Has Zuckerberg Invented the Twitter Killer?
Threads started off with a bang on Wednesday night. Meta’s new social network garnered more than 10 million sign-ups within seven hours of its launch, and attracted celebrities and politicians such as Oprah Winfrey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York.
But the presence of big-name advertisers like Procter & Gamble and Ford points to bigger business stakes in the battle between Mark Zuckerberg’s new platform and Elon Musk’s Twitter.
Meta is touting Threads as a “friendly” platform, but the social media giant is taking aim at Bluebird. Mr Zuckerberg wants the platform to be “a public conversation app with over a billion people”. And he joined his nearly 600,000 Threads followers, answer With a laughing emoji when someone suggested the new social network could ruin Twitter.
Advertisers are watching closely, even though they can’t buy ads there yet. “Threads can really fly and people are clearly concerned about brand safety on Twitter,” longtime advertising mogul Martin Sorel, who now leads S4 Capital, a digital marketing firm, told DealBook.
Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yacarino, joined last month with the aim of improving ties with big brands that left the platform after Mr Musk bought it and scrapped an army of content moderators. Mr. Sorel said, “Controversy is a negative thing and it’s not something brands want to deal with.”
Meta has had its own problems with privacy and dataand some have already raised concerns about how will it handle misinformation On the stage. But the company has taken steps to improve and is seen as a real alternative, Mr Sorel said, calling the timing of the launch, as Twitter seeks to restrict how many tweets users can see, “beneficial”. Is.
Meta has also been able to leverage its platform and advertising operations. The company has imported features from Instagram, which is used by about two billion people monthly. And it’s targeting the same engaging audience of digitally-savvy creators, said Adam Mosseri, head of the photo-sharing app. an explanatory video,
a sticky feature: If any Threads user wants to delete the account, he/she has to do Too Delete his Instagram account. Will it invite investigation from the FTC, which it has promised to crack down DealBook Wondering On Those Companies That Make It Too Hard To Opt Out Of A Service?
Mr. Musk was unimpressed. “It’s far better to be attacked by strangers on Twitter than to indulge in the false joy of Instagram that hides pain,” he tweeted,
Not everyone can use threads. Its available in 100 countriesBut not in the european union Since Meta and privacy watchdogs have been fighting over the company’s handling of user data. Unlike Twitter, there are also no direct-messaging or livestream options here.
What’s going on over here
Fed officials suggest that several interest rate hikes are on the way. Minutes of the central bank’s rate-setting meeting last month show some officials favored raising rates rather than keeping them steady, as efforts to reduce inflation show slow progress. Economists and investors will be watching Friday’s jobs report for further signs of how aggressive the Fed will be on rates this year.
The Biden administration appeals against the decision limiting communication with social media platforms. department of justice trying to reverse An injunction that prohibits many government officials from encouraging companies to remove certain types of content. meanwhile, State Department reportedly canceled A regular meeting with Facebook executives about the dangers of hacking and the 2024 election.
Donald Trump raised more than $35 million in the second quarter. Amount That was almost double the number of cases taken by the former president in the past three months and shows that many of the indictments seem to have done him no harm politically. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is still struggling to build a strong case against Mr Trump.
Interest in ChatGPT and others seems to be waning. Both web traffic And app download The hugely popular AI chatbots and companions like Bing have shrunk, according to new research. This suggests that the novelty of ChatGPT is wearing off among mainstream users as well as those in the tech industry. gets wildly excited about artificial intelligence
Two top entertainment moguls come together
After stepping down as one of Paramount Global’s top executives last year, David Nevins has found a new position: CEO of The North Road Company, the studio founded by fellow entertainment veteran Peter Chernin.
As DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch and The Times’ John Koblin report, the appointment marks a head start for North Road, which has helped build some of the chain’s biggest hits of the past two decades.
Industry executives wondered where Mr. Nevins would go after Paramount. He rose to prominence producing shows such as “ER,” “24” and “Friday Night Lights.” He then joined Showtime’s entertainment division in 2010 and oversaw such hits as “Homeland,” “The Affair” and “Yellowjackets.”
