exclusive Laurel Touby founded mediabistro.com in 1996, sold it in 2007 (for $23 million) and began her first real vacation in October of last year - a six-month sabbatical around the world. We caught up with Touby today by phone in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to find out what she's been up to, her thoughts on Foursquare and Chatroulette, what her plans are next and more. (more...)

It's no secret that grown-ups love the Harry Potter series almost as much as kids - maybe even more, based on certain grown-up references that the average 12-year-old can't quite yet appreciate. More to the point, by this time a whole bunch of Harry Potter fans who were once kids, back when the book came out, are now all grown up. Either way, that means a whole lot of us at Mediaite are unashamed, unabashed Harry Potter fans. After its worldwide record-breaking weekend (which a few of us contributed to), we got to talking about certain parallels between the magical land of Hogwarts and the equally magical land of headlines, bylines, cutlines, chyrons, blog pickup and declining ad pages. Turns out, the two have a lot in common! Before we knew it, we were shouting out names of media muggles like Hermione answering a pop quiz. After careful (and nerdily meticulous) consideration, we've come up with a few examples for you. (We like to think of the Power Grid as our own little version of the Marauder's Map.) Here below, for your edification and enjoyment, is our own version - let's call it "Harry Potter and the Media Muggles." Mischief managed!

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Bloomberg, which acquired Business Week last month, announced this week that they were looking to layoff 100 positions or 25% of its staff. Judging from Twitter it looks like the layoffs took place today (h/t FishbowlNY). (more...)

Jon Fine reports that financial information giant Bloomberg LLC has submitted a bid to acquire his own magazine, BusinessWeek, making Bloomberg the presumptive favorite in purchasing the troubled title. (more...)

The deadline for final bids for BusinessWeek came and went yesterday, and the question on a lot of people's minds was whether or not Bloomberg LP would bid. It's been reported that the financial media giant expressed their interest in the troubled financial magazine very late into the process, so it's expected that the company will get an extra couple of days to perform due diligence and decide upon its bid. (more...)

Who: Maegan Carberry, Jon Fine, Matt Romanoski, Jay Rosen, Rachel Sklar

What: MediaBistro's "Finding a Business Model for News & Online Media," at Comix

When: July 16, 2009

Thumbs: Up (more...)