Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
In a letter, Skydance alleges Project Rise Partners, the group behind a late $13.5B rival bid for Paramount, “fraudulently misrepresented” its financing — PRP rep calls Skydance accusations ‘outrageous’ and says group has financial commitments to complete a transaction with Paramount
Discussion:
Deadline, New York Post, MLex, The Wrap and Bloomberg
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
Sources: Concord Music is in the final negotiations to acquire Stem, an LA-based company involved in music distribution, payments, and royalty services — We also hear that Raine Group is in the middle of it.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Digital Music News
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Leaders at US-funded news outlets that broadcast overseas, including Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, say they fear deep budget cuts soon — A month ago, Elon Musk called for Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to be shut down, tweeting …
Discussion:
Michael Sobolik on LinkedIn, @davidfolkenflik and @davidfolkenflik
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Miramax appoints former Village Roadshow executive Alix Jaffe as president of television, reporting to CEO Jonathan Glickman, starting March 31 — She succeeds Marc Helwig who departed the company at the start of 2025 after almost five years. — In her new role, Jaffe …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and TVNewsCheck
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Hamish McKenzie says Substack now has 5M paid subs, up from 4M four months ago and 3M a year ago, with 82% of its top 250 creators posting audio and video often — Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie says that creators jumping ship from ‘mainstream media’ like Jim Acosta, Joy Reid and Mehdi Hasan are a big driver of the growth.
Discussion:
@jimacosta.bsky.social, The Hill and TVNewsCheck
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Financial Times names Chief Commercial Officer Jon Slade as CEO, replacing John Ridding on July 1; Slade manages 75% of the FT Group's £500M annual revenue — Financial Times chief commercial officer Jon Slade has been named as the next CEO of the business, to succeed John Ridding.
Discussion:
@ft, MediaPost, Talking Biz News, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, afaqs! and Financial Times
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google updates Chrome's extension rules to ban affiliate link injection without user action or benefit, after Honey allegedly stole creators' affiliate revenue — Honey was accused of shadily swapping out affiliate links, and now Google has new rules for extensions targeting exactly that.
Discussion:
@zachbussey.bsky.social, @jaypeters.net, 9to5Google and Advisorator, more at Techmeme »
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Spotify says it paid $10B+ in royalties in 2024, “the largest in music history”, making up 60%+ of its $17.13B+ 2024 revenue, with ~1,500 artists earning $1M+ — Company has long drawn ire from musicians who say streaming model does not remunerate them enough
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Billboard, The Guardian, Spotify, The Hollywood Reporter, The Standard, Reuters and The Independent
Sandy Fitzgerald / Newsmax:
Newsmax seeks to raise up to $75M ahead of its public listing on the NYSE, planned for March 31, and says its earlier pre-IPO preferred offering raised $225M — The Securities and Exchange Commission has qualified Newsmax to go public and complete its IPO, said Mark Elenowitz, managing director for Digital Offering LLC.
Discussion:
Newsmax, Newsmax Inc., Newsmax Inc. and Yahoo Finance
Stephen Totilo / Game File:
Mike Verdu, who joined Netflix in 2021 to launch its game offering and took on a new role as VP of Generative AI for games four months ago, has left the company — Mike Verdu, the executive who led Netflix's foray into gaming before changing roles at the company last year, is no longer at Netflix …
Discussion:
Mobilegamer.biz and @stephentotilo.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Business Insider:
SoftBank-backed Jellysmack spins off Jellysmack Originals into a new entity, Blue Foxes, led by ex-Jellysmack Originals VPs; Jellysmack keeps Law&Crime Network — - Creator economy startup Jellysmack has spun off part of its original content business into a new entity.
Adriana Gomez Licon / Associated Press:
The US DHS skipped a fully competitive bid process to give two GOP-tied firms part of a $200M TV ad campaign lauding Trump's fight against illegal immigration — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security skipped a fully competitive bidding process to give two Republican-linked firms …
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