Till then he left last yearMr. Nevins became chief creative officer of scripted content for the Paramount+ streaming service.
Mr. Nevins is working closely with a highly respected Hollywood veteran. Mr Chernin, who was Rupert Murdoch’s top deputy at News Corp, founded Chernin Entertainment in 2010, which has made films such as “Ford v Ferrari” and “Hidden Figures”. He then formed North Road last year to set up an independent studio with the aim of fueling Hollywood’s appetite, which also includes Chernin Entertainment.
To build his new venture, Mr. Chernin acquired companies including Kinetic Content, which produced “Love Is Blind” for Netflix, and documentary producer Words + Pictures, which was behind ESPN’s “30 for 30.” Have done
There is a lot of money behind North Road. It raised $150 million from the Qatar Investment Authority this year, valuing it at about $1 billion. This comes on top of $500 million put into North Road at launch by investment firm Providence Equity Partners and $300 million in debt financing for Apollo.
Mr Nevins is joining North Road at a significant juncture for the entertainment industry. After spending years wildly on content in the name of subscriber growth, streaming services are languishing as Wall Street’s strategy goes sour.
Mr. Chernin argues that the entertainment giant will increasingly focus on working with independent production companies with quality content and solid financial positions.
“It would be a good time to be a well-funded stand-alone company,” Mr. Nevins told DealBook.
A new story for Taylor Swift and FTX
The sudden collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX last year implicated several celebrities who had become paid ambassadors for the crypto exchange, including then-famous quarterback Tom Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen. .
However, one superstar who escaped this mess was Taylor Swift. Adam Moskowitz, the attorney who is suing Brady and Bündchen over their FTX relationship, said Swift had a similar sponsorship deal, after which the pop diva won praise for her business sense. The truth is more complicated, report Erin Griffith and David Yaffe-Bellany of The Times:
In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Moskowitz said he had no inside information about the talks.
In fact, Ms Swift’s side signed the sponsorship deal with FTX after more than six months of discussions, three people with knowledge of the deal said, and it was Mr Bankman-Fried who withdrew his name. Two people said the last-minute reversal left Ms Swift’s team frustrated and disappointed.
A spokesman for Ms Swift declined to comment.
canada makes news
fought between Canada and Big Tech It made more headlines on Wednesday, after the country’s government pulled ads from Facebook and Instagram. The reason: Social platform parent group Meta said it would block access to news in Canada because tech companies would be required to pay media owners for links to their news content — a regulatory process that is underway Watched closely by lawmakers around the world as a possible model.
This law will become effective in about six months. The Canadian government says digital platforms such as Meta and Google have benefited from free content while swallowing up publishers’ advertising revenue. Tech companies say their platforms have increased publishers’ ability to reach audiences.
The effort to regulate is gaining momentum. In 2021, Australia introduced similar rules. Meta blocked the news there, but relented only after the changes were made. The company and Google later negotiated deals with Australian media companies. Publishers have made millions, canadian law modeled after australianAnd other countries are considering their own measures.
Canada is particularly upset with the meta. Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez accused the company of being “unreasonable and irresponsible” for not negotiating with the government, unlike Google’s parent group Alphabet. He said that the removal of the advertisement would result in loss of lakhs to the company.
US lawmakers are watching. California introduced a similar bill In March and some federal MPs have indicated their support for Canada’s approach. “It is unacceptable for companies like Google and Facebook to abuse their power to block access to news. It is right for the leaders to stand firm against these tactics.” Senator Elizabeth Warrentweeted the Massachusetts Democrat. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat Senator of Minnesota, who has co-sponsored a similar bill A man in Canada told The Globe and Mail newspaper that Lawmakers must resist company pressure: “Undoubtedly the monopolies will fight us at every step.”
Meta did not respond to a request for comment. A Google spokeswoman said the company hoped that dialogue with the government could help resolve concerns that it would no longer block information.
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jetblue said it would withdraw from alliance with American Airlines after a judge blocked the partnership amid protests from the Justice Department. (CNBC)
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Rhine Group, merchant bank focused on sports, media and technology deals, raised $760 million for his latest investment fund. (Rhine)
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