Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective buys majority stake in The Atlantic

Posted:
in General Discussion
The Emerson Collective -- an organization led by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of former Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs -- is buying a majority stake in The Atlantic, one of the longest-running publications in the U.S.




The current chairman and owner of Atlantic Media, David Bradley, announced the deal on Friday morning. While Bradley will keep a minority stake and remain chairman and operating partner for at least three to five years, he noted that Emerson will likely assume full control by the five year mark. A sale price hasn't been made public.

Emerson entered the picture after Bradley and his wife realized their three sons weren't interested in owning the publication. A list of 600 possible investors was drawn up, but Jobs was allegedly the only one actually approached.

The Atlantic notes that it's currently a profitable venture -- its print circulation is growing, and its web audience rose 36 percent in the first half of 2017.

The Emerson Collective is an unusual mix of non- and for-profit initiatives. While it advocates for education and immigration reform, it also has other media investments, such as movie production company Anonymous Content -- best known for titles like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Revenant."

The Atlantic's print edition dates back to 1857, and was co-founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson, from which the Emerson Collective takes its name. Some other famous founders included Oliver Wendell Holmes and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Despite today's announcement, Bradley suggested that Jobs will likely only tour the Washington and New York offices of the publication in September.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Left wing rag, ain't that right @tallestskil? ; :D
    edited July 2017 ronnsingularitycornchip
  • Reply 2 of 25
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Left wing rag, ain't that right @tallestskil? ; :D
    You misspelled his username. He would have never received this.

    😆
  • Reply 3 of 25
    Hmmm, interesting. I may continue my subscription. :)
    baconstangSolimontrosemacsKenster999
  • Reply 4 of 25
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,372member
    Good to see The Atlantic is staying in good hands. It's one of the few publications that presents well-written and fully-formed stories/articles that you can follow from start to finish and at-depth rather than sensationalist surface level snippets endlessly repeating the same 2 sentences of "insight" over and over just to bolster the word count. For people who don't like to read anything more than 140 character articles it is a challenge to digest. But whether you agree with the perspectives of each of its writers is up to you, which are currently more progressive leaning, it's worth reading - if only to dilute the effects of confirmation bias that comes from overindulgence in other alterantive starboard-leaning news sources.
    Solimontrosemacsjony0prairiewalkerchristopher126
  • Reply 5 of 25
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Joining Bezos in the propaganda business?

    Newspapers, magazines and news organizations... the playground of the elite to spread their viewpoint (and that includes Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch).
    edited July 2017 tallest skilcornchip
  • Reply 6 of 25
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    Wow, I never read up on its history before.

    "Founding sponsors were prominent writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Harriet Beecher Stowe; John Greenleaf Whittier; and James Russell Lowell, who served as its first editor." :Wikipedia.
    edited July 2017 jony0lolliver
  • Reply 7 of 25
    stukestuke Posts: 122member
    Glad for her!
  • Reply 8 of 25
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    But WHY? Isn't print dying?
  • Reply 9 of 25
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    cali said:
    But WHY? Isn't print dying?
    No, as Marshall McLuhan pointed out endlessly (in the 60s and 70s, so everybody should know by now), as one medium obsolesces another, the former becomes an art form, and it is self-consciously valued and preserved.

