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Thursday, January 12, 2023

You're on the way to Friday. One housekeeping note: This newsletter will be off Monday for MLK Day, which means that we will be back in your inbox on Tuesday evening.

Now, let's get to the news. CBS News boss Neeraj Khemlani is the subject of an HR probe, layoffs hit NBC News and MSNBC, Hallie Jackson jumps to NOW, HuffPost publishes Tucker Carlson's texts to Alex Jones, HBO Max hikes prices, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Tate's Big Take

CNN Photo Illustration/Alexandru Dobre/AP

Andrew Tate has been lining his pockets via right-wing social media.

The 36-year-old former pro kickboxer turned misogynistic "alpha male" influencer, who Romanian authorities took into custody in late December as they pursue allegations of human trafficking and rape, signed deals in 2022 with Rumble and GETTR to exclusively post content on their platforms.

Those agreements were not a secret. In fact, as you might imagine, both right-wing social media companies at the time were proud to tout their relationship with Tate, who has been banned from YouTube and TikTok. But what has not been publicly known, until now, is just how lucrative the deals were for the influencer.

Tate has privately boasted that his deal with Rumble, the video-based social media site popular with conservatives that markets itself as "immune to cancel culture," was worth a staggering $9 million, I have learned.

CNN could not independently confirm the valuation of the deal. But asked for comment, Rumble did not deny the price of the agreement, acknowledging in a statement to me that it does have deals with its creators and has "offered incentives" to them. The company went on to call for Tate to be rigorously investigated over the sex crimes he's alleged to have committed.

"Rumble strongly condemns human trafficking and sexual abuse, and our platform prohibits pornography and all forms of illegal activity. At the same time, every accused deserves due process," Rumble said Thursday evening. "The allegations against Andrew Tate, which do not appear to involve any content on Rumble, should be investigated promptly and thoroughly, and we will not prejudge that investigation."

It's not clear precisely how much Tate's deal with GETTR was worth; the company did not comment on Thursday. Neither did Tate, who remains in custody in Romania, and a representative for him could not be reached for comment.

Million-dollar deals are not necessarily unprecedented in the right-wing social space. Axios reported earlier this month that Donald Trump Jr. had struck a multiyear, seven-figure agreement with Rumble. And other personalities, such as Russell Brand and Glenn Greenwald, have struck their own deals with the platform. Rumble, which went public last year via a SPAC, was reportedly valued at over $2 billion and has received financial backing from billionaire Peter Thiel.

The distribution agreements underscore how profitable it can be to work as an influencer in right-wing media. And they show how financially rewarding deals with upstart social media companies can be as they work to draw users to their platforms while competing with far more established technology giants, such as Twitter and YouTube.

Despite being banned by the vast majority of mainstream social media platforms, Tate remains influential among young men. His rants claiming most of society supposedly remains locked in "The Matrix," which he describes as a world governed by shadowy elites hellbent on compelling the masses to work for them, rack up millions of views. And he has, in particular, grown a big following with younger men through his commentary on male supremacy. Before his TikTok account was banned, he amassed 11.6 billion views.

The deals with Tate seemed to work well for both parties. Tate drove significant engagement to both platforms. Sky News reported in September, for instance, that daily active users on Rumble surged 45.3% the week Tate slashed onto the platform. And GETTR credited Tate in a press release for helping drive engagement.

I'm told that his deal with GETTR ended when he rejoined Twitter in late November after Elon Musk lifted the ban previously held on his account. But with Tate in custody facing serious charges, the fate of his lucrative deal with Rumble remains to be seen.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Drudge Report

The Biden Documents Bonanza: The top headline across the country is the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the probe into classified documents found at President Joe Biden's home and office. The big three newscasts all led with the story in their A-blocks on Thursday evening and it's hard to find a news organization that isn't doing the same online either. CNN is posting live updates on the developing story here.

