Winding up the spin cycle: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President of Emerson Collective Laurene Powell Jobs, and Chairman of NBC Universal News Group Cesar Conde attend A Year In TIME at The Plaza Hotel on December 12, 2023. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, after months of Hunger Games-esque tactics between NBC News and MSNBC, the split of both entities is nearing completion. In tonight’s edition, we go inside 30 Rock to reveal the big winner (and loser) at NBC News as part of the massive changes. We have also learned the extent of imminent layoffs; you’ll find all the details below.
Plus, if ever there has been a time for Substack co-founder, Hamish McKenzie, to share his thoughts on media industry developments, David Ellison’s reported $150 million acquisition of The Free Press is it. Did Ellison overpay for Bari Weiss’ Substack? Find out in Hamish’s Hot Sauce in today's Breaker.
Finally, more cost-cutting at The Daily Mail, The Atlantic’s hiring spree continues, CNN makes a big poach, and one of the nicest guys in media gets a new job.
Mentioned tonight: Cesar Conde, Rebecca Blumenstein, Rebecca Kutler, Libby Leist, Tom Llamas, David Gelles, Ken Strickland, Lachlan Murdoch, Jay Penske, Jeffrey Goldberg, Noreen Gillespie, Marc Greenstein, Sarah Tanner, David Verdi, Liz Cole, Catherine Kim, Lexi Rudolph, Paul Beckett, Rich Caccappolo, Rachel Tashjian, Evan Gershkovich, and more.
The Breaker Pod is Back
The Breaker Pod is roaring back, and we promised you we’d make it worth the wait – we have a series of stellar guests lined up for this season.
Ahead of our official launch on Thursday, an emergency edition of the Breaker Pod was in order as the sentencing for disgraced music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs played out in the U.S. Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan Friday.
Hours ahead of sentencing, Breaker was at the home of bail bondsman to the stars, Ira Judelson, who has handled other high-profile cases (including Harvey Weinstein and Dominic Strauss-Kahn) and consulted for Combs’ legal team.
We’ll get his prediction ahead of Diddy’s sentence, and later, after finding out the judge's verdict, we’ll unpack Combs’ future behind bars.
Judelson also shares his thoughts on disgraced real estate execs, the Alexander Brothers, accused of sex trafficking women in Miami, and the sickening Crypto Kidnapping Brothers, charged with a range of kidnapping and torture-related charges in Manhattan.
Lastly, ahead of Diddy’s live sentencing, Ira sums up his thoughts on the future for Luigi Mangione: “You won’t see him again.”
We have a very special guest for the first episode of season two of the Breaker pod on Thursday - make sure you subscribe to The Breaker YouTube channel to find out who it is and watch the pod when it goes live.
NBC News Succession
(Exclusive.) On Monday afternoon, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde sent a verbose 530-word memo to staff, marking the start of the formal split of newsgathering from Versant (the artist formerly known as SpinCo).
“As we often discuss, our journalistic values are accuracy, fairness, and accountability,” Conde began the missive, which was obtained and reviewed by Breaker. “Our strategic priorities continue to focus on content, innovation, and culture. To advance these priorities, our teams at NBC News have been working on some exciting new projects.”
Conde went on to tell the troops about their new daily podcast, Here’s the Scoop, and tout the launch of NBC News’ subscription service that will be in orbit later this year. The Walmart and PepsiCo board director also boasted about a new marketing campaign for NBC News and the expansion of the Sports hub, in partnership with NBC Sports, in time for the football World Cup, the Milan Olympics, and the NBA returning to NBC.
“While we feel confident about our future, we also know that we can’t be complacent about our industry-leading position,” Conde continued. “Our success in this highly competitive and challenging economic climate depends on staying agile.”
As much of the media reporting pack was distracted with Bari Weiss’ arrival at CBS News Conde – in true burying the lead fashion – finally got to the news. NBC News was "transitioning" its daily newsgathering to a more “story-centric approach.”
The big winner as part of that transition is the President of NBC News Editorial, Rebecca Blumenstein, whose fiefdom is growing with five new direct reports, including the new Head of Standards, Noreen Gillespie, Marc Greenstein leading an expanded Creative Production and Operations division, new Head of Marketing, Sarah Tanner, and David Gelles, who runs Meet The Press.
They’ll join the five reports currently under her umbrella, including David Verdi, Executive Vice President, Global Newsgathering, Liz Cole, the President of NBC News Studios, Catherine Kim, Executive Vice President, Editorial, Ken Strickland, SVP, NBC News Editorial Operations, and Lexi Rudolph, SVP, NBC News Editorial Operations.
But the big loser in the changes that have rattled many people – already on edge about imminent layoffs (more on the size of those pinkslips below) – and the person NBC News journalists and producers say has been demoted as part of the reshuffle is…
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