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4:15 PM ET, March 12, 2025

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 Top News: 
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Bill Simmons says he has agreed to a new Spotify contract and will continue his show for at least two years; he'll also serve as Spotify's head of talk strategy  —  Bill Simmons is sticking around at Spotify.  —  The podcast host and media executive said in a statement Wednesday …
Ruth Marcus / New Yorker:
Ruth Marcus explains why she quit WaPo, not wanting to tell readers “what Jeff Bezos thinks I should think”, and publishes her spiked column in The New Yorker  —  Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where I worked for forty years.
Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
Food delivery startup Wonder acquires the media company Tastemade, sources say for around $90M, the latest step in its effort to create a mealtime “super app”  —  Wonder CEO Marc Lore hopes the company will one day offer AI-powered autonomous food ordering for all three meals of the day
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Sources: the BBC plans to ask the UK government to take on the full costs of the World Service to counter Russia's and China's “aggressive” disinformation drive  —  Ministers must cover full costs of championing western values abroad, senior BBC figures to argue
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.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Sources: Sonos has abandoned plans to release a streaming video player, which was set to be the company's major hardware launch in 2025  —  The device, codenamed Pinewood, was set to be the company's major hardware launch in 2025. … Sonos has abandoned plans to release a streaming video player …
Jacob Gallagher / New York Times:
A profile of fashion magazine i-D, acquired by model Karlie Kloss in 2023; EIC Thom Bettridge aims to restore “the spirit of what it was but for right now”  —  The art and fashion worlds convened at Rick Owens's austere Left Bank house to celebrate the relaunch of Karlie Kloss's i-D Magazine.
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The Guardian agrees to pay Spectator Associate Editor Douglas Murray “substantial” damages for a column's claim Murray spoke in favor of far-right summer riots  —  An Observer writer inaccurately claimed comments made by Murray in 2023 had referred to the 2024 riots.
Laura Wagner / Washington Post:
A profile of NPR reporter Anas Baba, who has spent 17 months in Gaza, one of the few journalists working full-time with a US news organization to remain in Gaza  —  The Palestinian journalist said it's his calling to stay in his native land and report on what happens.
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Spotify appears to have removed Andrew Tate's “pimping hoes” class; internal communications show some Spotify employees complained about offering the course  —  Some Spotify employees are not happy that the audio streaming giant was, until this week, hosting and profiting from a course about …
 
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 More News: 
Derrick Bryson Taylor / New York Times:
Netflix signs a deal with comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who angered people with insults about minority groups at a Trump rally, in a bid to appeal to Trump voters
Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Adam Bhala Lough, director of Deepfaking Sam Altman, in which he talks with an entity based on an LLM of Altman, after Altman declined an interview
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
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+
 Earlier Picks: 
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
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
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy
 
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