Recent media news has been buzzing with Axel Springer's jaw-dropping $1 billion acquisition of Politico, sparking discussions about the future of media. Forbes is taking a bold step into the public market through a SPAC deal, showcasing its digital evolution and ambitious plans. Meanwhile, Vice has made headlines for layoffs as it shifts focus to video content, a recurring theme that raises concerns in the industry. The podcast delves into the dynamics of these changes and the competitive landscape of modern media.
22:01
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Axel Springer's Media Acquisitions
Axel Springer, known for Bild newspaper, expands into digital media.
They acquired Business Insider, have a joint venture with Politico Europe, and a stake in Morning Brew.
insights INSIGHT
Axel Springer's Strategy
Axel Springer, backed by KKR, owns Business Insider, a large website network with paid products.
Politico also has paid products, raising questions about Axel Springer's overall strategy.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Forbes' Digital Focus
Forbes, a traditional business publication, has shifted its focus to digital media.
Despite its long history and brand leverage, Forbes is valued at slightly under a billion dollars.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
The Equity crew felt that there was enough media news out recently that we simply had no choice but to fire up a Twitter Space and have a chat. The above episode is a discussion of a few things, in a loose and relaxed manner, so don't take any of the Verizon jokes too seriously, Verizon, as we still work for you. For a few more days.
Politico sells for $1 billion: Its new parent company Axel Springer also buying the rest of Politico Europe and all of Protocol at the same time. This deal exploded everyone's Twitter feed due to its scale, and the fact that it was one heck of an exit for a media company. One billion dollars? For media? In this economy? Yes!
Forbes is going public via a SPAC: Yep, the venerable Forbes magazing and its enormous digital arm are taking the blank-check route to the public markets, which means that we got its numbers and time to stroll through them. Our take is that Forbes has done massive work to take its IRL brand and extend it into the digital world. The company has big plans to boot, and will be worth more than $800 million when it combines.
Layoffs hit Vice: As Vice turns its focus to video content — you've heard this story before — it is shedding some of its editorial staff. The layoffs were a stinkbomb on Media Twitter after the other news of the week, but were sadly not a huge surprise. The company's union decried them as something of a yearly recurrance. Not good, not good at all.
And there's more media news to come. Our parent company Verizon Media is expected to close its sale to Apollo on September 1 or sometime soon after, which means we will either be hosting Equity regularly as always, or we'll be hosting the RUDE (Recently Unemployed Due to (Private) Equity) podcast.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Equity