Sinclair Broadcast Group said Wednesday it would sell several television stations as it looks to bring its purchase of a group of Tribune stations into compliance with media ownership rules and win the blessing of regulators.
Why it matters: Even with the sell-off, the deal will make the right-leaning Sinclair far and away the most powerful local broadcaster in America.
Earth will have almost 10 billion people by 2050, according to the United Nations, and yet another billion by the turn of the century, creating a substrate of tension under climate change, aging, and automation. But Vienna-based demographers say these forecasts overstate the population trend. Instead, they say, we are headed for a population plateau and decline — in short, "peak human."
The Dow rose as many as 300 points Wednesday, before settling up around 230 points as of 2:45 pm ET.
Why it matters: The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its January meeting on Wednesday, which indicated that "officials see increased economic growth and an uptick in inflation as justification to continue to raise interest rates gradually," per CNBC.
Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 20, 113 companies announced stock buybacks totaling $173 billion, the highest level ever at this point in the year, according to Birinyi Associates' Jeffrey Rubin.
The Atlantic, one of the oldest print magazines in America, is adding 100 staffers (a 30% staff increase,) as a part of a 12-18-month expansion across all divisions, with roughly half of the additions going towards editorial, announced executives on Wednesday.
Why it matters: While the company has been profitable for eight consecutive years, a spokesperson from The Atlantic says its new majority ownership stake from Emerson Collective, the non-profit owned by Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, has allowed the company to accelerate the expansion. The company is still co-owned by David Bradley, Chairman of Atlantic Media, who sold the stake to Emerson Collective last year.
Read the memos shared with staff from The Atlantic President Bob Cohnand Atlantic Media Chairman David Bradley below.
Vox Media is laying off roughly 50 staffers, mostly across the social and video teams of a few brands like Racked, Curbed, SB Nation. In a memo to staffers, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff said they would be offering role changes to about a dozen others.
Why it matters: Bankoff says the layoffs are a response to "industry changes," referring to the pressures the digital ad economy is placing on digital-first news brands. Cuts represent about 5% of the company's employees.
NBC's Katy Tur spoke with Aaron Stark, who penned an op-ed saying he was "almost a school shooter" when he was a teenager, but the lack of access to an assault rifle — among other things — stopped him. "A bigger issue was love. I had a severe lack of love, and I really think this kid did too," he wrote to 9News.
He told Tur on Tuesday this is about "more than just guns," and that "love is what we should focus on. Focus on communicating with the people who we think need it the most."
The federal judge hearing the Justice Department's lawsuit to block AT&T's proposed $85 billion purchase of Time Warner on Tuesday denied a request by the telecom giant to disclose communications between Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the White House about the deal.
Why it matters: Tuesday's ruling is a blow to AT&T's attempt to show that the lawsuit to block the deal is politically motivated by President Trump's antipathy for CNN, which Time Warner owns. AT&T says it wasn't asked to offload any assets as part of the deal until after Trump took office.
The stock price of MiMedx plummeted 35% Tuesday morning after the company, which sells products for burns and wound care, said it was postponing the release of its 2017 financial results due to an internal investigation of its sales practices.
Why it matters: Short sellers like Marc Cohodes have long alleged MiMedx fraudulently inflated its sales numbers. Delaying the financials, at a minimum, is a public-relations disaster and could indicate deeper trouble from government auditors.
Go deeper: MiMedx CEO Pete Petit is a big backer of President Trump and former health secretary Tom Price, and Petit's feud with short sellers reached a boiling point this past January.
Gap Inc. said Tuesday that the president and CEO of its clothing brand, Jeff Kirwan, will be stepping down. Current executive vice president and head of global talent and sustainabiliy, Brent Hyder, will replace Kirwan while the retailer looks for a new president.
Why it matters: In a press release, Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck said "we have not achieved the operational excellence and accelerated profit growth that we know is possible at Gap brand."
Disney's Black Panther blew past industry expectations with a roughly $235 million debut over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, Variety reports. And that number could push even higher as The Hollywood Reporter's Pamela McClintock reports that the "history-making" film might have had the highest-grossing Monday of all time, surpassing 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Why it matters: The movie is making history for its overnight success. It's blown past industry expectations after a year of reckoning around issues of race.
Morgan Stanley analysts described the stock market's recent correction as the "[a]ppetizer, not the main course," Bloomberg reports. They believe that higher bond yields — which, for now, have remained steady within their five-year range — could prompt bigger problems for world markets in 2018's second quarter.
Why it matters: Inflation is still rising and higher bond yields could hurt future earnings. That combination might spur another, bigger drop in the markets. Per the Morgan Stanley analyst team: “It’s when growth softens while inflation is still rising that returns suffer most."
AT&T is looking to discredit the Department of Justice's lawsuit to block its proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner by proving that the government's decision is politically motivated. A U.S. district court judge will decide today if they have a case.
Why it matters: If the judge rules in AT&T's favor, it will mean that President Trump's personal and public vendetta against CNN, which is owned by Time Warner, is working against him.
