The 11th Hour Dispatch — September 19, 2018
BINGE WATCH
Like a toddler to a hungover parent, BuzzFeed News wants to be seen and not heard. The news arm of the digital media giant is slashing its podcast budget in favor of video efforts for original shows on Netflix, Twitter, and Facebook, and most of its original podcasts, including See Something Say Something, The News, and Reporting To You, will be shut down. This doesn’t mean, however, that BuzzFeed News won’t greenlight any more podcasts. It just means that they’re getting rid of their in-house podcast production team, and will instead hire outside work if a need arises in the future.
YOUNG MONEY
Nearly a year after raising $20 million in Series C, GitLab has raised $100 million in Series D funding, officially pushing it to unicorn status. The latest round, led by Iconiq Capital, with participation from previous investors GV and Khosla Ventures, values the coding collaboration company at $1.1 billion. The company has raised $145.5 million to date, and according to CEO Sid Sijbrandij, it plans to go public by November 2020. GitLab had originally planned to seek funding that would push it to that $1 billion mark next year, but Iconiq gave the company an offer it couldn’t refuse. Probably didn’t hurt that Microsoft announced plans to acquire its biggest competitor, GitHub, earlier this year either. GitLab plans to use the latest round to hone its engineering efforts and expand features for its existing products.
BIG BUSINESS
The ACLU has filed a complaint against Facebook and 10 employers on behalf of three female potential employees for allegedly using gender discriminatory practices in job ads. Reportedly, some employers were targeting job postings exclusively to male job seekers, and the majority of these postings were for positions that were already in male-dominated fields. The complaint argues that Facebook’s allowance of ad targeting for age and gender categories is against the law, specifically Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It also points to a 1973 Supreme Court ruling that forbids job advertisements that discriminate based on gender. You know Facebook’s PR team went on high alert. Here’s what Spokesperson Joe Osbourne told CNNMoney, “There is no place for discrimination on Facebook; it’s strictly prohibited in our policies, and over the past year, we’ve strengthened our systems to further protect against misuse. We look forward to defending our practices once we have an opportunity to review the complaint.”
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
A Space Jam sequel starring Lebron James is in the works.
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