Peter Kafka
@pkafka
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Chief correspondent at Business Insider. Host of Channels pod, every Weds. https://t.co/aQbLRSKgmG Monkey via @andybyday. “Someone I like reluctantly.”
nyc
Joined December 2006
Professional news: I have two jobs! Very excited to start chatting again. Sara has the backstory below. You can get tomorrow’s show - an interview with the New Yorker’s David Remnick - and every one after that, for free, by heading here
Big news for media biz: @pkafka bringing his infamous pod back to @voxmedia, rebranding it “Channels”.-He’ll remain w @BusinessInsider.-Will still be a weekly intv show.-Peter will own the show. Vox Media is production, distribution and sales partner.
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Four years ago Taylor endorsed Biden using Instagram and Twitter. This year, just Instagram. I have a pretty good guess about what’s changed. You do, too.
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Look. If Elon Musk says we should spend less time on Twitter then we should take him seriously and literally.
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NFL team pays Twitter to distribute an anti-vax message from one of its players.
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Netflix says Always Be My Maybe, which everybody in my TL was chatting about, was watched by 32 million people in its first month. Adam Sandler's Murder Mystery, discussed by zero people I know, was watched by 73 million people.
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Disney says it has 221 million streaming subscribers. Netflix has 220.7 million.
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This is a good way to court Qanon voters without ever saying “Qanon” out loud.
Happening today—Attorney General Bill Barr and @IvankaTrump are visiting Atlanta, Georgia, to highlight the Trump Administration’s efforts to protect survivors of human trafficking.
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Netflix raised prices in Q2, but says that wasn't the problem. Instead it says their shows and movies didn't attract enough new subscribers. As it has done before, it has a chart that shows investors it has missed its forecasts before. But not like this:
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The former staff of Deadspin launched @DefectorMedia a year ago. Now it has 40,000 subscribers, no ads, a >$3 million run rate, and 23 employee/owners. “This rules”, says editor in chief @ToLey88.
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Lots of talk around here about Twitter's influence on the election. Some talk about TikTok. Zero discussion about YouTube. Even though, at a minimum, YouTube is where The Young Men watched all of those podcasts.
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Even for Elon, wild: His lawyers contend that maybe he didn’t say something because maybe it was a deepfake. The thing is that he said it onstage at the 2016 Code Conference, in front of hundreds of people as well as cameras that recorded the whole thing.
Musk, allegedly, in 2016: “A Model S and Model X, at this point, can drive autonomously with greater safety than a person. Right now.”. Tesla, in lawsuit: “[Musk], like many public figures, is the subject of many ‘deepfake’ videos and audio recordings".
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Amazing! NYT found someone to clean up Trump’s “tests aren’t great because they tell you that you’re sick” argument.
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The difference, which Spotify hopes you ignore: Facebook never signed a giant contract to be the exclusive distributor for a podcaster famous for hosting the likes of Alex Jones.
Spotify publishes basically the same memo Facebook has had to write a dozen times over the past four years .
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Oliver Darcy on his RFK/Olivia Nuzzi scoop - why it matters and why it was hard for him to write - to me:
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The Facebook Court, created and funded by Facebook, says Facebook may not have been “fully forthcoming” when it answered questions about the way Facebook works. The Facebook Court came to this conclusion by reading the Wall Street Journal.
To treat users fairly, Facebook must commit to transparency. Today, the Oversight Board issued an additional response on recent information that has come to light on Facebook’s cross-check system.
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Here's the transcript for that part of the conversation, which I also provided to Weiss, who declined to comment.
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This is a very good de-pantsing of the "(random) people are saying things on twitter" story format, which we should absolutely be done with in 2019, but will not be, because it's the fastest way to make clicky content.
Oh hi. Let’s look at this bullshit article on the BBC website, shall we? . First of all it’s on the BBC so you’re like oh wow it must be a big deal.
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This happened because of BuzzFeed reporter @JasonLeopold.
Breaking News: A federal judge called Attorney General William Barr’s account of the Mueller report “misleading,” ordering a review of the censored portions
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Financials for @BillSimmons’ @ringer: $15mm/year from podcasts, which accounts for most revenue. 100 employees. Profitable.
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Here's a Michael Lewis story from Feb 2001 - right after the dot com bubble burst - about a New Jersey teenager prosecuted by the SEC for stock manipulation. It is very good and you should read it. The quote below is from 15-year-old Jonathan Lebed:
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I liked twitter better when it was liberating the Middle East.
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Mike Fucking Isaac is turning his Uber book into a Showtime show with the Billions guys. Congrats to @MikeIsaac for ignoring my advice and to @briankoppelman and @DavidLevien for getting to work with a mensch.
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Another “is a lot of this just Elon + drugs?”, which, again, is widely discussed but seldom published. This time it’s Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker.
