WarnerMedia staffers are bracing for the AT&T spinoff

Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for May 18. I'm senior advertising reporter Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on:

• Inside AT&T's spin off of WarnerMedia.
• Cision faces lawsuit.
• Vrbo's ad battle against Airbnb.

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Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at LJohnson@insider.com or on Twitter at @LaurenJohnson.

Inside WarnerMedia's spinoff from AT&T

On Monday, AT&T confirmed that it plans to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery Communications, reversing the telecom's $85 billion bet on Time Warner in 2018.

The blockbuster deal has insiders swirling about the new company, which will be led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav:

• AT&T is combining WarnerMedia with Discovery to create a new streaming giant
• Inside CNN, where staffers are mostly relieved its parent company is merging with Discovery and are now speculating about Jeff Zucker's future there
• WarnerMedia and Discovery's merger is already shaking up leadership. Here are the execs vying for power.
  

Public relations tech giant Cision faces a collective action lawsuit over overtime pay

• Three former sales representatives are suing Cision, alleging unpaid overtime, Sean Czarnecki reported.
• A court has granted collective action status to the lawsuit.
• Cision is the world's largest public relations tech company.

Read the story.

Expedia Group's Vrbo is unapologetically luring hosts from rival Airbnb with cheeky ads and new perks as short-term-rental platforms look to grow supply ahead of a busy summer for travelers

• This summer is gearing up to be a big one for the short-term-rental market, Madeline Stone reported.
• But while demand is high, supply is low.
• Vrbo is appealing to Airbnb hosts with new programs and ad campaigns.

Read the story.

Other stories we're reading:

• EXCLUSIVE: Amazon plans new 'Diagnostics' brand that offers at-home medical tests for COVID-19, sexually transmitted infections, and clinical genomics (Insider)
• Trump would be allowed on celebrity video app Cameo if he wanted to join, the company's CEO said (Insider)
• J.Crew is hiring a designer who helped turn Supreme into a cult streetwear brand, as the preppy retailer looks to revamp its image (Insider)
• Google struggles to match Apple on smartphone privacy changes (The Information)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at LJohnson@insider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.