The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Twitter is facing some tough choices in order to stay afloat. It could look at cutting sales, marketing, and R&D costs, reforming its stock-based compensation, or inviting friendly activist investors to get involved.
2. Snoopy has been fired as the mascot for MetLife insurance. It ends a relationship that has lasted more than 30 years.
3. NBCUniversal doubled its investment in BuzzFeed to $400 million at a valuation of about $1.7 billion. That is slightly up from BuzzFeed's $1.5 billion post-money valuation when NBCUniversal invested $200 million last year.
4. AT&T and Time Warner are reportedly talking about a merger. Time Warner's share price jumped 5% on the news, while AT&T dropped 2.2%.
5. Apple's head of internet software and services Eddy Cue says television needs to be reinvented. "The problem is the interface," he said at Vanity Fair's conference in San Francisco on Thursday.
6. Google's VR team is testing a prototype of a mystery wireless device, according to documents filed with the FCC. The device transmits across a broad swath of wireless frequencies, from 2.4 GHz to 5.8 GHz, according to the documents.
7. Jeff Bezos said he admires The Washington Post for being "professional swashbucklers." He told the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit that he does not get involved in the newsroom in any way, but that he admires its journalists' "swagger."
8. Microsoft plans to get its hands on LinkedIn by the end of the year. Microsoft expects to close the $26 billion acquisition quickly and smoothly.
9. It was the Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference on Thursday. AdExchanger rounds up the highlights.
10. We want your nominations for the world's most innovative chief marketing officers. Find out how to submit your entry for our inaugural ranking.