What we’re reading (10/24)
“CNN President Jeff Zucker Faces What Might Be His Last Lap” (Wall Street Journal). “CNN President Jeff Zucker survived plenty of corporate intrigue since telecom giant AT&T swallowed up the cable network’s parent company two years ago. Now that is changing, leaving Mr. Zucker frustrated and his future at the cable news network in doubt. Mr. Zucker, who has overseen CNN for seven years, felt blindsided by a recent restructuring carried out by parent WarnerMedia, and has had friction with its chief executive, Jason Kilar, according to people familiar with the situation.”
“Morning Brew, The Business Newsletter Publisher For Millennials, Is In Talks To Sell Itself To Business Insider” (Recode). “Two college students started Morning Brew five years ago. Now they’re in talks to sell their business newsletter company to Business Insider, according to sources familiar with the two companies. It’s unclear how much Business Insider intends to pay for Morning Brew, which says it will turn a profit on revenue of $20 million this year. But people who have talked to the company’s founders believe they expect to sell it for more than $50 million, and possibly much more; the Wall Street Journal reports that the deal could be worth more than $75 million…The deal would also underscore the media industry’s current fascination with email newsletters, which are a very old distribution model that’s once again in favor. For instance: Axios, the politics-focused startup that launched in 2017, is reportedly on track to do $58 million in revenue this year, largely on the backs of its popular newsletters.”
“The Republican Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Is A Progressive Dream” (Reason). “[T]he complaint—filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia—employs a loose conception of monopoly and barely bothers trying to offer a theory of consumer harm. The complaint's big beef with Google is basically that it's big, as well as useful, stubbornly popular, and extremely profitable…[t]he lawsuit against Google does not accuse it of conspiring with its competitors or of acting unilaterally to block new entrants into the market. Nor does it cite common political gripes about Google, such as the idea that it's working too many different hustles and needs to be "broken up," or the claim that Google search and YouTube are ideologically biased. Rather, it accuses Google of unfairly dominating the U.S. markets for general search services, search advertising, and general search text advertising, mainly through distribution deals that give Google apps or search preset default status on some browsers and mobile devices.”
“Meet The Woman Who Could Lead The Treasury In A Biden Administration” (CNN Business). “The US election is still more than a week away, but speculation about who might lead the Treasury Department under a Biden administration is already in full swing. Analysts from Washington to Wall Street say a leading contender would be Lael Brainard, a current Federal Reserve governor with years of practical experience for the job. Brainard, who could replace Steve Mnuchin, would be the first woman to serve in the role. Despite some concerns from experts that she might look to impose tougher regulations on big banks, she's not nearly as progressive as Senator Elizabeth Warren, another rumored contender. ‘There could be a tug of war between progressives and more moderate Democrats, but many people would prefer someone with both a deep background in economics and monetary policy,’ said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. Brainard checks both of those boxes, a variety of experts agree.”
“Increasing The Minimum Wage Would Help, Not Hurt, The Economy” (NBC News). “Business groups have argued that raising the minimum wage forces business owners to fire workers, a claim echoed by Trump in the debate. The reality is more complex: The evidence of job loss is inconsistent, and the benefits are accrued by some of the country’s most vulnerable populations. In terms of reducing income and wealth disparities, a rising minimum wage is a good thing. ‘The benefits in terms of reducing inequality — getting money into people's pockets, stimulating the market — are very well proven,’ said Till von Wachter, professor of economics and director of the California Policy Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. ‘The best evidence is that judiciously set minimum wages make a lot of sense. They raise earnings, reduce individual and family poverty, and have no measurable negative effects on employment,’ said David Autor, an economics professor at MIT and co-chair of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future.”
