Top News:
April Roach / CNBC:
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square proposes to acquire Amsterdam-listed Universal Music Group for €56B in cash and stock, form a merged company, and list on the NYSE — Activist investor Pershing Square said Tuesday it is planning to buy Universal Music Group in a cash and stock deal worth about 55.8 billion euros ($64.4 billion).
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Reuters:
UMG shares jump 11% following Pershing Square's €56B offer, which is a 78% premium to their April 2 close; UMG is down nearly a third since its 2021 listing — Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square (PSHP.L) proposed a takeover of Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) …
Discussion:
Billboard, Pershing Square, The Movie Blog, Motley Fool, Financial Times, Fortune, The Times, Music Business Worldwide, Bloomberg, Associated Press, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, Euronews, The Independent, Los Angeles Times, Fast Company, CMU, Yahoo Finance, Proactive, Digital Music News, CBS News, Music Ally, Forbes, Reuters, Gnaneshwar Rajan on LinkedIn, Australian Financial Review, CNN, Barron's Online, Inc.com, New York Times, Benzinga, Blockonomi, The Next Web, Telegraph, The Irish Times, The Standard, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Dow Jones Newswires, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Daily Sabah and Semafor
George Grylls / The Times:
A profile of Aaron Rupar, who manages a social media news operation monitoring Trump across 12 TV channels simultaneously, supported by a $50/year Substack — Aaron Rupar spends up to 80 hours a week following the US president, from meandering speeches to impromptu press conferences.
New York Times:
Journalist Shelly Kittleson, abducted in Iraq by an Iranian-aligned militia, has been freed after a week in captivity, per the militia and two Iraqi officials — The journalist, Shelly Kittleson, was abducted by a militia allied with Iran and held for a week.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News, UPI, HotAir, One America News Network, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, Deadline, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Human Events, New York Sun, The Hill, France 24, @joyce_karam, WUSA, @foxnews, @joyce_karam, @syrianotes.org, Jodie Ginsberg on LinkedIn, WTOP News, @osint613, ZeroHedge News, @Nonilex@masto.ai, The US Sun, The Sun, @lensconflict, Newser, @joyce_karam, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, The Gateway Pundit, @nickkristof.bsky.social, Politico and Washington Examiner
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Kalshi signs a deal with Fox Corp. to integrate its forecasts into Fox News, Fox Business Network, Fox One, and Fox Weather, following deals with CNN and CNBC — The prediction market already has deals with CNN and CNBC. — The biggest prediction market in the U.S. is teaming up with the biggest TV news channel in the U.S.
Discussion:
Fast Company, TheDesk.net, Kalshi, CoinGape, Washington Examiner, Crypto Briefing, crypto.news, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, Bitcoin News, New York Post, Reuters and The Block
Michael Schneider / Variety:
CBS is selling its 11:35pm ET timeslot to Byron Allen, who will air episodes of Comics Unleashed starting May 22, after The Late Show With Stephen Colbert ends — As “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” ends its run next month, CBS has opted to turn its 11:35 p.m. ET post-local news timeslot …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Originally Reported …, HELLO!, CNN, The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, E! Online, @steveburgess53.bsky.social, UPI, Cord Cutters News, Washington Times, New York Times, Reality Tea, Baller Alert, TODAY.com, @jbflint, Deadline, Forbes, Barrett Media, @matthewkeyslive, @alexweprin, @alexweprin, @corbinbolies, @bdomenech, @variety, @jeremymbarr, Breitbart, MediaPost, The Post Millennial, @tomleykis.bsky.social, @rickporter.bsky.social, @jessehawken.bsky.social, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @adamrose.bsky.social, Fox News, Daily Mail, WUSA, HotAir, IJR, TV Insider, Hollywood Life, NewsMax.com, New York Daily News, ME, @nemalki.bsky.social, Boing Boing, Reuters, New York Post, The US Sun, The Hill, The Daily Beast, TheDesk.net, ScreenRant, Consequence, TV Insider, E! Online, The A.V. Club, LateNighter, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap
John Ourand / Puck:
Sources: ESPN plans to cut ~30 jobs in the coming weeks, primarily in off-camera departments, partly due to a $100M loss tied to its 2025 YouTube TV dispute — Layoffs are coming as the sports network deals with cord-cutting, the YouTube TV blackout, and uncertainty around whether Josh D'Amaro …
Andrew Liszewski / The Verge:
Amazon says Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier won't be able to access the Kindle Store from May 20; downloaded books can still be read — Starting May 20th, Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier won't have access to the Kindle Store.
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Soros Fund Management is leading an investment round into MeidasTouch Network to expand its 24-hour digital news operation; terms were not disclosed — The MeidasTouch Network has taken off on YouTube as a top podcast with 300 million views a month — George Soros remains bullish on liberal podcasts.
Discussion:
@kevinleecaster.bsky.social, @ashleyrcarman, @maxwelltani and Meidas+
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands Prompted Playlists, its AI feature for creating playlists, to include podcasts, for Premium users in the US, Canada, the UK, and other countries — Spotify said today that it is expanding its AI-powered feature to create playlists, called Prompted Playlist, to include podcasts as well.
Discussion:
The Verge, CNET, Android Authority, 9to5Google, Edgar Tanaka on LinkedIn, iPhone in Canada, Engadget, PCMag, TechRadar, Thurrott, Android Police, Spotify, Digital Trends, 9to5Mac and MakeUseOf, more at Techmeme »
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Muck Rack launched a feature showing which journalists and outlets are most cited in AI-generated answers; Henry Blodget is the most frequently cited journalist — Generative AI answers often cite less well known B2B and specialist titles. — Specialist journalists and publications appear …
Discussion:
@miasato.bsky.social
Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:
McClatchy began rolling out a “content scaling agent” that summarizes and repurposes reporters' work with new headlines in Q1, prompting some employee pushback — Sacramento Bee staffers refuse bylines over a new AI tool as colleagues at the Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer harbor concerns