A Muted McCarthy: It's been days since C-SPAN sent a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy asking for permission to operate its own independent cameras in the House chamber. And so far, McCarthy has effectively ignored the ask. A rep for the public affairs network told me on Thursday that they had not received any response from McCarthy's office. And McCarthy's spokesperson has ignored my many requests for comment. 😞

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/William B. Plowman/NBC/Getty Images

Jackson Jumps to NOW: Get ready to see more Hallie Jackson on NBC News NOW, the network's free streaming service. NBC News and MSNBC announced Thursday that Jackson will vacate her 3pm MSNBC slot in favor of the streamer, where she will grow her presence to two hours. Chris Jansing will in turn expand her program to two hours to cover the slot, MSNBC said, as it tweaked other areas of its dayside and weekend lineup.

Jackson's MSNBC exit follows the departure of other notable NBC News talent, such as Chuck Todd, to News NOW. The streaming service, which I have watched and found to be quite good, boasts 11+ hours of live original programming each day as NBC News pours resources into building the three-year old streamer. In fact, after Jackson leaves the cable news channel next month, Andrea Mitchell will be the only NBC News journalist hosting a show on MSNBC (that's not to say that the MSNBC dayside anchors aren't hard news journalists. They are, but they're MSNBC talent, not NBC News talent). As MSNBC boss Rashida Jones noted in her memo to staff, Jackson's jump to News NOW is a step "signifying the News Group's commitment to streaming."

► Related news: Limited layoffs hit NBC News and MSNBC on Thursday. I'm told that approximately 75 people were impacted. For context, between both networks, around 3,500 people are employed.

DEVELOPING | CBS Chief Under Scrutiny: CBS News boss Neeraj Khemlani is facing an HR review, the New York Post's Alexandra Steigrad scooped on Thursday. Steigrad reported that Khemlani has been subject to various HR complaints which are being examined. A source on Thursday evening confirmed to me that a probe of Khemlani is indeed taking place. CBS News is declining to comment.

AWOL At ABC: When will T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach return to "GMA3," if ever? That question remains unclear, precisely one month after ABC News boss Kim Godwin confirmed that the duo was subject to an internal review after photos surfaced of them in an apparent romantic relationship. Spokespeople for ABC News did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Bloomberg Media CEO Scott Havens chats with Kayleigh Barber about the outlet's plans for global expansion. (Digiday)
Ari Emanuel continues to face pressure to take action — or say something — about his UFC boss Dana White, who was caught on camera striking his wife weeks ago at a party in Mexico. (Deadline)
Emanuel's silence "has raised eyebrows around Hollywood given that the Endeavor CEO has been quick to chime in on various scandals and misconduct over the years," Tatiana Siegel reports. (Variety)
FX boss John Landgraf talks with Josef Adalian about how the company "survived the streaming wars." (Vulture)
Reed Hastings has donated $20 million to San Francisco's Minerva University. (Variety)
Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring a sale of its music library that could be valued at more than $1B, FT's Anna Nicolaou reports. (FT)
Speaking of WBD: The company ended the trading day Thursday with shares up another 4%. Over the last five days, shares have jumped more than 20%, with a current price of $13.15.

MEDIA MOVES

WaPo has named Elana Zak as director of newsletter strategy. (WaPo)
Axios has hired Nick Sobczyk to cover energy and climate. (Twitter)
NYT says Kate Rosman is moving to Metro; Ernesto Londoño will move to National. (NYT/NYT)
Imagine Entertainment has named Allan Mandelbaum senior VP of features. (Variety)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Getty Images

Tucker's Texts: They're finally public. On Thursday, HuffPost's Sebastian Murdock published the text messages between Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones, which a Sandy Hook attorney had inadvertently obtained last year. The texts don't reveal anything particularly shocking. As Jones told Murdock, Carlson "has already outed himself as an Alex Jones fan." A couple highlights though:

► A paranoid Carlson asserted to Jones that if Democrats were elected in 2020 (spoiler, they were) that Fox News would be destroyed. "They're going to rush Fox News," Carlson texted, adding that he believed "everyone who thought it was fine that they deplatformed Alex Jones will look like a f**king moron."

