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This week, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg provided details about the future of Tumblr following the company’s decision to reorganize and shift its workforce to other projects within Automattic. The social blogging site has been facing financial challenges, with a loss of $30 million annually. As a result, 139 Tumblr employees will be reassigned to other areas within Automattic. Key Takeaway Tumblr will undergo significant changes as it aims to become a profitable platform while maintaining its core features. Staff Changes and Reassignments The reorganization within Tumblr will take place on December 31, 2023. The impacted team, known as “Bumblr,” will have the opportunity to choose from various projects within Automattic, including WP.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and others. Mullenweg emphasized that these changes were not unexpected, as the Tumblr team had been aware for over a year that a lack of revenue growth would result in the need for workforce reallocation. Monetization Efforts and Future Plans Tumblr currently offers a subscription model for users to support the platform. Only 0.2% of its 11.5 million monthly active users are subscribers, but Mullenweg believes that if 10-20% of users subscribed, Tumblr would be financially stable for the foreseeable future. The company is also considering

Photos from the family were provided as a courtesy to the Inside Press Chappaqua, NY — Former President Bill Clinton and Madame Secretary Hillary Clinton met on November 8th with a small group comprised of family members from Israel — who have multiple family members being held as hostages in Gaza after being torn from their homes and streets on October 7 – and with advocates on their behalf.* The group is traveling the country seeking help to refocus the spotlight back onto the plight of the 240+ hostages as a pressing humanitarian issue. The Clintons expressed an unerring support of the group’s basic mission to prevent the world from forgetting about the hostages–who include babies, children, women, and the elderly–as conversation shifts to the pros and cons of a ceasefire. They brainstormed ideas in a roundtable discussion both to help define the group’s goals and how they might best succeed. Meanwhile, the consensus in the room about the need to defeat Hamas was unequivocal. “We have to defeat Hamas and we have to have a process for doing so,” said Hillary Clinton, “and then the hostage situation can be heard more clearly.  People can’t hear it because they don’t

SAG-AFTRA‘s national board has approved the tentative agreement between the actors union and studios and streamers that ended the 118-day actors strike. The board voted to accept the deal with 86 percent approval, national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said at a press conference Friday. Members of the 160,000-strong union will vote on ratification of the deal beginning Nov. 14, with ballots due in early December. Crabtree-Ireland and SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher gave broad outlines of the deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers at the press conference, including “above pattern” increases in minimum salaries, a bonus for actors who work on successful streaming series and regulations on the use of artificial intelligence. “This victory is everyone’s victory,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “AI protections for performers mean the preservation of tens of thousands of jobs” — from set and costume designers to drivers and caterers — “as well as all of the small businesses that serve the entertainment community.” In extended remarks, Drescher recounted how the union’s leadership “deflected their intimidation tactics” and held out for key elements of the deal including the streaming bonus and AI protections. “From July 14 to Oct. 3, we never heard from the AMPTP,” Drescher

Old-school social media platforms are diminishing one by one as they get no chance against modern platforms like Threads and X. According to Engadget, an internal memo obtained from Tumblr’s parent company, Automattic, reveals that the social media staff will be moved to work on other projects. Tumblr currently has 135 million monthly active users globally, at least 35 million more than Threads. However, with the recent change, its future seems pretty shady. Automattic noted that it has “not gotten the expected results from our effort.” As the alleged internal memo reads, “the majority of the 139 people” will switch to other Automattic projects. The remained staff will oversee the platform. This means we can’t expect Tumblr to launch new features. However, Automattic’s decision not to lay off the staff is appreciated. Automattic also owns popular blogging tool WordPress, the e-commerce plugin WooCommerce, and Gravatar. Tumblr continues to survive, but the staff will switch to other projects The memo further adds that the goal was to put Tumblr’s revenue and usage above its previous peaks. However, after putting in “600+ person-years of effort,” the expected result wasn’t attained. Finally, the memo suggests the team’s next step is to “reflect and

As a struggling social media platform with roots in a bygone era, Tumblr might see minimal staffing moving forward. An internal memo purportedly from parent company Automattic is circulating on social media platforms, acknowledging dissatisfaction with the results of their efforts. (Photo : MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)This illustration picture taken on July 24, 2019 in Paris shows the logo of the US social network application Tumblr on the screen of a tablet. Reassigning Employees to Other Projects Tumblr is facing a critical juncture in its prolonged financial challenges, revealed in a leaked memo. Engadget reported that the majority of its workforce, consisting of 139 employees, will be reassigned to other projects within the parent company Automattic, which maintains a total workforce of around 1,900. CEO Matt Mullenweg publicly acknowledged the memo on his Tumblr blog, addressing inquiries from users. This decision appears to be a significant departure from a previous leak suggesting Automattic's plans to integrate a TikTok-like algorithmic feed into the aging Tumblr. While this doesn't necessarily spell the end for Tumblr, the memo paints a bleak picture of its future. It indicates that the "majority of the 139 people" will transition to other Automattic projects, leaving a skeletal team