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Reminder that bankruptcy doesn’t mean Twitter shuts down. It means Elon renegotiates his $1b/year debt committment and tells his pals who helped him buy this thing that you can’t win them all.
Wow. Elon Musk just told Twitter employees he’s not sure how much run rate the company has and “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question.”.
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I also asked Thompson about @bariweiss' allegations that she'd encountered "unlawful discrimination" and a "hostile work environment" at NYT. His answer: We take the allegations seriously, but we have looked for evidence and haven't found any.
I talked to outgoing NYT CEO Mark Thompson about the paper's remarkable recovery and growth during his 8-year tenure. Plus his views on the subscription business, NYT's stance re: Facebook etc.
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Finally official: nbcu bringing The Office back from Netflix to its own streaming service in 2021.
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UPDATE: Spotify will pay more than $200 million in cash for Gimlet.
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Seems like she is saying the CEO of OpenAI is not consistently candid.
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Disney+ event lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes. Can sum it up here: $7 a month, launchs in November, has a ton of old Disney stuff and some new stuff. And the Simpsons.
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In the old days, networks would let Netflix buy and revive their cancelled shows. Now they're restarting them for their own services (See also: Gossip Girl for HBO Max).
Apple in wastebasket. See you guys soon. And thank ALL of you — best fans ever!!! #APBio.
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FCC chair Ajit Pai, who has appeared at CES for last 5 years, is bailing this year.
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Peter Thiel thinks Silicon Valley is too liberal so he's moving to Hollywood. (shhh don't tell him).
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After pumping GameStop, Redditors are trying to do the same with AMC Entertainment, which is up > 200% this am.
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We are at a hotel and they are playing CNN at the breakfast nook so our kids have added “shithole” and “porn star” to their vocabulary.
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Here, again, with context: Disney has written off its entire stake in Vice — the $400 million it put in directly, plus its A&E stake, its Fox stake, etc. All gone.
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Yale Law School Total Landscaping.
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A few years ago Time Warner was worth $85 billion. Now that company, combined with what used to be Discovery, is worth about $18 billion. Today’s chapter in the decline: A $9 billion write down of its “legacy” tv businesses.
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Netflix started making its own shows and movies in 2013. So did Amazon. One them figured it out, and the other is paying $9 billion for James Bond.
Amazon is making Big Tech’s first-ever Big Media acquisition because it still doesn’t have its own Big Show.
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Donald Trump trying to make money from the sale of a thing he didn't make or own is the most Donald Trump thing there is.
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My kids rewound so they could read the 5 second Reddit ad so mission accomplished.
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Facebook made WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton a billionaire and he has mixed feelings about it. Great story. “I sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit. I made a choice and a compromise. And I live with that every day.”
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OH in newsroom: "Sorry I have to write about Jeff Bezos' penis right now" . (Actually I said that.).
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These are not apples to apples numbers (lots of Disney bundled subs etc) and now Wall Street is less singularly focused on sub numbers. But the idea that Disney has “caught up” to Netflix in three years is a very compelling narrative.
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NYT guild says staffers will walk out at 3pm today to protest plans to lay off copy editors.
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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says Disney is doing better at transforming its business than any "incumbent" he's ever seen.
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Alt hed:.David Duke, an actual Grand Wizard of the KKK, had a YouTube channel. In 2020.
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It’s boring to keep saying cable TV is collapsing but boy oh boy is cable TV collapsing. Pay TV - including digital substitutes like YouTube TV and Hulu Live - lost a record 2.37 million subscribers in Q1. That’s a drop of 6.9%.
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Advertisers explain why Elon’s outreach won’t be enough. The Tweet is coming from inside the house.
“Elon needs to realize that every tweet is a statement of policy.”
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Netflix PR boss Rachel Whetstone used to work at Google, Uber and Facebook, and has seen a fire or two.
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Larry Ellison. 4th-richest man in the world. Owns a big chunk of Hawaii, where his pal Elon stayed when he launched his Twitter bid. Owns a chunk of Twitter. Backs Donald Trump. Is buying CBS/Paramount for his son David. We really ought to spend more time talking about him.
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“Amazon studios executives had to send Bezos regular updates on the projects in development that included spreadsheets describing how each show had each story element; and if one element was missing, they had to explain why.”.
Jeff Bezos, TV guy: “Look. I know what it takes to make a great show. This should not be that hard.”. @BradStone explains why Amazon failed at TV in his new book: And talks about it with @DelRey here: .
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"Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits," say Mark Zuckerberg, announcing $4.7 billion Facebook Q3 profit.
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It’s nuts that you guys aren’t using Foursquare. Still the best “I don’t know what’s around, tell me where to eat” app, hands down.
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The "how will WSJ sell its $37/month subscription in a $10 all-you-can eat Apple News bundle" question answered: It won't.
