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Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals

Altice USA's stock is down 85% since announcing it was acquiring streaming news network Cheddar for $200 million on April 30, 2019.

Why it matters: The telco is now considering offloading Cheddar, The New York Times reported, having hired Goldman Sachs to explore its options, Kerry writes.

By the numbers: The stock closed at $23.56 on the day the Cheddar acquisition was announced, and it closed yesterday at $3.45.

It's down 91% from its five-year peak of $37.90 on December 29, 2020.

Details: Altice has reported disappointing earnings over the recent quarters as it loses subscribers and continues to spend heavily on rolling out its fiber network.

Altice reported in May that its revenue was down 5.3% and profit was down 86% in the first quarter compared with the prior year.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, Altice reported its revenue was down 6%. Its profit plunged from $194.6 million to a sizable loss of $193.1 million.

Altice did not respond to a request for comment.

Flashback: Altice explored selling its telecom subsidiary, Suddenlink, last spring, which it had acquired for $9.1 billion in 2015.

But the company ended those sale talks by the end of the year. Even though CEO Dexter Goei said Suddenlink's footprint may not be the best fit for Altice, the size and price may have deterred potential buyers. It has since rebranded the business to Optimum.

The big picture: Other telecom companies have abandoned their media operations.

Verizon sold its digital media unit, which included Yahoo and AOL, to Apollo Global Management in 2021.

AT&T spun off WarnerMedia in a merger with Discovery.

Yes, but: Comcast still owns NBCUniversal. The parent company of Axios, Cox Enterprises, has a telecom business.

Altice also owns News 12 Networks, a group of regional cable news channels in New York.

The intrigue: It's unclear who would buy Cheddar, especially at the hefty price Altice paid four years ago.

Brian Morrissey, author of a Substack newsletter on media called The Rebooting, tweeted in support of Gas Station TV (GSTV), which has a distribution deal with Cheddar. Others, jokingly, agreed. GSTV CEO Sean McCaffrey declined to comment.

1 big thing: Not enough Cheddar

Stark disparities in salaries and tenure exist between white newsroom workers and people of color at Forbes, according to a union study obtained by Axios.

Why it's the BFD: The study results come as Forbes' union and management continue to battle for a contract, and they bolster the union's concerns about inclusivity that it's raised since joining the NewsGuild of New York in 2021, Sara and Kerry write.

Details: The survey, parts of which were shared in March, found the union's 61 full-time white members make $94,360 on average, almost $15,000 more than its eight Black members and $7,000 more than its 10 Asian members.

The six Hispanic or Latino staffers in the union outearn white members, on average, earning $99,750 annually.

The study also said the 20 longest-tenured members are all white and that no current staffers who have worked in the Forbes newsroom for at least 10 years are people of color.

What they're saying: In response to the survey, Forbes managing editor Joyce Bautista Ferrari said in a Slack message to staff seen by Axios that the guild "cherry-picked" the data and said it "fails to take into consideration different types of jobs that exist in the newsroom, skills required for varying roles, years of experience, expertise and many other factors that affect compensation decisions."

2. The BFD: Forbes' pay equity issues

Illustration of two hands pulling a money rope in a tug-of-war.

• Mood Media, the Austin-based firm that acquired Vibenomics in March, and Stingray Group, a Montreal-based media company, agreed to combine their retail media in-store networks, Vibenomics and Stingray Advertising, which together will reach more than 800 million monthly shoppers across more than 25,000 locations. https://axios.link/3Du4DeX

3. Deal flow

• Victor Lazarte, former CEO of Brazilian games startup Wildlife Studios, is joining Benchmark as its newest equal partner and will invest as a generalist with interest in games, consumer and fintech, per Forbes. https://axios.link/3O8UAAY

• Anjney Midha, cofounder and former CEO of Ubiquity6, is joining Andreessen Horowitz to lead its AI investing efforts, Kia Kokalitcheva writes. https://axios.link/3OsrRZ1

• Edith Chapin officially was named SVP for news and EIC at NPR after serving in an interim capacity since fall 2022. https://axios.link/3OsbkEq

• Kayla Tausche joined CNN as senior White House correspondent. She had been at CNBC since 2011. https://axios.link/3DuhzS2

• Michael Biard, a former Fox executive, was hired at Nexstar to be president and COO. https://axios.link/43FyXhe

• David Espinosa was named president of distribution for Fox Corp. He was most recently EVP, distribution strategy and business affairs. https://axios.link/3DuW4jU

4. Movin' on up (or out)

💰 Scoop: Inside Musk's plan for an "everything app" to replace Twitter (Axios)

"[Musk] said it can be a trillion-dollar company — easily," Walter Isaacson, whose book "Elon Musk" comes out Sept. 12, told Mike Allen. "This is an idea he has thought about for 25 years — a financial platform that helps anyone profit from creating content."

🤨 TikTok beefs up text posts in race against Threads, Twitter (Axios)

"This is TikTok's latest move to expand beyond video and comes as social media platforms are reinventing themselves. Last fall, TikTok introduced image sharing," Hope King writes.

🦸‍♀️ This economy runs on Girl Power (Axios)

"Consumers are prioritizing experiences and entertainment over buying things, as fresh economic data for July shows. They're scooping up Barbie tickets, and spending on all that related merch. They're shelling out top-dollar for tickets to Swift's Eras tour and turning a one-night concert into a fabulous two-day event," Emily Peck and Felix Salmon write.

5. Channel surfing

Illustration of a surfer with a television in the place of his head.

🗣️ Quote of the day: "It's so important for the industry, but the headwinds and the uncertainty is looming out there," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, tells Sara Fischer of Barbenheimer's success. 

@tim_bays: "Futurama" on Hulu. Cannot believe this show still exists. 

@kerrymflynn: "Oppenheimer" at AMC Theatres. Missed the bonanza opening weekend but now completing Barbenheimer, unashamedly over two days.

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Jay Bennett for copy editing this newsletter.

Thank you for reading Axios Pro Media Deals! Please ask your friends, colleagues and Cheddar viewers to sign up.

July 25, 2023

1 big thing: Not enough Cheddar