Spotify $SPOT Q2'21 report:
- 365 million monthly active users, up 22% (but *missed* guidance)
- 165 million paid subscribers, up 20%
- €2.33 billion ($2.75 billion) total revenue, up 23%
- €275 million ($325 million) ad revenue, up 110% (!!!)

s22.q4cdn.com/540910603/file… Re $SPOT MAU miss: "I'm disappointed that our MAU growth was softer in the latter half of Q1 and the first half of Q2... We've also seen slightly slower adoption rate in some of our newly launched markets. All these regions have been hard hit by COVID." - Daniel Ek

News: Staffers at The Atlantic announced Monday their plans to form a union. The unit would be about 85 people and covers editorial employees. About 85% of those staffers have signed union cards with the NewsGuild of New York

cnn.com/2021/06/07/med… While unionization has become the norm across media and talks have been going on at The Atlantic for a while, the organizing effort gained more momentum after the company laid off 17% of its staff last May.

cnn.com/2021/06/07/med…

I never wanted a desktop computer... UNTIL NOW

Also tbh I forgot the word desktop. I literally asked @mcwm: What do you call the opposite of a laptop? Like an "at-home" computer? Also I def want an AirTag for @falkorthepup with a puppy emoji on it

So... somehow it's Upfront / NewFront season again.

Today Bloomberg is hosting an Upfront for @Quicktake

The pitch: Audiences "need stories as ambitious and multifaceted as they are... Today's leaders and professionals want something better to meet this moment." -@JECowgill Details on the new @Quicktake shows in this @THR story: hollywoodreporter.com/news/bloomberg…

NBA star Chris Paul talked about his new interview series: "Everything I'm doing now is not just about me but about the team around me, making sure I'm empowering them."

So does Axios go from free to paid?

Or does The Athletic go from paid to free?

Or does nothing change?

wsj.com/articles/media… Statement from Axios CEO Jim VandeHei re Athletic talks:

“We have talked for literally years about our shared passion for premium content businesses.” 👀

👀 MEL announced the site is cutting ties with Dollar Shave Club

https://twitter.com/wearemel/status/1374827603656314883

Someone needs to buy MEL because I'm unclear how I will spend my day if not reading MEL content all day...

https://twitter.com/WeAreMel/status/1374827996729774081?s=20

.@HuffPost has found its new EIC. Danielle Belton (@blacksnob) will take the helm of the publication, now owned by @BuzzFeed

>> "HuffPost is recognized for its compelling and urgent journalism and I look forward to helping shape its formidable future..."

cnn.com/2021/03/24/med… A related note, as @aleksnotalex tweeted earlier, Danielle was one of the last remaining top leaders at Gizmodo Media Group (now G/O Media) since the family of sites got acquired by Great Hill Partners in April 2019

https://twitter.com/aleksnotalex/status/1374782648938291200

Medium spokesperson statement that summarizes what @ev wrote today:

ev.medium.com/medium-editori… So I think I get Medium’s pivot now and apparently it’s the headline I wrote in January. Just didn’t think that also meant offer voluntary buyouts for all editorial

cnn.com/2021/01/14/med…

This morning, The Atlantic laid off 68 employees, 17% of staff. Statement from owner David Bradley said the company faced "abrupt and dramatic losses in our advertising and live events businesses" despite gaining 90,000 new subscribers since March The Atlantic owner David Bradley's memo to staff is about five pages (first 4 below): "I want to tell our departing colleagues how deeply sorry I am. If we saw any prospect that your jobs would return in a reset Atlantic, we would have found another way forward."

News: HQ is ceasing operations today, CNN Business has learned. The company behind the once popular game @hqtrivia is no more cnn.com/2020/02/14/med… Farewell to my 17,000 extra lives

Ooo check out the great sports coverage at deadspin.com Love some quality dog content! theconcourse.deadspin.com/three-good-dog…

I'm at What's Next for News #SXSW panel with @sarafischer featuring NYT, BuzzFeed and CNN and I was about to tweet a quote and the woman next to me told me to stop typing or move seats (because I guess I type too loud ... sorry ... I moved over one seat) @sarafischer "We're really focused right now on the kind of journalism the NYT does really well: enterprise reporting. First dollar goes into that. Then we see a real opportunity in our digital product experience itself." - @meredith_levien #SXSW