The Kings of Linen: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Air Mail’s Graydon Carter attend the Cannes Film Festival Air Mail Party on May 23, 2023, in Cap d'Antibes, France. (Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images.)
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In tonight’s edition, Graydon Carter and Jon Kelly go way back to when Kelly was Carter’s assistant at Vanity Fair. In tonight’s edition, we reveal that The Apprentice (who runs Puck) is set to acquire The Master (who runs Air Mail).
Also, tonight, POLITICO star reporter Rachael Bade (and former Playbook scribe) is considering her next move. She’s pulled the pin on a podcast she was going to helm for the Beltway outlet after they changed their minds about the direction of the pod.
Plus, it’s Thursday, which means Journo Jobs is back. Tonight gigs at TIME, The California Post, The New York Times, and FOX.
Mentioned tonight: Graydon Carter, Jon Kelly, Gerry Cardinale, Lord Rothermere, Alessandra Stanley, Matt Belloni, Dylan Byers, Stephanie Ruhle, Bill Cohan, Lauren Sherman, Bari Weiss, Will Lewis, Anna Wintour, Chloe Malle, Goli Sheikholeslami, Dasha Burns, Jonathan Greenberg, and more.
The Master And The Apprentice
(Exclusive.) Puck, the media company founded by Jon Kelly in 2021, has entered into an agreement to acquire Graydon Carter’s Air Mail, according to two people familiar with the matter.
After stepping down from the top job at Vanity Fair in 2017, Carter founded Air Mail with former New York Times Journalist Alessandra Stanley. The weekend newsletter of news features and culture dispatches has been exploring a sale since last year with help from investment bank The Raine Group.
Carter and Kelly have a decades-long relationship that dates back to Vanity Fair, where Kelly was Carter’s assistant. Puck’s customer service email [email protected] is a nod to Carter’s West Village restaurant, Waverly Inn, where you would email “Fritz” to gain a VIP reservation.
Both Air Mail and Puck share some of the same investors – private equity company TPG and glamorous roofing company Standard Industries.
Although Puck’s revenue is …
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