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    Getting in on the joke, Univision buys stake in The Onion

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1264 Views
    This Nov. 1, 2005, file photo, shows the Univision Communications Inc., building in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

    By Tali Arbel, Business Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    The Spanish-language broadcaster Univision is buying a stake in the owner of satirical website The Onion, in what may be considered a serious grab for younger viewers.

    "I'm happy to announce that we've just finished a deal with what might at first seem like an unusual partner: Univision," wrote Onion Inc. CEO Mike McAvoy in a memo to employees. He said Univision has acquired "a good chunk" of Onion Inc. as of today, and may acquire the remainder down the line.

    Once solely comedic enterprises have earned younger audiences who rely on them as a news source.

    The Pew Research Center found that 12 percent of Americans cited "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central as the place where they got their news, with that number skewing heavily toward younger viewers.

    While The Onion veers well outside of news boundaries, its preposterous articles regularly involve politics, health care and science.

    Univision says it sees comedy as crucial in covering news for young people, particularly with the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

    Univision Communications Inc. said Tuesday that it is a minority investor. Univision spokeswoman Rosemary Mercedes and Onion spokeswoman Lauren Pulte both declined to specify the size of Univision's investment.

    There is a scramble by TV networks for younger viewers and their spending dollars. Disney, the owner of ABC, Disney and ESPN, has invested in digital video network Vice, which is getting its own U.S. TV channel; Comcast's NBCUniversal has put money into online content and news hubs BuzzFeed and Vox.

    And it isn't Univision's first digital foray. The company, which last summer filed to go public amid declines in TV ratings, in 2015 bought The Root, a news and opinion site aimed at African-Americans, and launched a digital video site, Flama, aimed at English-speaking young Hispanics in 2014.

    Onion Inc. scuttled its print version, and today also includes pop-culture site The A.V. Club; ClickHole, a swipe at viral-stories generator BuzzFeed; and Onion Labs, an ad agency. McAvoy says it has been searching for a year for a "partner" to help it grow. Univision says it will have oversight of Onion Inc., but the company will operate independently.

    Tags:The OnionUnivision



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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