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Morning Brew co-founder Austin Rief steps down as CEO, replaced by COO Robert Dippell; the company is on pace to generate $70M+ in revenue in 2025 — The 10-year-old company, now wholly owned by Axel Springer, has transformed its newsletter business into a multimedia portfolio

The AP says it was blocked from a White House event after the WH threatened to bar the organization if it did not adopt Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico — The Associated Press issued this statement on Tuesday from Executive Editor Julie Pace: — As a global news organization …
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WWE CEO Vince McMahon's lawyer says US federal prosecutors dropped a criminal probe into whether McMahon tried to cover up sexual misconduct allegations — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have dropped a criminal probe that focused on whether former World Wrestling Entertainment boss Vince McMahon tried …


Sources: ESPN and the NFL are in renewed negotiations and have discussed a deal that would have ESPN take control of NFL Network and NFL RedZone — Once again, ESPN and the NFL are in renewed negotiations for the former to take on the latter's media assets. What's changed since the last time these dance partners played footsie?
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News and Barrett Media


Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch says Fox and Tubi brought in $800M+ in advertising sales for the presentation of Super Bowl LIX — In addition to the record 127.7 million viewers for the game, Kendrick Lamar's performance was the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history.
Discussion:
Adweek, The Wrap, Variety, Bloomberg, Media Play News, @archroadkill.bsky.social, WORLD SCREEN, Deadline, The Japan Times, Decider, Forbes, Los Angeles Times and Awful Announcing


Sources: more than 20 Observer journalists have taken redundancy, capped at £120,000 per person, and 46 staffers are transferring over to Tortoise Media — More than 20 Observer journalists are believed to have taken redundancy rather than transfer over to Tortoise Media.
Discussion:
@katebevan.com


Amazon Prime Video, which already has NFL Thursday Night Football, plans to add the NBA in the fall and NASCAR in 2025, showing premier live sports year-round — The tech giant will add NBA and NASCAR rights this year, setting up to have premier live sports year-round, and it intends to capitalize on it.

In a letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, FCC Chair Brendan Carr says he is opening a probe into Comcast and NBCUniversal, particularly over “promotion of DEI” — Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr is seeking to open an investigation into Comcast and NBCUniversal's diversity …


A study of paywalls on 21 German and Austrian local and regional news sites in 2022: less is more for teaser features, and discounts are an effective enticement — “Reducing the information density of teaser elements on paywalled articles and offering discounts may help newspapers increase their online subscriber numbers."
Discussion:
@neilthurman.bsky.social and Simon Owens's Media Newsletter


The National Trust for Local News, which bought 20+ Maine newspapers in 2023, is facing persistent losses and executives say they can't rule out layoffs — The Maine newspaper group has been hit with persistent financial losses — When the nonprofit National Trust for Local News acquired …
Discussion:
@joshuabenton.com, @aidanryan.bsky.social and Media Nation


IAC reports Dotdash Meredith's Q4 revenue up 10% YoY to $522.1M and plans to ramp up monetization efforts after Dotdash traffic grew 80% in 2024 — Company aims to complete its spin off of Angi by the end of March — IAC is ready to move on from home-services company Angi …
Discussion:
A Media Operator and Reuters


Sources: Les Echos-Le Parisien no longer plans to sue X, refraining from a lawsuit with other French papers accusing X of running content without compensation — LVMH-owned newspaper group Les Echos-Le Parisien is not party to a lawsuit involving French media against Elon Musk's X …
Discussion:
@gabstargardter