Thursday, November 10, 2022

Friday is near. Donald Trump is raging at Murdoch media, Alex Jones is ordered to pay nearly half a billion dollars more, Dominion is scheduled to depose Bret Baier, Amazon is looking for cuts, and Chris Rock is set to make Netflix history. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Twitter's 'Titanic' Moment

CNN Photo Illustration/NurPhoto/AP

The world is watching the world's richest man single-handedly destroy one of the world's most powerful and important communication platforms, just weeks after acquiring it for $44 billion. And of course, the world is watching the dramatic spectacle unfold on — where else? — Twitter.

It's hard to succinctly summarize the absolute chaos that has consumed Twitter over the last 12 hours as Elon Musk continues to wreak havoc on the Silicon Valley company. "It feels like the beginning of the end, honestly," one recently laid-off Twitter employee candidly told me Thursday evening, describing the company as the "Titanic" with "everyone looking for lifeboats."

Several of those employees, apparently, are top executives. Platformer scooped Thursday evening that Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth had resigned. Bloomberg reported that its advertising chief Robin Wheeler was on the way out. And earlier in the day, we learned that Twitter's chief information security officer Lea Kissner resigned, as had chief privacy officer Damien Kieran.

To make matters worse, the exits of Kissner and Kieran came after a senior member of Twitter's legal team warned in an internal company message that Musk's sole priority was "recouping the losses he's incurring as a result of failing to get out of his binding obligation to buy Twitter." The employee added that Musk was unconcerned about potential liability before the FTC, which seemingly raised eyebrows at the federal agency. A spokesperson for the agency said it's "tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern."

"No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees," the spokesperson added. "Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them."

But Musk has several other distressing problems as well.

The loss of the senior executives, especially Roth and Wheeler, will make it extraordinarily difficult to lure already skeptical advertisers back to the social media site. And with Musk effectively nuking verification on Twitter, giving way to an explosion of trolls and others creating imposter accounts, it's hard to see why advertisers would put their money (and faith) into Twitter.

And given that Twitter heavily relies on advertising revenue, the developments spell exceptionally troubling news for the already-imperiled company.

Which is why Musk perhaps is already floating the possibility that Twitter might collapse. In his first all-staff email, where he abruptly announced mandatory return-to-office, Musk warned that "the economic picture ahead is dire" and said "without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn." In his first meeting with Twitter employees, Bloomberg reported that Musk said bankruptcy is on the table if the company doesn't soon start generating more cash.

Maybe Twitter will find a path forward. But the road ahead looks quite arduous. As the non-profit watchdog Accountable Tech put it Thursday evening: "This hellscape is going to get more hellish. More hate speech and harassment. More deception and impersonation. More privacy and security risks for all of us. We would once again tell advertisers to jump ship, but at this point, no CMO in their right mind needs that advice."

THE SIDEBAR

Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer go inside Twitter's meltdown: "A real sense of doom began to pervade the timeline today, as some users began to ponder for the first time a world with a defunct or deserted Twitter. Musk's whim-based approach to product development, his rapidly depleting executive ranks, and the very real likelihood of hundreds or even thousands of additional departures at the company in coming weeks threaten to leave Twitter a shadow of its former self." (Platformer)
Ben Collins reports that some Twitter staffers are comparing working for Musk to working for Donald Trump, saying they are only staying at the company to do their best to keep it from "going off the rails." (NBC News)
Alex Heath has a full transcript of Musk's entire meeting with Twitter employees. (The Verge)
Semafor's Ben Smith reports that NPR had issued internal guidance to employees about using Twitter, asking them to "refrain for now" from giving out their Twitter handle on-air. But the outlet also requested that employees "do not abandon" their accounts "as someone else could take" their handle and impersonate them. (Twitter)
"If Twitter goes down or becomes the Thunderdome in days/weeks, it will have serious ripple effects throughout the media ecosystem," Mother Jones Editor-In-Chief Clara Jeffery tweets. "For one thing, it's the portal by which many get their news. It's also the assignment desk, in ways both good and bad, for journalists." (Twitter)
"I genuinely don't understand how every random person on this site can see how disastrous & dangerous this unverified blue check system is for Twitter & for the world but the world's richest man, a 'genius' according to some, can't see that," tweets MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan. "The chaos is happening in plain sight." (Twitter)
"Whoever at Coca-Cola forced the introduction of 'New Coke' in 1985 must be getting excited at the prospect of being replaced as biggest product blunder of all time, as Twitter follows that lead by taking a hugely popular brand and trashing it to pieces, driving away loyal users," jokes CNN media analyst Bill Carter. (Twitter)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters

MAGA Meltdown: Donald Trump is expressing extreme displeasure with Rupert Murdoch's media properties. The former president wrote a lengthy and meandering series of posts on Truth Social assailing News Corp, which he incorrectly described as the parent company of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post (News Corp houses the two papers, but not Fox News, which is actually currently under Fox Corp.) Trump declared that the Post, which bashed him brutally on its Thursday cover, is "no longer great." And he attacked all three outlets for going "all in" for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as we reported here. When reached for comment on Thursday evening, a spokesperson for Murdoch declined to comment.

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/AP

The $1.5 Billion Lie: Alex Jones' lies about the Sandy Hook shooting are getting even more expensive. A Connecticut judge on Thursday ordered the right-wing conspiracy theorist to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages. That's on top of the $965 million he was ordered to pay last month, and on top of the $50 million he was ordered to pay in another case. In total, Jones is now in the hole more than $1.5 billion. In her decision, Judge Barbara Bellis described Jones' "depravity" and "cruel, persistent course of conduct" which she said established "the highest degree of reprehensibility and blameworthiness." More in my story with Sonia Moghe here.

