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CNBC:
Elon Musk says xAI acquired X in an all-stock deal valuing xAI at $80B and X at $33B; xAI was reportedly in talks to raise funds in February at a $75B valuation — Elon Musk said on Friday that his startup xAI has merged with X, his social network, in an all-stock transaction that values …
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
A US district court judge issues a temporary restraining order halting the Trump administration's efforts to close Voice of America, in a lawsuit by VOA staff — A federal judge sided with silenced Voice of America journalists on Friday, the latest setback for President Trump's push to shut …
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
In a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, FCC Chair Brendan Carr says the FCC is opening an investigation into DEI practices of Disney and ABC — - Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, is now investigating Disney over its DEI practices.
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Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump commutes the criminal fraud sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson, shortly before Watson was due to begin serving a 116-month prison term — President Donald Trump commuted the criminal sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson on Friday, just hours before Watson was due …
Discussion:
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Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Guardian US expects $44M in donations in the US and Canada in 2025, up 33% YoY; contributions make up 60% of revenue, which exceeded costs by $16M in 2024 — There was a time in media when having a billionaire owner was an asset. For many outlets, this is still the case …
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: the Los Angeles Times has laid off dozens of employees on the business side this week, including VP of Communications Hillary Manning — The newspaper slashed dozens of business-side staffers this week—including its longtime chief spokesperson—in a painful new round of cuts, Status has learned.
Discussion:
Breitbart, @pinemikey.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and @passantino.bsky.social
Washington Post:
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg says the Trump administration's lies regarding Signal chats on Yemen attack plans prompted him to reveal the texts — The Trump administration tried to paint the veteran journalist as a liar, so he felt compelled to prove them wrong — and he had the receipts.
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Google will pay $100M in cash to settle a 2011 lawsuit accusing the company of charging for clicks on ads outside the geographic areas the advertisers targeted — Google has agreed to pay $100 million in cash to settle a long-running lawsuit claiming it overcharged advertisers by failing …
Discussion:
MediaPost and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Carly Thomas / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Academy apologizes for not publicly supporting Hamdan Ballal, co-director of Oscar-winning No Other Land, after his assault and arrest in the West Bank — Filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was reportedly beaten and detained earlier this week after a conflict in the West Bank.
Discussion:
Screen Rant, The Wrap, Variety, Arab News, The Independent, Deadline, Raw Story, IndieWire, Oh No They Didn't! and The Ankler
Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:
Adalytics: DoubleVerify, IAS, and Human Security, paid by advertisers to detect bots, regularly miss such traffic; DoubleVerify missed 21% of bot visits — Companies that claim to help brands avoid serving digital ads to bots regularly miss nonhuman traffic
Kate Lamb / The Guardian:
Amid increasing intimidation of journalists in Indonesia, journalists working for Tempo, an outlet critical of the government, received dead animals as threats — Grisly gifts a worrying turn for press freedom in world's third-largest democracy — Warning: some readers may find an image in this story distressing
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
A look at AI-generated fake movie trailers on YouTube; WBD, Paramount, and Sony have earned ad revenue from some videos instead of defending their copyright — Cut to Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor watching on and Milly Alcock's Supergirl levitating into view. “They are not from here,” Luthor intones in an ominous voiceover.
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