Happy Friday, I'm Dylan Byers.

Welcome back to In the Room, my biweekly private email on the intrigue and inside story behind what’s going on in the media industry. As you know, In the Room is part of Puck, our four month-old media company focused on the nexus of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. If you want to buy a group subscription for your team or colleagues, please reach out to Fritz@puck.news. We’re now offering group subscriptions.

Thanks as always for reading, and please feel free to reach out anytime. If you'd like full access to my latest reporting, simply sign up here.

Without further ado, it was a busy week in the industry. Here’s what’s been occupying my notebook and text threads.

Have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Dylan

The Times & Athletic Make It Official

My chat with Times C.E.O. Meredith Kopt-Levien, plus reporting on the latest news at CNN and BenSmithCo.

Alex Mather was—reasonably, deservedly—celebrating when I texted him last night, hours after The New York Times announced its stunning $550-million all-cash acquisition of The Athletic. The deal was a coup for both Mather and his fellow co-founder Adam Hansmann (and a masterstroke for ubiquitous banker-to-the-stars Aryeh Bourkoff, and his deputy Alex Michael). Six years ago, Mather and Hansmann had capitalized on the disruption of the newspaper industry by snapping up many of the nation’s best local sports reporters and fashioning themselves as, in Mather’s words, “the local sports page for every city in the country.” Nevertheless, they were still burning about $50 million a year... 

FOUR STORIES WE'RE TALKING ABOUT