Mediagazer: Sources: Paramount plans to announce an agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR as soon as August 7, valuing Simon & Schuster at ~$1.62B (New York Times)

4:05 PM ET, August 7, 2023

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New York Times:

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Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:

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Jon Henley / The Guardian:

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Mia Sato / The Verge:

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New York Times:

Sources: Paramount plans to announce an agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR as soon as August 7, valuing Simon & Schuster at ~$1.62B — The deal with KKR, a private equity firm, is said to be valued at roughly $1.62 billion, and could be announced as soon as Monday.

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Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:

RedBird IMI, led by CEO Jeff Zucker, makes its first media investment in EverWonder, a new non-fiction content studio led by former Time Studios COO Ian Orefice — The ex-Time Studios chief says that EverWonder Studio will be hiring journalists and filmmakers, with an eye toward content that could launch new IP or brand extensions.

Discussion: The Wrap, Yahoo Finance, @lmoses, @kerrymflynn, @alexweprin and @danprimack

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

UK broadcast regulator Ofcom launches four impartiality investigations into GB News, after upholding two Mark Steyn COVID-19 coverage complaints earlier in 2023 — Broadcaster faces four Ofcom investigations over impartiality. — GB News is facing four new impartiality investigations from broadcast regulator Ofcom.

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Sara Fischer / Axios:

Comscore: Barbie earns $1B+ in worldwide box office sales 17 days after its release, becoming the first movie solely directed by a woman to cross the threshold — “Barbie” has earned more than $1 billion in worldwide box office sales, according to Comscore.

Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:

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Reuters:

Elon Musk claims X will fund the legal bills of people who have been “unfairly treated” by their employer “due to posting or liking something on this platform” — Elon Musk has said his X social media platform will fund the legal bills of people who have been treated unfairly …

Richard Lawler / The Verge:
X delays its Ads Revenue Sharing program's payouts that were set for the week of July 31, saying the volume of people signing up “has exceeded our expectations”

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Khadijah Khogeer / NBC News:

Journalists at Vancouver-based IndigiNews and Ontario-based The Sarnia Journal say Meta's news block is reducing their sites' visitors and hurting their outlets — Meta recently began blocking news from Instagram and Facebook in Canada in response to the Online News Act.

Discussion: @tehuti88

Canadian Association of Broadcasters:
North American broadcasters say Meta's news ban in Canada is “monopolistic” and urge lawmakers to support rules letting publishers negotiate with tech platforms

Discussion: New York Times, Next TV, Inside Radio, Radio & Television … and RADIO ONLINE

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