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4:00 PM ET, February 2, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify signs a new multiyear deal with Joe Rogan, estimated to be worth $250M; his show will be available on multiple podcast platforms and YouTube  —  Hit show to be distributed broadly, including on YouTube, rather than exclusively on audio-streaming service
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
The Messenger's flop was the result of Jimmy Finkelstein's blindness to bad ideas, like its traffic-chasing strategy, not a consequence of economic headwinds  —  The flaws in the site's strategy were highly predictable (and repeatedly predicted).  But Jimmy Finkelstein's muddled nostalgia …
RELATED:
The Daily Beast:
Ex-employees of The Messenger file a class-action lawsuit against the shuttered outlet, alleging that it failed to give them proper notice ahead of their firing
Jordan Hoffman / New York Magazine:
A Messenger journalist describes his time working for the outlet, where the expensive offices were empty and reporters were instructed to chase trending topics
Financial Times:
China-based advertisers now account for 10% of Meta's annual revenue and contributed 5 percentage points to its total worldwide revenue growth  —  The US group has benefited from huge but unsustainable outlays from Chinese advertisers  —  Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may be banned in China.
RELATED:
Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Meta reports Q4 revenue up 25% YoY to $40.1B, with ad revenue of $38.7B, ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps up 21%, and average ad price up 2%
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Amazon spending on content rose 14% YoY to $18.9B in 2023 despite Hollywood strikes  —  While other media companies have been paring back content spending, Amazon shelled out more than $2 billion more in 2023 for TV shows, movies and music than it did a year earlier.
RELATED:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon Q4: ad revenue up 27% YoY to $14.7B, vs. $14.2B est., subscription revenue up 14% YoY to $10.5B, and North America segment sales up 13% YoY to $105.5B
Will Sommer / Washington Post:
The WSJ lays off ~30 staffers as it restructures its DC bureau and shutters the US-China news team; laid-off staffers will be allowed to apply for some new jobs  —  The Wall Street Journal took a hatchet to its Washington bureau on Thursday, laying off roughly 20 staffers in a restructuring …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against WWE co-founder Vince McMahon since 2022  —  Authorities have been interviewing women who accuse longtime WWE boss of sexual misconduct  —  Federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault …
Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:
Diamond Sports strikes a deal to continue broadcasting Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers games through the upcoming MLB season  —  - Broadcaster's deals with three MLB clubs runs through 2024  — Diamond said agreements averts potential fan disruption
Marc Schneider / Billboard:
Merck Mercuriadis is stepping down as CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management and will be replaced by Ben Katovsky, the company's current president and COO  —  Mercuriadis will transition to chairman, with Ben Katovsky rising to chief executive as the advisor eyes smoother relations with its publicly listed royalty fund.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Local newsletter company 6AM City raised a $10M Series A led by Tegna; news and weather from Tegna stations will be included in 6AM newsletters in some markets  —  Local newsletter company 6AM City has raised more than $10 million in series A funding round led by local broadcaster Tegna, Axios has learned.
Dexter Thomas / Wired:
Q&A with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on the company's music festival in Mesa, AZ, his background, TikTok and music, music labels, US scrutiny, moderation, and more  —  A few weeks ago, Shou Zi Chew sat down with WIRED to tell us how he's trying to make TikTok better.
Kevin T. Dugan / New York Magazine:
Interviews with shareholders and current and ex-employees suggest that SI's publisher Arena missed the licensing payment by choice, not because it lacked money  —  At about 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 25, the board of the media conglomerate the Arena Group met after the company had blown up its license to publish Sports Illustrated.
Discussion: @jayshams and @leomschwartz
RELATED:
Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
Sources: an Arena executive ordered SI to remove a transgender boxing story from a print issue; SI says the story was no longer newsy and will be posted online
 
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Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Highlights from Netflix's press event: a push for live programming, no planned theatrical releases, licensing content from others won't impact originals, more
 

 
From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November
 
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