tomorrow, Hipgnosis faces a make-or-break vote over its future.
Investors told us it's increasingly unlikely Hipgnosis will get enough shareholder votes to continue the fund.
Shareholders also want to overhaul the board.
our full preview here:
ft.com/content/1c7171…

spotify stock is up 10% today.
turns out that if you raise prices and cut costs, you can make a profit.
CEO Daniel Ek said today's financial results prove that Spotify can be a 'great business'. more here:
ft.com/content/dcb2e9…

NYT has published an 'editors' note' on its Gaza hospital coverage.
says it 'relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified'
nytimes.com/2023/10/23/pag…

new: Dow Jones chief financial officer Liz O’Melia is leaving the company

ft.com/content/67f235…

Today is an important day at the Financial Times: the company is sitting across the bargaining table with the Financial TimesUSGuild as our newly formed union works to raise wages and reduce salary disparities in the newsroom. I strongly support the proposal and hope the FT meets its employees needs

the slow motion car crash continues:
Hipgnosis launches strategic review

genuinely confused as to why the US press, who wrote long, flattering profiles of Merck from 2020-2021, are not on this story
ft.com/content/c9df07…

Universal Music alleges that Anthropic's Claude chatbot is generating nearly identical copies of song lyrics when prompted.

when I asked rival OpenAI's ChatGPT for song lyrics, it it said it couldn't provide due to copyright restrictions
ft.com/content/0965d9…

new: Universal Music has sued AI start-up Anthropic for copyright infringement.
Anthropic's Claude chatbot is churning out song lyrics without permission 'on a systematic and widespread basis', per filing.
story TK

Latest Committee to Protect Journalists update on journalist casualties in Israel-Gaza conflict: 15 killed; 8 injured; 3 missing/detained.
CPJ is also investigating over 100 further reports of journalists killed, missing, detained or threatened, and of damage to property.
cpj.org/?p=321571

the BBC has taken 6 reporters off air after they liked or tweeted posts that appeared to support Palestine.

full story from Daniel Thomas and Heba Saleh: ft.com/content/c998bf…

I wrote about slowing down to draw in museums. The comments are so cute

on.ft.com/3ZXLsVq

The “independent valuation firm” for Hipgnosis drew up forecasts for income from its songs that were not even close to reality (as we reported extensively last year).
Hipgnosis now has to axe its dividend to meet its debt covenants!
full story: ft.com/content/130178…

Issam was one of the first people I befriended at Reuters. Well, he befriended me, as he did everyone who came into his orbit.

He was a kind, caring and passionate journalist, beloved in Beirut and beyond.

He will be deeply missed.

x.com/timourazhari/s…

ALMA Al-SHAAB, Lebanon (AP) — An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon, killing a Reuters videographer and leaving six other journalists injured.
apnews.com/article/israel…

Our Reuters colleague Issam Abdallah Issam Abdallah - عصام العبدالله was killed by an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon. Issam was the best, the funniest and the smartest. I’m in utter shock. Journalism is not a crime and targeting journalists and witnesses of history is hideous. RIP brother!

Israel's president is denying the concept of innocent civilians, on the brink of a major military offensive. A very bad sign. ft.com/content/8ea237…

Context for The Washington Post buyout program announced this morning, per interim publisher Patty Stonesifer. Since 2021:

--Audience: down 28 percent.
--Subscriptions: down 15 percent (to around 2.5 million).
--Print revenue: down 10 percent.
--Digital ads: down 30 percent.

More…

Inbox: Washington Post is reducing its workforce by approximately 240 positions

Agnes Chu, president of Conde Nast Entertainment, is leaving the company, per internal memo just now.
she was a former Disney exec who Conde hired to push their content into tv/film.
CEO Roger Lynch says the exit is part of a new leadership structure

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer has asked BBC boss Tim Davie to look at its position on Hamas after complaints that the broadcaster was refusing to describe the organisation as terrorists (the government's own position)