WSJ internal memo says Apple News+ users will only get a "curated collection of general interest news." To access biz reporting, you'll still have to subscribe to the WSJ. Memo says "our collaboration with Apple will also extend to areas like video, voice, market data and AI.".
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Facebook: Pictures of your kids.Instagram: Pictures of your lunch.Twitter: Pictures of abandoned, VC-funded motorized scooters clogging San Francisco sidewalks.
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Just guessing here, but I think AMC Networks - the cable programmer that brings you Better Call Saul - is spiking bc Redditors are confusing it with AMC Entertainment - the theater company they are trying to manipulate, which has no connection to the TV company.
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We won’t mandate vaccination, which does prevent covid spread, but we will mandate masks. This isn’t sustainable.
BREAKING: L.A. County will again require residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of their vaccination status, starting this weekend, as coronavirus cases climb. Story to come.
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Vice Media takes a haircut: Disney, which put $400 million in Vice, has written off $157 million of that investment.
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Spotify would like you to believe its Rogan problem is the unfortunate and unforeseen downside of being a platform during a pandemic. But it’s a problem it created for itself - via a deal it signed during the pandemic.
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Great piece on the 22 year old who was running, until this week, Philly’s vaccine program, which is a giant shitshow.
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Our friends and family are gathering in New York tomorrow to celebrate Cindy Lobel. @karaswisher wrote about Cindy earlier this week and here is @katierosman Thank you all for your support, donations and kind words.
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Elon: I’ve got a problem. Advertisers hate me. Tucker: Me too! Let’s link up.
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This one is signature Elon: Either he knew that pre-announcing his CEO hire would force her out of her current job - days before her biggest presentation of the year …. or that he *didn’t* realize that would happen. Damning either way.
Elon Musk says he’ll step down as Twitter CEO. But he’s not going anywhere.
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@BGrueskin @lpolgreen “Paul tried to take matters into his own hands when he realized Airbnb’s customer-support staff was ill-equipped to deal with a possible coup of the U.S. government.”.
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NEW: Apple says Facebook research app is a "clear breach of their agreement with Apple", and won't let them distribute it anymore. Via @KurtWagner8
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Fox builds and starts bonfire, complains about flames and heat.
Brian Kilmeade makes the right's main argument against impeachment: "This country is ready to explode. You saw what happened. You see the anger that the 74 million people feel." So "good leadership would bring down the temperature a little, look to turn the page, be inclusive. "
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I asked Hastings how U.S. lawmakers should think about regulating big tech companies like Netflix. His answer: We're not a tech company. "We’re really mostly a content company powered by tech," bc they spend $1.2b a year on tech and $10b on content.
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@wongmjane @BobbyAllyn The tweet is extra. The part where he asked for permission twice and didn’t get it is the relevant part.
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Elon Musk’s drug use has been the subject of frequent speculation, and it’s easy to find people who insist they know about it. But it hasn’t made it into print until now. WSJ’s @KirstenGrind is pretty fierce.
Elon Musk takes ketamine. Sergey Brin sometimes consumes magic mushrooms. They are part of a drug movement across the tech industry that proponents hope will expand minds, enhance lives and produce business breakthroughs.
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It is *very* weird that one of the four most important tech execs in the world has disappeared and we have collectively shrugged. Great story.
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Reminder that Google is buying approximately all the real estate in Manhattan south of 23rd street and it’s nbd
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In any other circumstance this would be the quintessential New York Magazine story.
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OK, one more time: A bundle of stuff you don't want is still a bundle of stuff you don't want.
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I looked at this photo 10x before I realized they were taking selfies, not looking at someone who wasn't Hillary.
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Trump finally unites the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal
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Brutal chart via @RichLightShed. Take away the NFL and it’s almost impossible to find someone under the age of 50 who watches broadcast TV.
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News: YouTube’s CEO is leaving after a 9-year run. Read her memo to employees here:.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down
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Media, btw, still struggles to explain Q. Often gets lumped next to wrong-but-kinda-understandable misinformation, like anti-vaxx or anti-mask or anti-climate change science. It’s full-on crazy person yelling in the street batshit. Call it that instead of polite euphemism.
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Netflix, which used to burn through as much as $3 billion a year - and constantly funded that gap with new debt - says it no longer has to borrow any more money. A very big milestone.
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AT&T paid $67 billion for DirecTV in 2015. Now it’s worth $16 billion.
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We are toasting @waltmossberg and he is thanking @karaswisher who is on her phone so all is as it should be. Thanks for everything, Walt.
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Sorry, want to be clear: White House official told multiple reporters he doesn't want lots of Muslims in the U.S.
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One of my regrets is the number of times I’ve said or written the word “content”.
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Apologies missed a section: this appears after “squares with our values”
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I talked to Antonio Garcia Martinez about getting hired by Apple in April, fired by Apple in May, and repentance.
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