First in Reliable | Dominion's Depositions: Dominion Voting Systems is scheduled to conduct more high-profile Fox News depositions in its $1.6 billion lawsuit against the right-wing media company. Fox News President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace is scheduled to be deposed next Tuesday, according to a court filing. And anchor Bret Baier is scheduled to be deposed on the 19th, according to another court filing. Some of Fox News' biggest stars, of course, have already been deposed.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Sean Hannity, who hyped an election "red tsunami" confessed the "glowing predictions of a big red wave were frankly foolish." (Daily Beast)
Post-election misinformation is swirling online as far-right figures seek to explain losses and ballots are counted in Maricopa County, Arizona. (AP)
The WaPo is tracking how election deniers fared in the midterms. 160 such candidates are projected to win, so far. (WaPo)
Spanish-language YouTube channels are promoting skepticism about midterm tabulation efforts. (MMFA)

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Seth Wenig/AP

Media Stocks Soar: The banner headline on The WSJ's homepage Thursday evening: "Dow Rises 1,200 Points on Signs of Easing Inflation: Stocks stage biggest rally since 2020." That rally also lifted the media industry, as Deadline's Jill Goldsmith noted. Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) ended the day up nearly 10%. Paramount Global ended the day up nearly 7%. Disney ended the day up 4%. And AMC Entertainment spiked 18%. More here in Goldsmith's story.

Endeavor Lifts Off: Endeavor shares jumped more than 6% in after-hours trading after the company reported $1.2 billion in revenue during Q3 earnings. "Our business performed well in the quarter despite a turbulent macroeconomic environment," CEO Ari Emanuel said in a statement. Emanuel acknowledged on the earnings call that "spending habits have shifted," but he touted that Endeavor "has a presence at every point on the purchase chain." On the sports front, Emanuel said that the "demand for premium talent-led content and shows no sign of slowing." THR's Alex Weprin has more here.

First in Reliable | Mitchell's Moment: The International Center for Journalists' Tribute to Journalists honored Andrea Mitchell on Thursday night with the ICFJ Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism. While accepting the award, Mitchell delivered poignant remarks about the state of the media industry, saying that "we need great journalism now more than at any time I can recall - and historians would say, in our country, more than at any time since the Civil War." Mitchell continued, "Never before has our system been challenged as it has been in the last year - and that is mirrored by authoritarian movements overseas."

IN THE INDUSTRY

Michelle Obama is kicking off her book tour. CNN's Sara Sidner will moderate a discussion with Obama, Amal Clooney, and Melinda French Gates on November 20. And Robin Roberts will interview Obama for a prime time special on November 13. (CNN/Variety)
Cineplex posted a $31M Q3 profit, sending shares rising nearly 5%. (THR)
Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav held a company town hall on Thursday with new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. (Deadline)
Fred Hickman, the pioneering sports broadcaster and anchor who helped launch CNN Sports and Yes Network, dies at 66. (CNN)
WME is partnering with Audio Up Media to support its podcasters. (Variety)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/David Ryder/Getty Images

Cuts in the Amazon: Another day, another example of a Big Tech titan looking to slash costs. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been "leading a cost-cutting review of the tech giant and paring back on businesses at the company that haven't been profitable," The WSJ's Dana Mattioli, Sebastian Herrera, and Jessica Toonkel reported Thursday. The review, according to the trio, could particularly impact Alexa, which is reportedly bleeding more than $5 billion a year. More here.

TOO MANY TABS

Meta's stock ended Thursday up a whopping 10% after Mark Zuckerberg announced mass layoffs the day before. (MarketWatch)
Meta's problems are "a cautionary tale, one with application to investing in just about all tech companies in an era of raging inflation, rising interest rates and plunging asset prices," Jeff Sommer writes. (NYT)
Big picture: "At least 20,300 U.S. tech workers were let go from their jobs in November." (CNBC)
Amazon is under pressure to remove an antisemitic film boosted by Kyrie Irving. (Variety)
More check marks: Substack launches badges showing a range of how many paid subscribers a publisher has. (Substack)
Apple is limiting AirDrop in China after it was used to sidestep government censorship and spread protest messages. (Vice)
TikTok is partnering with Variety to host its second Culture Catalysts Dinner in NYC. (Variety)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Live on Netflix: Chris Rock is going to make Netflix history. The comedian is set to become the first to air a live special on the streamer in early 2023. "We're thrilled the entire world will be able to experience a live Chris Rock comedy event and be a part of Netflix history," Netflix VP of comedy Robbie Praw said in a statement. "This will be an unforgettable moment and we're so honored that Chris is carrying this torch." CNN's Lisa Respers France has more.

🔎 Zooming in: The special could pave the way for Netflix to dive deeper into live programming. Competitors such as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime have already started airing live sports. And The WSJ reported this week that Netflix looked at bidding on streaming rights for certain sports games.

OFF STAGE

Paul Haggis was found liable for raping a former film industry publicist in 2013, a jury ordering him to pay her at least $7.5 million. (NYT)
Dave Chappelle's rep says there is no "SNL" writers boycott ahead of his hosting gig. (CNN)
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is off to a strong start in the international market with $10.1 million in box office returns. (Deadline)
Drake and 21 Savage are prohibited from using their fake Vogue cover to promote their new album after Condé Nast sued. (THR)
Disney World started to reopen on Thursday after Tropical Storm Nicole passed through Florida. (Deadline)
Mariah Carey will host a Christmas special on CBS on December 20, from 8-10pm. (Deadline)
Hello "Yellowstone": The Atlantic dives into how Taylor Sheridan created America's most popular TV show. (Atlantic)
"Good Night, And Good Luck" — the 2005 film featuring George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., and others — is being adapted for an AMC TV series. (Deadline)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will be back in your inbox next week.