The multimedia empire's chief executive on video journalism, North Korea – and why he won't be taken over by a big rivalShane Smith stayed up late getting drunk with one of his presenters, and now he is exhausted, hungover and behind schedule. Bottles of spirits stand, taunting him, from a table in the opposite corner of an office at Vice Media's headquarters in Brooklyn's voguish Williamsburg neighbourhood, while he slumps in a brown leather armchair.The bearish 44-year-old chief executive seems about as pleased to have an interview in the diary as a boy faced with a plate of broccoli. "I go to bed late and I get up early," he mumbles into his beard. But after an orange juice he soldiers on, sleepily repeating his proud sales pitch for the company estimated to have made him some $400m.Founded 20 years ago by Smith and two friends in Montreal as a scrappy youth magazine, Vice has since mutated into a buccaneering multimedia empire spanning an eclectic website, a TV show, a film production house, an advertising agency and a record label. While other media firms rooted in print continue to struggle, it is forecast to make $125m in profit on half-billion dollar revenues this year.This week it launches its latest online venture, Vice News, a more focused outlet for the kind of video journalism that has recently earned Smith and his team at the much-lampooned "hipster bible" some grudging respect as the unlikely champions of proper, on-the-ground foreign reporting and gritty... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
From the day in 2016 when AT&T announced its $85.4-billion merger with Time Warner, through three years of antitrust wrangling over the deal, the big telecommunications company promised that it would mean lower prices and more choices for consumers. Now AT&T has a message for everyone... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When AT&T announced in August that it had acquired the rights to a pay-per-view golf duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on Thanksgiving weekend, its rechristened entertainment divisionWarnerMediafaced a challenge: how to create a golf event that would appeal beyond the sport's... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2018-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T is acquiring ad tech platform AppNexus, with plans to integrate it into its advertising and analytics unit, the company said Monday. The move will undoubtedly shake up the current ad landscape as well as challenge the so-called duopoly of Google and Facebook.AppNexus, which has been... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2018-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Warner Inc. is no more. Late Thursday, AT&T Inc. announced that it completed its $85-billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc., just two days after a federal judge in Washington gave the deal the green light. AT&T wasted little time consolidating its hard-fought prize — a blockbuster... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The government on Monday made its final plea to a federal judge to block AT&T Inc.’s $85.4-billion purchase of Time Warner Inc. or order it significantly scaled back, arguing that the combined company would be so powerful it would hinder competition and raise pay TV prices for consumers.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Warner Inc.’s chief executive testified Wednesday that the government’s assertions that AT&T Inc. wanted to buy the company to use its programming as leverage over distributors “makes no sense” because it would limit viewership. “I think it’s ridiculous. It’s not how this works,” Jeff... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Citizens of Lilliput, unite! We must subdue the evil Gulliverer, Zuckerberg!Variety's just-released cover story doesn't exactly say that, but that's the subtext of the trade magazine's "Gulliver's Travels"-inspired cover illustration (above right). In his piece headlined "Facebook Under Fire:... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2018-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The biggest U.S. antitrust case of this century kicked into high gear on Thursday as a government lawyer warned that AT&T Inc. wants to buy media giant Time Warner Inc. to “weaponize” its must-have content — a move that would raise prices for consumers and hinder innovation. “Time Warner... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The U.S. Department of Justice has sued to block AT&T’s proposed $85-billion purchase of Time Warner Inc. — one of the largest media mergers in American history — arguing that a bulked-up AT&T would stifle competition and lead to higher prices for consumers. “This merger would greatly... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T’s proposed $85-billion purchase of Time Warner Inc., which owns CNN, HBO and Warner Bros. studios, is encountering resistance from the U.S. Department of Justice. For months, the Dallas telecommunications giant has been confidently predicting that it would finalize the takeover of Time... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Telecommunications giant AT&T has secured the blessing of Brazilian regulators for its $85-billion takeover of Time Warner Inc., moving the blockbuster deal closer to the finish line. The Dallas phone company on Wednesday said Brazil’s antitrust authority, the Conselho Administrativo de... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson indicated that President Trump’s tensions with CNN should not factor into the federal government’s blessing of AT&T’s proposed $85-billion purchase of Time Warner Inc., which owns the cable news network. “I don’t know what the relevance is of CNN... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mashable is exploring strategic options including the sale of all or part of the online media company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Mashable, founded in 2005, may draw interest from buyers in Europe and the U.S., said one of the people, who asked not to be identified... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2017-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media ownership is being overhauled as companies try to figure out their place in a world where 85 percent of digital dollars are going to two companies: Facebook and Google. The platform giants' dominance were factors in AT&T's $85 billion bid for Time Warner and other mega deals that were... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2016-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shares of AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. were down Monday as investors didn’t appear thrilled by the proposed mega-merger announced over the weekend. In response to the $84.5-billion deal, Moody’s Investor Service said Monday it had placed AT&T’s credit rating on review for a possible... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Saturday that his administration would seek to block a massive media merger between AT&T and Time Warner Inc. if he is elected president. The deal, which appears to be imminent, would turn telephone giant AT&T, a company already valued at... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaign 2016 updates: Donald Trump says Donald Trump says women accusing him 'will be sued after the election is over' Oct. 22, 2016, 11:42 a.m. Donald Trump hits the campaign trail in Gettysburg, Pa., while Hillary Clinton is in Philadelphia. Trump says of women accusers will be sued after the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The $4.4bn purchase by the US telecoms giant will help overcome the ad industry’s biggest problem Verizon buying AOL wasn’t the last deal we in agency land ever expected, but to most it’s come as a bit of a shock. It feels to me more like Apple buying Beats, than Comcast trying to merge with... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Don't expect Time Inc. to merge with any of its magazine rivals soon.Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp told investors Thursday that no mergers would happen until at least June 2016, which is the two-year anniversary of Time Inc. spinning off from Time Warner."The safest thing is to wait two years," he... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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