    A recent example is the analogue vinyl disc recording. It will live on among those who can appreciate the medium. In the case of print, it's really the style of thinking that print embodies that will be preserved as an art form. The Atlantic is a prime example. I think Powell Jobs gets it.
    montrosemacs
  • Reply 10 of 25
    stanthemanstantheman Posts: 332member
    A free press committed to truth requires patient investors, in an era of click-bait and fake journalism.
    Kenster999ronnanantksundaramlolliver
  • Reply 11 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Left wing rag, ain't that right @tallestskil? ; :D
    I wish that would notify me when someone uses the @ sign. Didn’t it do that on Huddler? Anyway, yeah, it’s quite leftist.
    gtr said:
    You misspelled his username. He would have never received this.
    Oh, was that the reason? It counted the question mark as part of the name; I see.
    edited July 2017
  • Reply 12 of 25
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,251member
    I surprised this political story still has comments open. Someone at AI must be taking a break. It seems we're not allowed to voice our opinions on anything political anymore, usually because Google won't allow it.
    SpamSandwichjony0cornchip
  • Reply 13 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    rob53 said:
    …usually because Google won’t allow it.
    Oh, did you see that they’re now censoring searches about topics on islam
  • Reply 14 of 25
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,251member
    I don't use Google search but I thought AI explained that they are required by Google to limit certain types of discussion or their website takes a hit by Google. AI simply sticks all the political stuff in a forum I recently looked at but I'm not going to submit comments there. The crazy thing is the POTUS is allowed to keep his Twitter account while spewing all sorts of things yet US citizens can't make simple comments related to the article content without either getting banned or comments being shut down. Sad time when people aren't allowed to speak.
    jony0tallest skil
  • Reply 15 of 25
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    rob53 said:
    I don't use Google search but I thought AI explained that they are required by Google to limit certain types of discussion or their website takes a hit by Google. AI simply sticks all the political stuff in a forum I recently looked at but I'm not going to submit comments there. The crazy thing is the POTUS is allowed to keep his Twitter account while spewing all sorts of things yet US citizens can't make simple comments related to the article content without either getting banned or comments being shut down. Sad time when people aren't allowed to speak.
    Twitter is privately owned and no one is forced to use it. No doubt Twitter loves the President for all the attention he brings to their platform.
  • Reply 17 of 25
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,339member
    I'm so surprised!  ;-)

    I wish there was a way for conservatives to be more progressive.  But the fact is that to achieve a progressivist agenda in today's, you need to tax your neighbor and spend his money (i.e., break into his house, open his wallet, take a hefty chunk of his money, then spend it on the greater good).  Conservatives who support a big military do the same thing -- they just don't like to admit it so loudly.  Both sides tax-and-spend using force, seeing you will face harsh penalties if you refuse to contribute.

    Rather than using forced taxation to press mankind forward, mankind needs to change his thinking such that we can willingly unite and move forward, whether that be on issues health care or space exploration.  Until we can achieve that without force, there will always be a strong internal fight among us.  The present or absence of The Atlantic will not change that.
  • Reply 18 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    jdw said:
    I wish there was a way for conservatives to be more progressive.

    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. – Gustav Mahler

    Societies are far gone in depravity when toleration is considered a good in itself, without regard to the thing tolerated. – A. K. Chesterton

    I wish people actually knew what the word ‘progressive’ means.

    …break into his house, open his wallet, take a hefty chunk of his money, then spend it on the greater good…
    And who dictates the greater good? Note: This is a trick question. If you were some of the other members here, I’d let them be caught in it.
    Both sides…
    You eventually learn that there’s only one side represented in politics.
    …mankind needs to change his thinking such that we can willingly unite and move forward…
    Mankind, left to his own free will and not forced at gunpoint by government, chooses not to unite. By doing so, he is happier, healthier, and actually moves forward, unlike other scenarios. Who is government to dictate otherwise?

  • Reply 19 of 25
    tshapitshapi Posts: 370member
    rob53 said:
    I don't use Google search but I thought AI explained that they are required by Google to limit certain types of discussion or their website takes a hit by Google. AI simply sticks all the political stuff in a forum I recently looked at but I'm not going to submit comments there. The crazy thing is the POTUS is allowed to keep his Twitter account while spewing all sorts of things yet US citizens can't make simple comments related to the article content without either getting banned or comments being shut down. Sad time when people aren't allowed to speak.
    Twitter is privately owned and no one is forced to use it. No doubt Twitter loves the President for all the attention he brings to their platform.
    Twitter is a publicly traded company! Look up Twtr and it's trading at 16.71 in the red yesterday 
  • Reply 20 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    tshapi said:
    Twitter is a publicly traded company! Look up Twtr and it's trading at 16.71 in the red yesterday 
    Private as in not government. Then again, if it gets government funding in any capacity, it cannot censor speech at all.
    edited July 2017 SpamSandwich
Sign In or Register to comment.