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7:50 PM ET, January 4, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Sources: The Messenger made ~$3M in revenue in 2023 and told potential investors it had $1.8M in cash on hand at the end of December after losing ~$38M in 2023  —  The company, which debuted last year with big plans to disrupt journalism, generated only $3 million in revenue by the end of December.
Discussion: @royprice and @benmullin
RELATED:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: conservative media and business execs met with Jimmy Finkelstein at Mar-a-Lago on January 3 to discuss acquiring a 51% stake in The Messenger for $30M  —  A group of conservative media and business executives met with The Messenger founder Jimmy Finkelstein on Wednesday to discuss acquiring …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: The Messenger is seeking to raise around $20M amid layoffs and financial struggles; it launched in 2023 after a $50M raise
Om Malik / On my Om:
The decline of Wired, once a magazine that inspired hope in technology's future, illustrates a broader loss of necessary optimism among tech writing communities  —  On January 2nd, 1993, Wired burst onto the scene, and let me tell you, it transformed the way many of us looked at technology and its impact on our future.
The Information:
Sources: OpenAI offered some media firms $1M to $5M per year to license news articles for model training; Apple offers more but wants to use content more widely  —  OpenAI has offered some media firms as little as between $1 million and $5 million annually to license their news articles …
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Sources: Jamie Stockwell, who had been Axios Local executive editor, will oversee Washington Post local coverage, replacing Mike Semel, who has been promoted  —  Jamie Stockwell previously oversaw Axios Local's expansion to dozens of metro regions.  —  Jamie Stockwell, who was the executive editor …
RELATED:
Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
Sources: Axios names Holly Moore as Axios Local executive editor, replacing Jamie Stockwell; staff were told local ad revenue rose 40% in 2023  —  Scoop: Holly Moore — formerly of USA Today and currently head of local innovation Hub for Axios —named exec ed for local. Jamie Stockwell, current exec editor, leaving for a new gig. Staff told eight cities now have 100,000 (unpaid) subs. Local ad revenue was up 40% last year.
Discussion: @jmhaigh
Andrew Marchand / New York Post:
YES and MSG Network partner to launch Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment, a 50/50 venture that aims to capitalize on their streaming services  —  YES and MSG Network are partnering on a new venture that eventually could lead to a direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers the Yankees …
Ralph D. Russo / Associated Press:
The NCAA and ESPN announce a $920M, eight-year agreement that will give ESPN rights to 40 championships, including the Division I women's basketball tournament  —  The NCAA and ESPN announced on Thursday a $920 million, eight-year agreement that will give the network exclusive rights to 40 championships …
Wall Street Journal:
As Google restricts third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users, marketers, adtech companies, and publishers say Google has not done enough to prepare the market  —  Search giant plans to remove a technology seen as critical to the digital-ad industry  —  Google is going forward …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
VideoAmp founder Ross McCray steps down as CEO as the company prepares to lay off nearly a fifth of its staff; Peter Liguori will serve as executive chairman  —  The founder of VideoAmp, a measurement-technology start-up that has been vying with Nielsen and others to create a new means …
Discussion: Ad Age
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Amazon names Jeremy Helfand vice president and head of sales for Prime Video; he had been EVP for advertising for Disney's interactive businesses  —  Amazon has tapped a Disney veteran to lead its new push into the streaming ad wars.  —  Jeremy Helfand, who rose from a position at Hulu …
Discussion: Adweek, Ad Age, The Information and The Wrap
 
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 More News: 
Bloomberg:
Sources: TikTok aims to grow TikTok Shop US' merchandise volume tenfold to $17.5B in 2024 and plans to increase merchant fees to 6% of each sale in April 2024
 Earlier Picks: 
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
BOA analysis: Amazon's video ad push will boost annual revenue by up to $5B, comprising $3B in video ad sales and $1.8B in Prime users paying to avoid ads
Discussion: The Motley Fool
Kari Paul / The Guardian:
Q&A with Jacob Bakkila, who ran the popular @Horse_ebooks Twitter account for two years, on the inspirations behind the language bot, AI chatbots, and more
more at Techmeme »
 

 
From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Polymarket says the FBI seized CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics; source: the DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly accepting bets from US users

Ramish Zafar / Wccftech:
AMD says it will lay off ~4% of its global staff to align “resources with our largest growth opportunities”; SEC filing: AMD had 26,000 employees at 2023's end

Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI plans to launch a new AI agent codenamed Operator, which can use a computer to take actions on a person's behalf, in January
 
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