Between the lines: The report shows that the collapse of the newspaper industry, beginning around 2004, has been getting worse.

• According to the study, newspaper sales and closures/mergers via the seven largest newspaper investment owners have increased over the past five years.
• Major newspaper holding companies often aren't incentivized to invest for future growth opportunities, but rather to flip the papers to be profitable in the short-term, largely by cutting back on staff and resources.

By the numbers:

• The largest 25 newspaper chains own a third of all newspapers, including two-thirds of the country’s 1,200 dailies.
• There's been net loss since 2004 of almost 1,800 local newspapers. About 70% (1,300 papers) that closed or merged were in metro areas (suburbs).
• Between 1,300 and 1,400 communities that had newspapers of their own in 2004 now have no dedicated news coverage.
• Today, almost 200 counties (of the 3,143 total counties in the U.S.) have no newspaper.

Last year I caught up with Penny Abernathy, the report's author, who has been studying the economic decline of newspapers for years and asked her about the importance of newspapers in society. One quote that stuck out:

Companies and individuals pulling out of the Future Investment Initiative (FII), a massive conference colloquially known as "Davos in the Desert," to be hosted by MBS and the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund on October 23-25:

• The New York Times columnist Andrew Sorkin. The Times has pulled its sponsorship of the conference.
• Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, per CNBC.
• The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes.
• Media mogul Arianna Huffington, who has also resigned her position on the advisory board for the conference.
• Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the LA Times, per the Daily Beast.
• CNN, CNBC, the Financial Times and Bloomberg have all withdrawn as media sponsors.
• Japanese media company Nikkei has withdrawn from the event, per CNN.
• Viacom CEO Bob Bakish will not attend, per NBC News.
• Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and chairman of Case Foundation, tweeted he is putting his "plans on hold" to speak at the conference.
• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a statement: "I'm very troubled by the reports to date about Jamal Khashoggi. We are following the situation closely, and unless a substantially different set of facts emerges, I won't be attending the FII conference in Riyadh."
• World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, per the Financial Times.
• J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Ford chairman Bill Ford, and MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga have all announced they are no longer attending, per CNBC.
• Sotheby's CEO Tad Smith, per Bloomberg.
• General David Petraeus, chairman of the KKR Global Institute, per Reuters.
• Sinovation Ventures CEO Kai-Fu Lee, per CNN.
• Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene, per CNBC.
• Virgin Hyperloop One's CEO Rob Lloyd, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.
• HSBC CEO John Flint, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, and Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters, per WSJ.
• David Bonderman, co-founder and chairman of TPG Capital, according to a source familiar with the situation.
• President of the New York Stock Exchange Stacey Cunningham, citing scheduling conflict with SEC market data roundtable.
• Brad Keywell, co-founder and CEO of Uptake (also co-founded Groupon).

Notable companies and individuals who are still attending FII:

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he still plans to attend the conference. He will decide by Friday if that will remain the case, per the NY Times.
• Fox Business told NBC News that its attendance is "under review." Anchor Maria Bartiromo is slated to appear at the conference.
• Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser, per CNN.
• EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy, per CNN.

Companies and individuals cutting business ties:

• Richard Branson, billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group, announced Thursday that he will suspend his directorships of two Saudi tourism projects and is suspending talks of a $1 billion investment with the country: "What has reportedly happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi Government."
• Ernest Moniz, former energy secretary under President Obama, is suspending his involvement advising Saudi Arabia on a $500 billion smart city project.
• Neelie Kroes, a NEOM board member and former vice president of the European Commission, told the WSJ she would be suspending her role in the project until more is known.
• Hollywood agency Endeavor Content is reportedly pulling out of a $400 million investment deal with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, per the Hollywood Reporter.
• BGR Group, a lobbying firm, is no longer working for Saudi Arabia, Jeffrey Birnbaum, president of BGR's public relations division, per the The Daily Beast.

Be smart: As Axios' Dan Primack writes, it's "much easier to bail on a conference than it is to unwind complex and lucrative business relationships."

Go deeper: Primack and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof discuss the Khashoggi news on Axios' Pro Rata Podcast.

This is an updating list.