Jellysmack, a startup that helps creators grow their online video businesses, is acquiring Law&Crime, the true crime and legal drama media company founded by legal analyst and entrepreneur Dan Abrams, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The deal, which a source said values Law&Crime at nine figures, represents an extraordinary outcome for Abrams, who raised just $5 million from A&E Networks to jump-start the company's growth in 2017.

• ⚖️ That deal valued the company, then a live courtroom footage site called LawNewz, at $15 million. The company renamed itself following A&E's investment.

Be smart: The acquisition marks the largest yet for Jellysmack, which has invested in several media and tech firms since it launched in 2016.

• 📱 Jellysmack uses proprietary technology and data to help creators boost their audiences and revenue on various social video platforms.
• 🚓 True Crime is one of Jellysmack's fastest-growing creator categories. The firm has exclusively signed more than 150 true crime creators as part of its network since 2020.

By the numbers: The deal, which is expected to be announced today, gives Jellysmack access to a huge amount of professional true crime content, as well as production and distribution capabilities that it can use to bolster the work of its creators.

• With more than 5 million subscribers to its YouTube channel, Law&Crime has become one of the top video publishers for coverage of viral celebrity trials, popular true crime investigations and more.

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Established media brands continue to strike deals with creators as a way to extend their reach. Creators benefit from the production resources and credibility that established brands offer.

• The Arena Group launched a creator network last month with more than 100 social media influencers.
• Paramount introduced a CBS Sports Creator Studio last month to pair influencers with talent.
• BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti told Axios in April that it would begin to produce more content via independent creators that will get access to BuzzFeed's tools and distribution in return for cross-posting their content.
• Morning Brew started a creator program in 2022 that gives creators salaries while maintaining separate and distinct products and brands.

Politically motivated hackers over the weekend took down the Jerusalem Post, the largest English-language newspaper in Israel, and a real-time rocket alert app that many Israeli citizens rely on, Axios' Sam Sabin reports for Axios Codebook.

Why it matters: Like bad actors that spread disinformation in the wake of unfolding crises, politically motivated hackers (known as hacktivists) are quick to lean into heightened conflicts between countries, including terrorist attacks and wars.

🇮🇱 The Jerusalem Post said Monday its website was still down due to a "series of cyberattacks," for which the group Anonymous Sudan has claimed responsibility in its Telegram group.

• 💣 Pro-Palestinian group AnonGhost also exploited a flaw in the RedAlert app — which alerts users to real-time rocket launches — and sent fake alerts about a nuclear bomb, according to researchers at Group-IB.
• 📲 Ghosts of Palestine, another pro-Palestine hacking group, claimed in its Telegram group on Monday that it attacked a range of organizations. It issued a call in its Telegram group on Sunday for hackers worldwide to join them in attacking Israeli and U.S. public and private infrastructure.

The big picture: Disinformation about the war continues to flood social media and messaging apps, with bad actors taking advantage of the uncertainty around the situation.

• X users were presented with false information ranging from video game footage and fireworks footage passed off as deadly attacks to fake pictures of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo holding the Palestinian flag, Wired reported, per Axios' Ryan Heath.
• X owner Elon Musk was part of the problem: In a post he later deleted, he recommended that his 150 million-plus followers get their info from accounts known for spreading unverified, debunked and antisemitic content.

What we're watching: Most tech firms have banned Hamas as part of their policies against terrorism, leaving the group to post curated, gruesome videos boasting about their attacks on Telegram, NBC News reports.

• 📺 The U.S. media continues to cover the conflict extensively, with all three major broadcast networks and several cable news networks sending their evening anchors to cover the war live from Israel.

Go deeper: How Israeli reporters are covering the war, via CNN's Oliver Darcy

Fox News has covered Hunter Biden significantly more than CNN and MSNBC during the past year, according to new data that shed light on how news networks' emphasis on certain storylines shapes what viewers see.

Why it matters: The contrasting coverage is a sign of how Republicans and conservative media voices are likely to continue pummeling the president's son through the 2024 election, Axios' Alex Thompson and I write.

By the numbers: Fox News has covered Hunter Biden twice as much as it's covered presidential candidate Ron DeSantis in the past year, according to an analysis of data pulled from the Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer.

• 🦊 Its coverage increased as Hunter's plea deal unraveled in July, new criminal charges were filed in September, and the House GOP began an impeachment inquiry of the president that focuses on Hunter's business dealings.

📺 Those coverage trends are reversed on MSNBC, which has focused on former President Trump and DeSantis significantly more than cable rivals Fox News and CNN.

