Gannett said Wednesday that its President and CEO Robert Dickey will retire from the company in May 2019, USA Today, a Gannett-owned company, reports.
Details: The company, which operates 109 media properties and the largest daily newspaper publisher in the U.S., is on the search for internal and external candidates to replace Dickey. Dickey became CEO in 2015 and was previously the president of Gannett’s local publishing division.
The Nebraska Farm Bureau said this week that the tariffs triggered by President Trump's ongoing trade war have cost the state's agricultural sector more than $1 billion in revenue, specifically affecting soybeans, corn and pork, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
"To put a $1.2 billion loss into perspective, every person in the state of Nebraska would need to contribute $632 to cover that volume of lost dollars. That’s a significant hit to our state’s economy."
— Jay Rempe, a Nebraska Farm Bureau senior economist, to the Omaha World-Herald
Why it matters: The effects of Trump's trade war with China on farmers have been an ongoing story over the last few months, especially regarding issues with the soybean market. Farmers have been forced to store mass quantities of their crops until prices improve after demand in China, the biggest market for American soybeans, has dropped nearly 90%.
Heidi Zak, co-founder and CEO of bra startup ThirdLove, suggested yesterday that her company may finally be ready to raise the sort of capital needed to "take down" bigger rival Victoria's Secret.
This isn't just a business rivalry. Zak, who at the time was with Google, came up with the idea after buying a bra at Victoria's Secret and being so embarrassed by the company's oversexed image that she hid the bag before returning to work.
Amid CBS’ inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against Les Moonves, the former CEO lied to investigators, tried to destroy evidence and interfered with the inquiry, according to a draft report prepared for the company’s board obtained by The New York Times.
Why it matters: The report, penned by lawyers hired by the network, says the CBS has justification to deny Moonves his $120 million severance. The lawyers spoke with Moonves four times and said he was “evasive and untruthful at times and to have deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of his sexual misconduct.” Moonves reportedly did not disclose previous allegations of sexual misconduct before he arrived at CBS.
Michael Pillsbury is worried Trump's negotiations with China are unraveling. The hawkish former Pentagon official — who Trump has called "probably the leading authority on China" and who reportedly huddled with Trump in the Oval the day before Trump left for his G20 meeting with President Xi — said "there's a risk the deal will come undone."
Why it matters: Pillsbury said he's "getting warnings from knowledgeable Chinese about the American claims of concessions" that the Chinese have said they never made. These contradictions include U.S. claims that the Chinese agreed to "immediately" address their most egregious industrial behavior, to "immediately" restart purchases of U.S. agriculture, and to slash tariffs on American cars.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 799 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped over 3% on Tuesday. The slump comes one day after investors cheered the meeting between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping, and bringing the S&P 500 to roughly 1.5% below where it closed on Friday.
Between the lines: In a nod to how volatile the last few months have been, the Dow saw its worst day since Oct. 10, per CNBC.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect the closing numbers.
Thomson Reuters, the global news and corporate information company, announced Tuesday at an investors conference in Canada that it will cut 3,200 jobs to reduce costs and to streamline its business.
Why it matters: The company is restructuring to focus on its legal and tax business. It sold a 55% stake of its Financial & Risk practice to The Blackstone Group earlier this year for a buyout deal worth $20 billion.
Out of home (OOH) ads — including billboards, subway posters, beach airplane ads and more — are the only type of traditional ad medium that is still growing, according to Magna's latest ads forecast.
Data: MAGNA ad forecast; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios
Why it matters: Out of home placements are growing as they become more digital and can be bought and sold in an automated fashion, or programmatically. There's also an appeal to out of home ads, because it's hard for viewers to block them out. (You can't set up an ad-blocker to avoid ads on your subway commute.)
For decades the primary source of revenue for media companies was advertising, but competition from technology companies and more privacy scrutiny are pushing most media companies to explore alternative forms of revenue.
Why it matters: Most media companies have to unwind years worth of sales and product infrastructure to make way for the transition. Not all will survive it.
Local media consolidation and the rise of paywalls, both meant to combat a bleak ad outlook, could deepen the growing divide between America's information consumer haves and have nots.
Driving the news: Nexstar Media Group has agreed to acquire Tribune Media for $4.1 billion, as first reported by Reuters and confirmed by Axios' Dan Primack. This would make Nexstar the largest owner of U.S. local television stations.
The cheap sale of Mic is bringing a lot of press attention to VC-backed media companies, highlighting the risk that comes with raising lots of money to support ad-driven media business models.
The big picture: Digital media companies tend to sell for anywhere between 2.5x and 9x revenues from the previous year, or a little higher in terms of EBITDA. They are valued at what their growth expectations will be for revenue and profit over time. The goal is to bring in money at a percentage higher than what they raised, demonstrating a growth trajectory. But companies don't always bring in revenues in multiples higher than the money that they raise, which can lead to sales, layoffs and unhappy investors.
Tech platforms have littered the media universe with crap — stolen ideas, pirated video, plagiarized text, manipulated content, and fake news. And efforts to protect and elevate quality original content have faltered in the digital era.
Why it matters: While technology has made it easier for creators to find an audience and upend media hierarchies, it's also made it harder for owners of original content to get paid for their work. Just ask the news industry.
"CNN president Jeff Zucker revealed to The Axe Files [podcast] host David Axelrod that he still wants to run for political office at some point," per the Hollywood Reporter.
Details: Zucker said, "I still harbor somewhere in my gut that I'm still very interested in politics. It's something I would consider." To which Axelrod responded, "Gimme a call if you're thinking about it."Zucker "also repeated twice during the 69-minute-long podcast that he'd love to run the Miami Dolphins football team."
