A West Virginia news publisher has filed an antitrust suit against Google and Facebook, who dominate the online ad market. The company, HD Media, owns several papers in the state, including the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington and the Charleston Gazette-Mail. HD Media filed in federal court in West Virginia and asked for a jury trial. The company does not specify the impact on its business of the behavior of Facebook and Google beyond saying that it has hurt its ability to “effectively monetize its content” because Google is enabled to take an uncompetitive share of its ad revenues. A lawyer for the company declined to speak on the record.
By TALI ARBEL
Posted inArticle, Business
BuzzFeed buying HuffPost from Verizon for undisclosed price
BuzzFeed is buying HuffPost from Verizon as part of a bigger deal that has the wireless giant investing in the digital-media company. BuzzFeed and Verizon did not disclose terms of the deal. Verizon will be a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed and the two companies will partner on content and ads. BuzzFeed is known for its quizzes and lists but also invested in its news division. Its founder and CEO, Jonah Peretti, also co-founded HuffPost, then known as The Huffington Post, in 2005. AOL bought it for $315 million in 2011. Peretti said in a memo to BuzzFeed employees that he expects the deal to close at the beginning of 2021.
Posted inArticle
Verizon to buy prepaid phone seller Tracfone for up to $6.9B
Verizon, the country’s largest phone company, is buying prepaid phone seller Tracfone for up to $6.9 billion, expanding its low-income customer business. Tracfone, a subsidiary of Mexico telecom giant America Movil, is the largest U.S. mobile reseller. It doesn’t build its own network, instead paying companies like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile a fee to use theirs. Nearly two-thirds of Tracfone’s 21 million U.S. customers get their service from Tracfone renting Verizon’s network. Verizon said it expects the deal to close in the second half of 2021. Regulators must approve it.
Posted inArticle, Arts And Culture, Business
Bon Appetit’s top editor resigns after offensive photo
The editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, Adam Rapoport, resigned after a photo of him dressed in a stereotypical Puerto Rican costume surfaced on social media. He says he had blind spots as an editor and the magazine deserves better. Several staffers who star in the magazine’s popular YouTube videos are also calling for equal pay for employees of color. Media companies are facing a moment of reckoning around racism as protests against police brutality against black people spread across the U.S., touching off broader conversations about race. Top editors have resigned from several publications following uproars about insensitive or offensive articles and headlines.
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TV broadcaster Sinclair fined $48 million over Tribune deal
The federal government has fined TV broadcaster Sinclair $48 million, largely because of actions it took in its failed attempt to acquire smaller rival Tribune Media. Sinclair in 2017 proposed a $3.9 billion deal for Tribune’s TV stations. But the deal fell apart in 2018 after a key federal communications regulator criticized Sinclair for apparently trying to sidestep the law to get it done. The FCC statement Wednesday did not detail which Sinclair practices it found unacceptable. Sinclair says it is pleased with the resolution.
