CONDE NAST IS ABOUT TO BE 100 EMPLOYEES LIGHTER
Conde Nast continues to reshape its business operations. Following a
major restructuring lead by chief business officer Jim Norton just a
month ago where the publisher title was eliminated in favor of chief
business officers and individuals who served as publishers were given
the title of chief industry officers.
NEWS CORP'S DOW JONES CONTINUES ITS QUIET PUSH INTO MILLENNIAL FINANCE THIS TIME WITH 'MONEYISH'
Where sites like Vice Money, which launched in October, or Coinage, Time
Inc.’s video-focused brand that bowed in February, or Mic Money, which
went live last July, are focused on unpacking the day’s economic news,
or telling people where to park their cash, Moneyish is more about the
conversations and feelings that surround money.
IF
A SALE OF TIME INC HAPPENS, ITS TOP EXECS WILL ENJOY SOME NICE BONUSES
THANKS TO A LAST MINUTE CHANGE TO ITS EXECUTIVE SEVERANCE PLAN
While it is still possible that Time Inc may not sell, the chance of a
sale is serious enough that the company quietly filed an SEC 8-K form on
Feb. 1
to amend its change-in-control severance plan. The filing went largely
unnoticed by business media, but it protects bonuses for top executives
in the event that the company sells, and it extends the severance period
and accelerates stock vesting for top executives in the event that they
are fired after a sale.
FACEBOOK IS SLOWLY MOVING INTO MUSIC
Facebook has been slowly leaning into the world of music for some time
now but the recent announcement that they had lured Tamara Hrivnak,
former director of music partnerships at YouTube, to Menlo Park was a
clear indication that in 2017 they will be taking music seriously.
NOWTHIS IS PUSHING INTO INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AND LONG FORM VIDEO
Short-form news video giant NowThis is getting into long-form
programming, original shows and investigative journalism. The company is
embarking on an “aggressive hiring plan” to support the production of
more original news reports and video series, according to Athan
Stephanopoulos, president of NowThis. Parent company Group Nine Media
received a $100 million investment from Discovery last October, bringing
together NowThis, Thrillist, The Dodo and Seeker.
NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR CALLS OUT PAPER FOR LACK OF WOMEN IN ITS LEADERSHIP RANKS
Although women have been added to masthead in recent weeks as news
editors, as well as heads of the Washington bureau, the arts and culture
coverage, the book, photo and video desks, men hold the top one and two
spots in the chain of command with Dean Baquet as executive editor and
Joseph Kahn as the recently named managing editor. The two tiers below
them are also heavily male. In addition, male reporters outnumber women
in significant numbers
FOX LETS THE EU KNOW THAT IT WANTS TO BUY THE REMAINING 61% OF PAY TV GIANT SKY
Under EU rules, the European Commission now has about a month to decide
if the deal would "significantly" reduce competition. Analysts have
highlighted that the EU would have allowed News Corp., which later split
into News Corp and Fox, to take full control of Sky in 2011. But the
company back then pulled its offer amid the phone-hacking scandal.
BLENDING CONTENT AND COMMERCE WAS NO WALK IN THE PARK FOR JACK OF THREADS
Thrillist had to concede what Refinery29 did a year before: that the
e-commerce business is a low-margin grind, and content and commerce were
hard to mix organizationally. In 2015, Thrillist spun off JackThreads
into a standalone business. “At a certain point, these businesses have
each become living, breathing creatures, and to share a source of food
is not the most productive,” Lerer said at the time. The flash sales fad
was on the wane, so JackThreads switched to a risky try-on-at-home
sales model.
FACEBOOK INTRODUCES 'DISPUTED' TAGS ON FAKE NEWS IN ITS NEWS STREAM
On Friday,
Facebook debuted its new flagging system for fake news in America,
tagging hoax stories as “disputed” for some users. First announced amid
criticism of the company for its role in spreading misinformation during
the 2016 election, the new feature uses non-partisan third parties to
assess the factual accuracy of stories reported as fake by users.
MAJOR LAYOFFS COMING TO DISNEY'S ESPN DIVISION BEHIND RATINGS COLLAPSE
ESPN is expected have significant cost-cutting over the next four months
on its talent side. Multiple sources said ESPN has been tasked with
paring tens of millions of staff salary from its payroll, including
staffers many viewers and readers will recognize. Those with contracts
coming up could be particularly vulnerable. This as ESPN president John Skipper talks plans for STREAMING VIDEO
WOMEN'S MAGAZINES LEAD CONTINUED DECLINES AT NEWSSTANDS
The steady drumbeat of declining magazine newsstand sales continued last
year; 2016 brought another double-digit drop in the total number of
single-copy sales, according to MagNet. Women’s interest titles led the
decline, followed closely by celebrity titles.
-Good MEDIA Morning To You!
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