🗞️ The New York Post, which like Fox News is owned by Murdoch-controlled News Corp., has published 784 articles mentioning Hunter Biden during the past year — an average of more than two per day, according to LexisNexis.

• It published nearly as many stories about or mentioning Joe Biden — 821 — in that same period, and 552 on DeSantis.

Zoom out: Broadly speaking, Trump and President Biden tend to get the most media attention in terms of online reader interest.

Yes, but: The Hunter Biden story has proven to be an engaging topic for readers, which helps explain why Fox News and the New York Post are leaning so heavily into his story.

• Over the past year, the average number of articles posted about Hunter Biden may be dwarfed by the other three political figures, but the average interaction rate (the number of shares, likes, comments, etc.) per article is much higher, per NewsWhip.

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Nelson Peltz, co-founder of the activist hedge fund Trian Fund Management, has increased his firm's stake in The Walt Disney Company as he pushes for control of more board seats, a source familiar with his plans told Axios.

Why it matters: It's the second proxy fight Peltz has waged with Disney in the past 12 months, and it adds pressure as Disney assesses major strategic changes.

Details: Peltz has increased his stake in Disney to about 30 million shares, worth roughly $2.5 billion, according to a source familiar with Trian's position.

• 💸 That's up from the roughly 6.4 million shares at the end of the second quarter, per the Wall Street Journal, which was first to report about Trian's increased position.
• 💰Peltz believes Disney's shares are undervalued and is hoping to get more representation on Disney's board, the source said.
• 🪟 The window for shareholder nominations opens Dec. 5.

Catch up quick: Peltz first pressured Disney last November, arguing for a board seat in the wake of a weak earnings report that drove Disney's stock down to its lowest point in 21 years.

• 🦊 He has been vocal about disapproving of Iger's $71 billion acquisition of Fox's entertainment assets and cited the 2019 deal as a major driver of his previous proxy fight.
• ✂️ Peltz finally called off his last proxy battle in February after Iger announced a restructuring that included 7,000 layoffs and a return of the annual dividend for shareholders.

Be smart: The last time it engaged in a proxy battle, Trian said Disney's streaming strategy lacked cost discipline and it criticized the firm for over-relying on profits from its parks division to subsidize its streaming costs.

• It also blamed Disney's board and leadership for consistently failing on succession planning.
• Disney extended Iger's CEO contract through 2026 over the summer.

The big picture: Disney's stock is down 12% in the past year and down 57% from its pandemic-era high, shortly after it launched Disney+.

Disney and Comcast will soon begin to negotiate the ownership fate of Hulu. Expect a bumpy ride, Axios' Tim Baysinger writes.

Why it matters: The put/call deadline that's expected to see Disney acquire all of Hulu has been a $9 billion albatross sitting on Bob Iger's shoulder.

How it works: Last month, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the two companies moved up their deadline from January 2024 to begin talks starting Sept. 30.

• In an SEC filing, the two companies detailed how this will work: Starting in November, either Disney can force Comcast to sell its 33% stake in Hulu or Comcast can force Disney to buy them out.
• The value of Hulu will be assessed as of Sept. 30. When the put/call agreement was set back in 2019, the floor for Hulu's valuation was established at $27.5 billion. Roberts has repeatedly argued that Hulu is worth significantly more than that now.
• The final price for Hulu will likely be figured out through arbitration.

If both sides can't agree on a value, then each will hire an investment bank to pour through Hulu's books and come up with their own valuations.

• 🏦 If those two are not within 10% of each other, then a third investment bank will come in, and the final valuation will be an average of the two that are closest to each other.

The big picture: Iger is boxed into figuring out Hulu, a deal made four years ago during streaming's boom times, while also trying to cut costs and streamline Disney's assets.

• Even if he does not want to buy Comcast's stake — his endorsement of Hulu has been tepid, at best — Comcast has the contractual right to force the issue.

Sign up for Axios Pro Media Deals authored by Tim Baysinger and Kerry Flynn.

A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Axios' Ivana Saric writes.

• Losing the appeal means Gershkovich will remain in prison until at least the end of November.

Why it matters: This is the third time Russian authorities have rejected an appeal by Gershkovich's lawyers to free him from prison.

• Gershkovich's pretrial detention was initially slated to end May 29, but was extended until Aug. 30. Russian authorities then extended it again until Nov. 30.

The big picture: Gershkovich has been detained for more than six months on espionage charges that the U.S. government has called "wrongful."

• His arrest in March marked the first time a U.S. journalist was detained in an espionage case in Russia since the Cold War, per the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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