URBN Announces Personnel Changes

Wenner Media is selling Rolling Stone, its last magazine brand, just shy of its 50th anniversary. The publisher sold its other two magazines, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, to American Media Inc. earlier this year. It continues to publish Glixel, its video-games site launched last November. “I love my job, I enjoy it, I’ve enjoyed it for a long time,” founder Jann Wenner, 71, told The New York Times, which broke the story. Wenner added that letting go of the title is “just the smart thing to do.” “Publishing is a completely different industry than what it was,” he told the NYT. “The trends go in one direction, and we are very aware of that.” Once known as the counterculture music, pop-culture and entertainment magazine founded by Wenner in 1967, the publication has recently been caught in controversy. That includes a huge blow to its reputation when it retracted a discredited 2014 article about a rape at the University of Virginia. Rolling Stone was hit with three libel lawsuits as a result, and has had to pay $3 million in damages. Click Read More below for more of the story.

The U.S. Postal Service has received the Public Service Award for its Election Mail program from the nonpartisan Election Verification Network. The award is given every year to a public official or governmental unit for protecting and promoting election integrity and verifiable elections. “This award is further confirmation of the Postal Service’s deep commitment and great success in delivering the nation’s ballots securely and on time,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “We take pride in the role our organization plays in the election process. The American people can continue to feel confident in using the U.S. Mail to fulfill their democratic duty to vote.”

Bertelsmann closed the first half of 2021 with a record operating result of €1.4 billion. The international media, services, and education company generated revenues significantly above the previous year’s and pre-Corona levels, as well as its highest Group result in 19 years. Four of the eight business units each recorded double-digit organic growth rates. For the full year, the company expects its business to continue to develop positively and anticipates Group profit of close to two billion euros. Bertelsmann’s first-half consolidated revenues increased by 10.7 percent over the previous year to €8.7 billion (H1 2020: €7.8 billion). Organic growth was 16.6 percent year-on-year, and 7.1 percent compared to the pre-Corona year 2019. The RTL Group, Penguin Random House, Gruner + Jahr, and Arvato divisions each recorded double-digit organic-growth rates. Operating EBITDA improved significantly to €1.4 billion (H1 2020: €1.0 billion), marking a new record. RTL Group, Penguin Random House and Arvato once again proved to be the strongest earnings pillars in the Bertelsmann Group.