News Corp. expects to generate big bucks from generative artificial intelligence. On News Corp.’s fiscal first-quarter earnings call, CEO Robert Thomson said that the company is in “advanced discussions” with companies to license its content for their AI engines. “We are in advanced discussions with a range of digital companies that we anticipate will bring significant revenue in return for the use of our unmatched content sets,” Thomson said. “Generative AI engines are only as sophisticated as their inputs and need constant replenishing to remain relevant. And we are proud to partner with responsible purveyors of AI products and their prescient leaders.” He also added some thoughts of his own about the technology, with a typical Thomson flourish. “One observation about generative AI, we often hear about misinformation and disinformation, to the point where the very words have become politicized and polluted,” he said. “The potential for the proselytizing of the perverse will become ever more real with the inevitable, inexorable rise of artificial intelligence. But however artful the artificial intelligence, it is no match for great reporting and for genuine journalistic analysis.” News Corp. reported revenue of $2.5 billion, an increase of 1 percent from last year. Net income

The Cobb County Police Department Major Crimes Unit is investigating an early morning shooting at the Quality Inn Hotel on Cobb Place Boulevard.  At around 2:06 a.m., Cobb County Police Precinct One officers responded to an incident at the Quality Inn.  An employee had called 911, reporting that he had been wounded by gunfire. Upon arrival, the officers located the injured victim and provided medical assistance. The employee was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, and is expected to survive. Officers canvassed the area near Cobb Place Boulevard, looking for the suspect.  At around 9:30 a.m. a resident called 911 to report a suspicious person, which led to the successful arrest of the suspect, a 26-year-old Acworth man, who was in a hotel room at the Quality Inn. This investigation remains active and ongoing, and anyone with pertinent information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department Major Crimes Unit at 770-499-4111. Crimes Against Persons Unit (aka Major Crimes Unit) The Crimes Against Persons Division of the Cobb County Police Department is broken down into several specialized units, to investigate homicides, robberies, technology-based crime, domestic violence and stalking, and crimes against children. It has a unit that

THR, Esq A judge in London pointed to inconsistencies in Teddy Edwardes' evidence. The altercation appears to be linked to a head injury the Oscar-winning writer sustained last year. Dustin Lance Black Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Logo text A judge in London has dismissed a case against Dustin Lance Black, who was accused of assaulting a social media influencer in a nightclub altercation. The judge, Louisa Cieciora of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, said Wednesday that “inconsistencies and weaknesses” in evidence presented by Teddy Edwardes, a presenter on BBC3’s The Big Proud Party Agency, undermined her credibility, per a representative for the Oscar-winning writer of Milk. Black was accused of assaulting Edwardes at a nightclub in central London in August 2022. He allegedly twisted her wrist, after which he was allegedly punched in the head by Edwardes. The Under the Banner of Heaven creator in April pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was released on bail. According to Black’s rep, the judge said, “I accept Ms. Edwardes provided an account in which she confirmed Mr. Black grabbed her wrist. However, the inconsistencies and weaknesses in her evidence go beyond simple matters of credibility and reliability to be determined at the end of the

Logo text Paramount and the heirs to the author of a 1983 magazine story that the original Top Gun was based on are each moving for a federal judge to declare victory in their favor in a copyright lawsuit revolving around the blockbuster sequel. In a summary judgment motion filed on Monday, the two sides trade arguments over the copyrightability of certain aspects of Ehud Yonay’s article and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski’s inspirations for some parts of the movie alleged to infringe on the writer’s intellectual property. As evidence that filmmakers copied parts of his article, Yonay’s heirs, Shosh and Yuval, point to scenes and plot devices in the sequel that were detailed in the story but did not appear in the original. At the top list is a scene at a Navy base bar in which Tom Cruise’s Maverick has to buy a round of drinks for placing his cell phone on the counter. Paramount maintains that any similarities between the material is a result of drawing from uncopyrightable facts, which were obtained by consulting with the Navy. In a declaration submitted to the court, Kosinski says that he wrote the scene into the movie after he

Logo text An affiliate of private equity firm STG has completed the acquisition of Avid Technology — the maker of the Media Composer editing system and Pro Tools audio postproduction system, both leading tools used in Hollywood for picture editing and sound, respectively — in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Avid stockholders will receive $27.05 per share, and Avid will once again operate as a privately-held company and remain headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. “By becoming a private company, we believe Avid will be able to achieve the speed of innovation, scale and performance required for us to continue leading the industry forward,” said Avid president and CEO Jeff Rosica in a released statement. “Combined with their significant operational and financial resources, STG brings deep investment experience in the technology sector that will accelerate the achievement of Avid’s strategic vision, building on the momentum of our successful ongoing transformation achieved over the past several years.” Avid was founded in 1987 and, with the introduction of the Media Composer, led the pivotal change in Hollywood from film-based to computer-based nonlinear editing. In 1994, it acquired Digidesign, the maker of Pro Tools. Both Media Composer and