As media outlets continue to emphasize their digital platforms, the tech industry has become increasingly intertwined with the news business. The latest example came earlier today, when Laurene Powell Jobs — widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs — purchased a controlling interest in The Atlantic through her organization, the Emerson Collective.
With tech giants from Amazon to Facebook throwing major dollars into what’s been dubbed a dying industry in recent years, the investment from Powell Jobs highlights how and why news outlets are still appealing to billionaires.
“This is a real sign of confidence in quality media, because all of [The Atlantic’s work] is serious quality,” said Gabriel Kahn, professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “In the incredibly challenged landscape of the media business, The Atlantic has clearly been a success story and shown that something that began as a print magazine can be as innovative as anyone else out there — and aggressive, with all the things they’ve launched.”
Kahn pointed to Atlantic Media Group’s network of sites — including Government Executive, National Journal, and most importantly, Quartz — as a sign of its shrewd transformation into a digital powerhouse. This — coupled with Kahn’s assertion “media still has power” — shows why Powell Jobs was attracted to The Atlantic.
Emerson Collective will take the reigns of The Atlantic from David G. Bradley, who bought the publication in 1999 for a mere $10 million. The terms of today’s sale were not disclosed, but Bradley is set to make a tidy profit after leading the 160-year-old magazine’s impressive makeover.
Powell Jobs declined to comment to TheWrap, but credited The Atlantic in a statement announcing the deal, saying it aims to “bring about equality for all people; to illuminate and defend the American idea; to celebrate American culture and literature; and to cover our marvelous, and sometimes messy, democratic experiment.”
The 53-year-old has been an investor and board member in online news site Ozy.com, and also has ties to Anonymous Content — Steve Golin’s production company behind “The Revenant” and “Spotlight.” She’ll now follow in the footsteps of other tech heavyweights to jump into major media businesses. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos plopped down $250 million for the Washington Post in 2013, and the paper has experienced something of a renaissance behind his investment, and also the assistance of an election cycle.
Still, cash infusions from tech bigwigs haven’t always guaranteed success. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes purchased a controlling stake in The New Republic in 2012, but was hampered by staff conflict and a rocky digital segue. Four years later, Hughes sold TNR to editor and publisher Win McCormack.
“I will be the first to admit that when I took on this challenge nearly four years ago, I underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate,” said Hughes in a Medium post announcing his decision to sell.
So what makes publications like The Atlantic and the Washington Post a worthwhile gamble? Kahn — a veteran of the Wall Street Journal and currently the co-director of the USC Media, Economics and Entrepreneurship program — highlighted three aspects: 1) quality content, which 2) allows pubs to “rely on reader revenue,” and 3) strong leadership.
The third part is key, because you “have to have the management and technical expertise to put yourself in front of the consumer in the right way.”
Get those factors down, and you can build a sustainable 21st century media company like The Atlantic.
“Strong editorial, combined with a culture that embraces technological innovation, can lead to real lasting change and success,” said Kahn.
'Minority Report' and 18 More Movies That Accurately Predicted Future Tech (Photos)
Steven Spielberg's tech-heavy "Minority Report," starring Tom Cruise, is now 15 years old. Considered one of the most prescient sci-fi movies to grace the big screen, it predicted multiple future innovations, including facial recognition, personalize advertising and predictive crime fighting. In honor of the movie's anniversary, click through here to revisit 18 more movies that accurately peered into the future of technology:
20th Century Fox
We're so used to touch screens at this point -- we use them every day on our smart phones, and even at McDonald's -- that it's easy to forget that Tom Cruise used the technology in "Minority Report."
20th Century Fox
Long before Siri, there was HAL. The ominous yet soft-spoken computer system was the antagonist in 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Stanley Kubrick's sinister talking computer ended up turning on its crew in a Siri user's worst nightmare.
MGM
Tech giant Elon Musk is at the helm of SpaceX, which will send two tourists to space in 2018. But "2001: A Space Odyssey" imagined commercial space travel decades ago.
MGM
Elon Musk, Google and Uber have been duking it out to bring self-driving cars to the masses, but Arnold Schwarzenegger might have jumpstarted the competition when he took a robot-controlled ride in 1990's "Total Recall."
TriStar Pictures
"The Terminator" predicted military drones in 1984 -- long before they were introduced to police forces and militaries.
Orion Pictures
Virtual reality is taking over the tech scene. You can play games in VR, watch movies and experience Coachella all from the comfort of your living room. But Hollywood predicted we'd have VR more than 20 years ago in 1992's "Lawnmower Man."
New Line Cinema
The 1982 cult classic "Blade Runner," starring Harrison Ford, predicted digital billboards, which you can see now all over the country, from Times Square in New York to the Vegas strip.
Warner Bros.
Remember when the TSA rolled out invasive body scanners and a lot of people freaked out? "Airplane II: The Sequel" imagined airport scanners that revealed a person's naked body to agents.
Woody Allen's "Sleeper" had robots assisting surgeons by offering advice during surgery. Today, doctors use robotics to add precision to procedures.
United Artists
The beloved 1960s cartoon "The Jetsons" -- which was made into a movie in 1990 -- predicted the use of robots to clean homes. They had a robotic vacuum and a robotic maid. Can you say Roomba?
ABC
In vitro fertilization and at-home genetic testing are common place these days. "Gattaca," with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, predicted this tech in 1997.
We know how dangerous cyber warfare is, and countless companies have been hacked recently. 1983's "WarGames" with Matthew Broderick is all about a kid who walks the line between gaming and reality.
MGM
FaceTime, and Skype before it, are commonplace today. But it was cool new technology in 1989's "Back to the Future Part II."
Universal Pictures
There are a ton of different options out there for smart watches. This was predicted in 1990's "Dick Tracy."
Touchstone Pictures
It's so easy to order Domino's online -- you can even watch how far along in the process your pizza is. In 1995's "The Net" with Sandra Bullock, they showed ordering pizza online for the first time.
Columbia Pictures
Tinder, Bumble and OKCupid are only a few of the many, many online dating options out there. But Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were on the forefront of the online dating trend in "You've Got Mail."
Warner Bros.
VR porn is growing in popularity. Or as it's called in 1993's "Demolition Man" -- "digitized transference of sexual energies."
Warner Bros.
The 1929 movie "Woman in the Moon" predicted space travel. Obviously, we hit that milestone decades ago. And hey, they even got the shuttle shape right!
From robotic vacuums to smart watches, Hollywood got these tech trends right
Steven Spielberg's tech-heavy "Minority Report," starring Tom Cruise, is now 15 years old. Considered one of the most prescient sci-fi movies to grace the big screen, it predicted multiple future innovations, including facial recognition, personalize advertising and predictive crime fighting. In honor of the movie's anniversary, click through here to revisit 18 more movies that accurately peered into the future of technology: