More from Lachlan Cartwright
Shane Smith and the Final Collapse of Vice News
Just weeks after the company he founded entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy last May, Shane Smith jetted to the French Riviera. But this wasn’t a vacation for the 54-year-old flamboyant former Vice CEO to drown his sorrows. Smith landed in Cannes on a mission to save the media company that he had started as a scrappy […]
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Vice News’ Top Editor Tells Staff He Doesn’t Know if Flagship Website Will Shutter
Hours after multiple staffers expressed concern that Vice Media was considering shuttering or gutting its flagship news website following the brand’s sale to a consortium of its former bankruptcy lenders, the CEO of the company weighed in with a memo (below) detailing sweeping change. Vice Media chief Bruce Dixon confirmed that “several hundred” staffers would be […]
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Inside Disney’s Shadow Succession Game
In the bowels of the Washington Hilton in April, just hours before the White House Correspondents’ dinner, several ABC News staffers were seen hastily carrying furniture, including couches and high-top tables, out of a room on the terrace level of the hotel that was about to host executives and talent at the network’s pre-dinner reception. […]
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Jeff Zucker Doesn’t Watch Much CNN
It has been two years since Jeff Zucker resigned from the top job at CNN over a consensual relationship with a network executive. Since then, he’s headed up RedBird IMI, a joint venture between Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital and IMI, an investment fund backed by the UAE. With a massive private equity war chest behind […]
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Take the Cash or Fight? Media Moguls Split on AI Deals
A highly amusing, albeit scathing New York Times restaurant review of Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen & Bar that went viral in 2012 is being used by attorneys acting for the Times in their lawsuit against OpenAI to illustrate just how destructive the new technology could be to the future of journalism. When prompted about the […]
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How to Burn Cash and Alienate People: Behind The Messenger’s Implosion
In the basement of a car dealership in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District last spring, The Messenger chairman and CEO Jimmy Finkelstein addressed a throng of New York’s media elite. Finkelstein was there to unveil his grand plans for a new website that he claimed would revolutionize the news, talking a big game in the process. “When […]
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‘CNN This Morning’ Moving to Atlanta, Staffers Asked to Reapply for Jobs
CNN has told staff it is moving its much-hyped Chris Licht-era morning show, This Morning, from New York to its Atlanta headquarters, two people familiar with the matter have told The Hollywood Reporter. The show’s 50-person team have been told they can reapply for jobs within the network, according to the people familiar. Phil Mattingly […]
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Los Angeles Times Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong Held Talks to Buy The Messenger
The Messenger founder Jimmy Finkelstein held a last minute discussion with Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong about buying The Messenger, three people familiar with the situation have told The Hollywood Reporter. The news comes just days after the L.A. Times laid off 115 newsroom employees. Soon-Shiong spoke with Finkelstein on Tuesday, the sources said. […]
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News Startup The Messenger to Shut Down, 300 Staffers Let Go
Embattled startup The Messenger is shuttering just eight months after launching, The Hollywood Reporter can confirm. Approximately 300 staffers are being let go from the media outlet. Employees had their Slack accounts deactivated shortly after 1 p.m. PST Wednesday. There was no comment from a Messenger representative when reached by phone. “I am not in […]
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