The Brief – Wednesday 8 April: OpenAI buys TBPN, UMG offer, Wireless cancelled and more

👀 Insiders at OpenAI have referred to CEO Sam Altman as a compulsive liar and a “sociopath”, warning that he shapeshifts the AI giant’s purported mission in talks to investors. (New Yorker)

🎙️ Separately, OpenAI has acquired TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network), a tech-focused talk show popular in Silicon Valley. The purchase of the 11-person company was for ‘low hundreds of millions’ of dollars. (FT)

💰 Paramount Skydance has secured funding commitments from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The signed equity commitments total close to $24bn and come as Paramount seeks to close its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. (Deadline)

✍️ US President Donald Trump threatened to jail journalists who reported that a second US airman was missing after being shot down by Iran last week. During a press conference at the White House, Trump indicated the threat was aimed at pursuing the “leaker” who informed any journalists about the intelligence. (The Guardian)

🎧 Activist investor Pershing Square, a fund managed by Bill Ackman, has offered to buy Universal Music Group in a cash and stock deal worth €55.8bn. (CNBC)

📰 The Associated Press is offering buyouts to an unspecified number of US-based journalists as part of a shift aimed at becoming more focused on visual journalist and developing new revenue sources through companies investing in AI. It comes as big newspaper companies now account for just 10% of its income. (Associated Press)

🕹️ Netflix is launching Netflix Playground, a new gaming app designed for young children. Games include educational experiences based on IP including Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, Peppa Pig, Dr Seuss and more. (Netflix)

⚽ The Women’s Sport Trust has partnered with YouTube to launch a five-month accelerator programme designed to support current athletes and alumni of its Unlocked programme in building their digital presence and personal brands. (Women’s Sport Trust)

💻 Teads has expanded its partnership with NewsGuard. Teads will apply NewsGuard’s news trustworthiness ratings to its supply of ad inventory with the aim of helping brands support high-quality journalism while aviding low-quality or unreliable information environments. (Teads)

✈️ Brand-focused ad measurement company Happydemics has launched “In-Flight”, a new feature that aims to measure brand outcome measurement within live campaigns. (Happydemics)

📺 Samba TV has partnered with TiVo Ads to integrate the former’s analytics and targeting capabilities within the latter’s CTV platform globally, with the rollout beginning in the UK market. (Samba TV)

🎤 The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after headliner Ye (formerly Kanye West) was barred by the UK Home Office from entering the country. Advertisers PepsiCo, Diageo, and AB InBev had backed out of sponsoring the festival over Ye’s planned performance. (BBC)