domestic audiences, are at the forefront of state broadcaster TRT's global expansion, as Turkey tries to extend its soft power

Ben Smith / Semafor:
Sources: IAC, News Corp, the NYT, and other publishers are forming a coalition to push for AI laws and lead a lawsuit against AI firms who trained on their data

Discussion: The Overspill, @ernie@writing.exchange, @moorehn, @adamkovac, @natfriedman, @michaelgreshko, @_zeets, @hingumtringum, @sirdigalot, @mediaevan, @natfriedman, @jl_zamith and Vanity Fair

Brian Veseling / WAN-IFRA:
A look at Argentina's Clarín, which has 30M monthly readers and 700K subscribers, as the outlet looks to diversify their offerings and expand into other markets

From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft releases the first beta preview of its Recall AI feature for Copilot+ PCs, including Click to Do, a feature similar to Google's Circle to Search

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A UK CMA report finds that Apple's policies hold back innovation in mobile browsers and recommends investigating Apple and Google's mobile ecosystem activities

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