Mediagazer: Mike Verdu, who joined Netflix in 2021 to launch its game offering and took on a new role as VP of Generative AI for games four months ago, has left the company (Stephen Totilo/Game File)

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Financial Times names Chief Commercial Officer Jon Slade as CEO, replacing John Ridding on July 1; Slade manages 75% of the FT Group's £500M annual revenue — Financial Times chief commercial officer Jon Slade has been named as the next CEO of the business, to succeed John Ridding.

Discussion: MediaPost, @ft, Talking Biz News, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, afaqs! and Financial Times

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Q&A with WSJ Publisher and Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour on WSJ cutting tech reporting, the content deal with OpenAI, WSJ opinion pages, press freedom, and more — Today, I'm talking with Almar Latour, who is the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and CEO of its parent company Dow Jones …

Discussion: Daring Fireball, Talking Biz News and @reckless.bsky.social

Stephen Totilo / Game File:

Mike Verdu, who joined Netflix in 2021 to launch its game offering and took on a new role as VP of Generative AI for games four months ago, has left the company — Mike Verdu, the executive who led Netflix's foray into gaming before changing roles at the company last year, is no longer at Netflix …

more at Techmeme »

Sandy Fitzgerald / Newsmax:

Newsmax seeks to raise up to $75M ahead of its public listing on the NYSE, planned for March 31, and says its earlier pre-IPO preferred offering raised $225M — The Securities and Exchange Commission has qualified Newsmax to go public and complete its IPO, said Mark Elenowitz, managing director for Digital Offering LLC.

Discussion: Newsmax, Newsmax Inc., Newsmax Inc. and Yahoo Finance

Liam Reilly / CNN:

A Florida circuit court judge denies the Pulitzer Board's request to pause a defamation lawsuit by Trump until he is out of office — New York CNN — — A Florida circuit judge on Monday denied the Pulitzer Board's request to pause a defamation lawsuit from Donald Trump until the president is out of office.

Discussion: The Washington Free Beacon, Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court, Bloomberg Government, @unbonfromage.bsky.social, Press Enterprise, The Hill, @unbonfromage.bsky.social and Fox News

Adriana Gomez Licon / Associated Press:

The US DHS skipped a fully competitive bid process to give two GOP-tied firms part of a $200M TV ad campaign lauding Trump's fight against illegal immigration — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security skipped a fully competitive bidding process to give two Republican-linked firms …

Discussion: MSNBC, @retiredsurgassist.bsky.social, @keithboykin.bsky.social, @lolagaylec.bsky.social, @kenvogel.bsky.social and @acyn

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:

Miramax appoints former Village Roadshow executive Alix Jaffe as president of television, reporting to CEO Jonathan Glickman, starting March 31 — She succeeds Marc Helwig who departed the company at the start of 2025 after almost five years. — In her new role, Jaffe …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and TVNewsCheck

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:

Sources: Concord Music is in the final negotiations to acquire Stem, an LA-based company involved in music distribution, payments, and royalty services — We also hear that Raine Group is in the middle of it.

Discussion: Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

A number of top YouTube creators and creator platform Spotter will host an upfront-style event on March 27, unveiling content slates, audience data, and more — MrBeast, Colin & Samir, Ryan Trahan and Dude Perfect are among the creators expected to unveil content slates at the first Spotter Showcase event later this month.

Discussion: Tubefilter, Danielle Moore on LinkedIn, Aaron DeBevoise on LinkedIn, Ad Age and TVNewsCheck

James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney+ and Lucasfilm bring Andor season one to Hulu and the first three episodes to the Disney+ YouTube channel for free, ahead of Andor's season two launch — Disney+ is making episodes more widely available online ahead of the release of season two. — “Oppression breeds rebellion,” says a character in Andor.

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

ABC: print circulations at UK regional daily newspapers collectively declined 16% YoY in 2024, and no regional daily now has print circulation of 20,000 or more — Print circulations at UK regional daily newspapers collectively declined 16% between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest data from ABC.

Discussion: @pressgazette.co.uk

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 — - Creator economy startup Jellysmack has spun off part of its original content business into a new entity.