After ending their series in April, HGTV "Fixer Upper" stars Chip and Joanna Gaines are in talks with Discovery for a "lifestyle-focused media network," People Magazine reports.
The big picture, from Axios' Sara Fischer: This is the latest move by Discovery to expand their lifestyle TV dominance after purchasing Scripps Network for $14.6 billion in 2017. The additional programming could also help Discovery build its own digital skinny bundle service with home and lifestyle content, something CEO David Zaslov alluded to earlier this year. Bringing in the Gaines’ also highlights how valuable modern lifestyle brands can be. Discovery clearly sees value in launching a network with the Gaines’ powerful brand behind it, as opposed to building it from scratch.
Moderna Therapeutics, a Massachusetts startup that wants to revolutionize drug manufacturing, on Friday filed for what could be the largest-ever IPO for a biotech startup.
The bottom line: Moderna creates synthetic mRNA, which is injected into patients so they can create their own therapies. It's an entirely new way to think about making medicine, and it also could lend itself to a modular approach whereby it doesn't need different facilities for different products.
The New York Times is digitizing millions of historical photos dating back to 1896.
Why it matters: While there isn't an immediate business case for the move, The Times hopes that by digitizing its photo library, it can eventually move some of that material into its licensed library of syndicated material. It also believes that new editorial features that develop from the archived photos could bolster digital subscriptions.
Meredith Corp. on Friday agreed to sell Fortune Magazine to Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon for $150 million.
Why it matters: Fortune is one of several magazines that Meredith has been trying to unload since buying Time Inc. earlier this year, but two earlier sets of negotiations fell through.
We've chronicled the fall of Sears — how its deliberate sluggishness killed the Amazon of the 20th century. But Sears is not alone.
What’s next: The next eight retailers at risk of Sears' fate are J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, 99 Cents Only, Hudson's Bay, Pier 1 Imports, Fred's Pharmacy, and Rite Aid, argue Retail Dive's Ben Unglesbee and Cara Salpini.