► Carlson was apologetic to Jones because The Daily Caller, the conservative news website he had founded, refused to allow InfoWars to advertise. "F**king crazy," Carlson texted Jones. "I'm really sorry."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

They did it again. A decade after his viral interview with the InfoWars host, Piers Morgan went head-to-head with Alex Jones again. After condemning him as "utterly contemptible," Morgan ended the interview with Jones as the conspiracy theorist went on a rant. (Mediaite)
Rupert Murdoch is set to be deposed by Dominion Voting Systems on January 19th and 20th from the Fox Studio lot, David Folkenflik reports. (Twitter)
David Graham writes about the gas stove debate, arguing that it "exemplifies the silliest tendencies" in U.S. politics: "A big nothing can morph into a huge controversy for no good reason at all." (The Atlantic)
To give you an example of how far this is going, here's one headline from the progressive watchdog Media Matters: "Tim Pool and co-hosts make absurd claims that the government wants to control your cooking through the power grid." (MMFA)
As Paul Ryan talked about Donald Trump with Jake Tapper on Thursday, Tapper pointed out that the former House speaker still cashes a check from Fox: "You're a board member, by the way." (CNN)
ExxonMobil's own scientists accurately predicted future global warming in reports dating back to the late 1970s, despite the company publicly casting doubt on climate science and lobbying against action. (CNN)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Cook's Cash: Bad news for Tim Cook: The Apple CEO's compensation is set to shrink substantially in 2023 after earning nearly $100 million last year (most of this, of course, is not base salary but stock awards). According to an SEC filing, Cook's 2023 target compensation will fall to $49 million after shareholder feedback and a "recommendation" from Cook. CNBC's Kif Leswing has details.

TOO MANY TABS

Meta is suing Voyager Labs, alleging the company concocted a scheme to steal user data. (CNBC)
Twitter is closing or getting kicked out of a dozen international offices as Elon Musk skips rent and dramatically shrinks operations. (Insider)
Google warns that a Supreme Court decision on YouTube's recommendation engine could have unintended consequences. (CNN)
TikTok has launched a talent manager portal. (TechCrunch)
Apple is "searching for a head of ad sales as its streaming TV and sports ambitions grow," Claire Atkinson reports. (Insider)
Apple may finally be embracing touchscreen laptops despite the late Steve Jobs famously describing them as "ergonomically terrible." (CNN)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Presley Ann/Getty Images

More for Max: The HBO Max price hike that parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (which is also CNN's parent) indicated would occur late last year has arrived. The streamer, which launched in May 2020, upped its price Thursday for the first time since its birth with the ad-free plan ticking up $1 (it's now $15.99 a month). The company said the price hike will allow it to "continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users." The price increase comes as other streamers, such as Disney+ and Netflix, lifted their prices last year. CNN's Jordan Valinsky has more here.

► On a related note: Warner Bros. Discovery and Prime Video unveiled plans on Thursday to launch "Warner Pass" in France with content from HBO and others.

OFF STAGE

Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of the late Elvis Presley, died Thursday after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest. She was 54. (CNN)
"Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland was charged with felony domestic violence. Roiland has pleaded not guilty. (NBC News)
The Producers Guild of America announced its nominations for the 34th annual PGA Awards on Thursday. (Deadline)
Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance at the 1975 concert in London on Thursday night, perfuming "Anti-Hero" live for the first time. (Variety)
"Succession" star Jeremy Strong talks about his method acting, disclosing that he "lives" in Kendall Roy's clothes "when we're shooting the show." (W Mag)
"Minx" has been saved by Starz after HBO Max canceled the series. (Deadline)
"Found" won't air on NBC until fall 2023 after the network pushed its premiere date back. (THR)
"Criminal Minds: Evolution" has been renewed by Paramount+. (TV Line)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino. Have feedback? Send us an email here. Again, we will be off on Monday for the holiday, which means that we will be back in your inbox on Tuesday evening. See you then.