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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 …
Discussion:
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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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Euromaidan Press, The Desk, The NewsGuild, Ilann Maazel on LinkedIn, US District Court, Southern District of New York, Deadline, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @brianstelter.bsky.social, Roll Call and New York Daily News
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:
TVNewsCheck, The Guardian, Variety, @glennemartin, Mock Paper Scissors, Reuters, New York Times, Associated Press, Hunter Walk, @heyjoemedia, @glennemartin, @tomaxwell, @sarafischer, @dsafavianesq, @sbyrnes, UPI, Bloomberg, Columbia Journalism Review, Mediaite, The Independent, The Wrap, NBC News, Deadline, Newser, Axios, @samblum.bsky.social, @KimPerales@toad.social and Defector
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.
Discussion:
@brendancarrfcc, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, The Post Millennial, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Desk, New York Times, Mediaite, Forbes, @mrjoncryer.bsky.social, Associated Press, CNN, The Hill, Fox Business, Axios, Los Angeles Times, Media Play News, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News, Deadline, @christopherterry.bsky.social, Financial Times, @romitmehta.com, NBC News, Reuters, New York Post, Variety, Bloomberg, @jgo4justice.bsky.social, @fednews.bsky.social, @businessinsider.com, @pkafka.bsky.social, Inside Radio, The Hollywood Reporter and TVNewsCheck
Hamish McKenzie / @hamishmckenzie:
Hamish McKenzie says Substack is partnering with FIRE to support “writers residing lawfully” in the US targeted by the government for their writing — We are partnering with @TheFIREorg to stand up for free speech in the face of recent government actions against critics of U.S. foreign policy. We will work to protect writers who are targeted in this way. [image]
Discussion:
@zaidjilani, @kelseytuoc, @adhaque110, @mazmhussain, @heavyredaction, @mattyglesias and @clairlemon
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
World History Encyclopedia, the second most visited history site, says its traffic fell 25% in Nov. 2024 after AI search tools began presenting its information — World History Encyclopedia CEO Jan van der Crabben saw his site show up in Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Then traffic dropped 25%.
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 …
Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
QVC lays off ~900 employees, or ~5% of its workforce, after consolidating operations with HSN earlier in 2025, as QVC pivots to “a live social shopping company” — The layoffs come as part of a reorganization for the QVC Group after consolidating with rival network HSN earlier this year
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:
Variety, Press Association, Screen Rant, Arab News, @kimmasters.bsky.social, The Independent, The Wrap, Deadline, Raw Story, IndieWire, Oh No They Didn't! and The Ankler
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.
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
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 …
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