Media

1. Trump and the Super Bowl
2. Applecart on a roll
3. Mixed Signals
4. Zaslav’s cold shoulder

There’s something uncomfortable about writing about media while you run a media company. If you write about your competitors, you’re reasonably assumed to be taking unfair shots; if you write about yourself, you’re inevitably talking your book. That’s part of why I’ve largely ceded this space to the great Max Tani, and gone back to writing about politics.

But I am jumping back in here to share some Semafor news: As The Wall Street Journal reported, we’ve built a profitable business around our journalism, with $40 million in revenue and $2 million in profits, and just got a huge vote of confidence from sophisticated investors in a new funding round.

So what’s the real story here? Is media no longer cursed? Conversely, are we in some kind of valuation bubble?

Based on long experience, here’s my boring answer: News is a tough business, but its demise is overstated. The most discerning news consumers are desperate for information, insight, and the global dot-connecting that the best journalism does, and that technology can enhance but not replace. Semafor is competing with other healthy businesses like The Economist and the FT to produce news that respects our readers’ intelligence and the decisions they have to make, across emails, the web, and live convenings.

We’ve been able to assemble enormously talented journalists and businesspeople. And we’ve rooted what we’re doing in deep respect for what in other industries is called the “customer”: both you, dear reader, and the sponsors who want to associate with the values of hard-hitting news coverage, in full knowledge they can’t control what that will entail. That’s a fragile tradition worth celebrating.

The obvious, sometimes overlooked part of rebuilding the news in an era of technological revolution is what’s changing on the commercial side. As one veteran media entrepreneur wrote of Semafor this week, we’ve been obsessed with building “an actual business — with real margins, real discipline, and REAL DEMAND — before chasing scale (and never chasing OPTICS).”

Finally, we’re so excited about what’s coming next. We’ll be investing in our journalism, and recruiting in particular for great journalists in Washington and those who cover global business; and we’ll be expanding the reach of our events from Silicon Valley to Asia to, of course, the great nations of media and marketing.

Thank you so much for being part of Semafor’s community — we’re just getting started.

Also: Another media investment of note, plus a Mixed Signals episode followers of the Lizza-Nuzzi saga definitely won’t want to miss.

Pro-Trump Super Bowl ad in the works

Trump allies are planning a Super Bowl ad this year to boost one of the president’s signature policies. An outside group with ties to the Trump administration is planning to air a commercial shortly before the big game promoting Trump Accounts, the new IRA accounts that feature a one-time $1,000 seed contribution from the federal government for American children born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028, Semafor has learned.

One senior member of the administration seemed to confirm the plan: In a little-noticed interview with a local upper-Midwest radio station last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked about why the Trump Accounts had not gotten much press after their announcement last year.

“It’s gonna get a lot of attention. All your viewers: Watch the Super Bowl right after the national anthem, we’re gonna have a big rollout,” Bessent said.

NBC, which is hosting the 2026 Super Bowl, declined to comment, and the Treasury Department also declined to comment. But it’s a logical step for a White House that has engaged often with pro sports and sports media, as live sports events maintain their stranglehold on the American attention span.

Blackstone backs elite marketing tech firm

A marketing technology firm that seeks to influence C-suite executives, policymakers, and other important people is getting a major infusion of cash. Applecart received a $100 million investment from the private equity giant Blackstone last year, two people familiar with the situation first told Semafor, in a fundraising round that would value the New York-based data company at around $500 million.

It has stayed out of the headlines, but Applecart has a leading place in an emerging but discreet cohort of companies and organizations aimed at reaching key figures in industry and government. The company was founded in 2013 and initially worked on Republican political campaigns; it now touts its ability to use data to make social connections and reach and influence Fortune 500 decisionmakers and those in their immediate social circles. Applecart’s investors also include Endeavor, whose CEO, Ari Emanuel, sits on its board.

Lizza on ‘Mixed Signals’

Media veteran Ryan Lizza joins Mixed Signals for a raw, sprawling conversation about why he chose to publish an eight-part (and counting) Substack series responding to the most personal and public crisis of his career. Max and Ben press him on whether this was ever just a breakup story, why he believes the real scandal involves RFK Jr. and journalistic failures, and how Substack gave him the only viable way to tell the story in the first place. Lizza also reflects on leaving Politico, burning bridges with legacy outlets, the cost of going public, and what this episode taught him about our changing media landscape.

Listen to the latest Mixed Signals now.

WBD’s cold-shoulder approach

Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav has continued to rebuff Paramount’s increasingly expensive and hostile offers for all of his company in favor of Netflix’s bid, and shareholders are starting to get ticked.

Top WBD executives have privately said they are willing to open a dialogue with Paramount again if the company increases its bid, people familiar with the discussions told Semafor’s Rohan Goswami. But Paramount’s leaders feel like WBD has adopted an insulting posture towards their bids, despite repeated efforts to improve them, and also see any increase in price as bidding against themselves, according to other people familiar with the matter. There have been no substantive negotiations between WBD and Paramount since WBD rejected Paramount’s bid more than a month ago; some big shareholders told Semafor they saw no other explanation for WBD’s refusal to negotiate with Paramount than what they believe is an inexplicable personal animus towards Paramount CEO David Ellison.

Zaslav is playing a dangerous game, Rohan writes: “By ignoring or rebuffing Ellison’s early approaches, [Zaslav] managed to create tens of billions of dollars in value for WBD’s owners overnight,” he writes, but “choosing instead to negotiate through the press and public letters looks ridiculous to investors and risks muddling [WBD’s] message.”

High stakes, high profiles. Join Semafor for the defining media moment of Davos, bringing together top executives, global officials, and world-class editors and reporters — all in one room.

Jan. 21 | Davos | Request Invitation

• When former Boston Globe Editor-in-Chief Brian McGrory announced that he was returning to his old job, the publication’s CEO said it’d be “in a permanent capacity.” But the Boston paper is doing some planning for the future. The company has enlisted Teneo to recruit candidates for a managing editor position with the explicit possibility that the managing editor would be a top candidate to succeed McGrory, Semafor has learned.
• A debate-focused media company is reshuffling its leadership as the online debate space continues to heat up. Lia Matthow, Open to Debate’s chief content officer, will become the new CEO, while current CEO Clea Conner will move to its board, the organization told Semafor. Open to Debate has pitched itself as a more civilized and intellectually rigorous alternative to peers like viral YouTube channel Jubilee and CBS News, which recently announced a televised debate series.
• A rumor circulated widely in The New York Times newsroom last week that President Donald Trump, during his interview with the paper’s White House team, took the reporters to the Lincoln Bedroom, where he had a refrigerator full of canned tuna. Semafor fished around for more details, but learned that this rumor was not true.
• The Golden Globes’ confusing “Best Podcast” category debuts tonight. Netflix is following up the event with the first live broadcast of Bill Simmons’ podcast, a proposition that sounds a lot like another show that existed ten years ago.