MSNBC is changing its name to MS NOW, which does not stand for Maddow Supplies Nightly Opinionated Wisdom—but rather My Source for News, Opinion, and the World. The rebrand, announced yesterday, aims to create distance between the liberal news network—home to Rachel Maddow, Ari Melber, and Nicole Wallace—and NBC Universal, which owns NBC, amid an ongoing corporate divorce. It’s also dropping NBC’s iconic peacock logo.

The name change comes as part of the process that started last November of spinning off MSNBC and other NBCU cable network properties, including the Golf Channel, E!, and CNBC, into a new company called Versant. While none of the other channels will be changing their names, NBC announced that all the spun-out channels will also shed the peacock logo.

Why NOW? MSNBC, which got its original name from a now-defunct partnership between NBC and Microsoft, has been on a quest to forge an independent identity as its opinion journalism with a progressive slant has created headaches for NBC, which has maintained a more neutral editorial tone. Dropping NBC from the name is meant to avoid “brand confusion,” according to the soon-to-be Versant CEO Mark Lazarus.

Not just a name change

Like an adult in their early 20s finally moving from their parents’ house, MSNBC is in the process of becoming operationally self-sufficient as it separates from its corporate cousin, NBC.

• The two networks are moving away from sharing on-air talent, and MSNBC has been on a hiring spree to beef up its newsgathering prowess so it doesn’t have to rely on NBC for scoops.
• Aside from new-hire editors and producers, it recently brought on several NBC News personalities, including correspondents Jacob Soboroff and Vaughn Hillyard, as well as political reporters from Politico and the Washington Post.

Big picture: Though MSNBC does well in the nightly eyeballs game—surpassing CNN to receive the second-highest primetime ratings among cable news channels—it lags behind Fox News, which had more than double the primetime viewers last quarter, according to Nielsen Live+SD data.—SK

Zelensky meets with Trump, who wants to set a meeting with Putin. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House yesterday, this time bringing a group of European leaders, wearing a suit, and getting a warmer reception from President Trump. The meeting happened after Trump met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine—but one that would involve Ukraine giving Russia land it had seized in its invasion, which Zelensky has said he will not agree to. After yesterday’s meeting Trump said he had begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, and had discussed it with the Russian leader during a phone call, with a trilateral meeting to follow. Although no specific plan emerged, Trump also said the US could provide security guarantees to Ukraine.

Democrats return to Texas, clearing the path for GOP redistricting. State lawmakers— who fled Texas two weeks ago to block their Republican colleagues from using their majority to implement a new election map requested by President Trump that could add five Congressional seats for the GOP in the House—returned yesterday. This allowed the Texas House to have a quorum to meet for the first time in weeks. Republicans are now expected to pass the redistricting plan, after Gov. Greg Abbott, who accused the Democrats of having run “away from their responsibility,” called a second special legislative session for them to “finish” it. But the returning lawmakers said they were now “more dangerous,” having provoked a national conversation that included the governor of California’s threat to redraw his state’s map to counterbalance Texas.

US government mulls 10% stake in Intel as Softbank invests $2b. Negotiations are ongoing, but Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the government is considering becoming one of the beleaguered chipmaker’s biggest shareholders by converting grants the company was given under the Biden-era Chips Act into an equity stake. At Intel’s current valuation, a 10% stake would be worth ~$10.5 billion—though the exact size of the stake and whether the government will move forward with the plan remains to be determined. Meanwhile, over in the private sector, Softbank agreed to buy $2 billion worth of Intel stock, giving it a ~2% stake. Intel has been trying to turn itself around after losing ground to other semiconductor companies.—AR

Soho House, an exclusive club that ironically boasts more than 200,000 members worldwide, reached a $2.7 billion agreement to go private yesterday after four rocky years as a publicly traded entity. The new equity investors are led by MCR Hotels, the third-biggest hotel operator in the US, and include Ashton Kutcher (really), who will join the company’s board.

Since its IPO in 2021, Soho House has struggled both in the market—its IPO price was $14 per share back then, while shares closed below $8 on Friday—and in keeping its clientele of creative types happy as membership numbers exploded and competition flourished:

• In 2021, there were 33 Soho Houses; today, there are 48 operating or scheduled to open around the world. While that seems to contradict the point of an “exclusive” club, new venues means new members paying annual fees between $4,500 and $5,800, which bolsters the bottom line and placates shareholders.
• But members have complained about a decline in service in recent years. That has opened the door to competition, especially in Manhattan, where more than a dozen other clubs exist.

End of an era? The Financial Times notes that Soho House is taking on $845 million of debt from Apollo Management and Goldman Sachs to refinance a $700 million loan. To make that investment worth it, the club may need to induct more members, charge more, or start skimping on luxuries.—DL

A scripted show made by a credit card company may be the latest horseman of traditional entertainment’s apocalypse. “Roomies,” a made-for-social-media series that’s written, produced, and directed by the marketing team at Bilt, has racked up 8+ million views across Instagram and TikTok, according to journalist Rachel Karten.

Did it fool you? To appear as organic as possible, “Roomies” has separate social media accounts from Bilt, and the series hasn’t mentioned the credit card anywhere but in its bio…yet. Bilt is planning to ease product placements into “Roomies” for itself and partners like Barry’s, the fitness chain, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Old strategy, new tricks. Many major brands are also ramping up their entertainment marketing plays:

• Dick’s Sporting Goods announced this week that it’s launching a new in-house content studio to expand on its Sports Emmy-winning documentary work.
• Little Caesars got millions of YouTube views on a Survivor spoof show it released this year.
• Walmart sponsored its first “shoppable” movie last holiday season on Roku, years after co-creating a product-placement-filled, made-for-TV movie with P&G in 2010.

Zoom out: The number of jobs in Hollywood was down 25% last year from its pre-strike peak in 2022, according to a recent study from Otis College. With fewer opportunities in film and TV, some producers, editors, and other creatives have pivoted to brand work.—ML

These days, job seekers and even workers looking to move up within their existing jobs are trying harder to get noticed than a Love Island contestant in a barely there bikini. And one way to do that is to rack up skill certificates and other non-degree credentials, but a recent study found that many of these don’t help boost pay—at least not right away. The Wall Street Journal reports that the nonprofit Burning Glass Institute analyzed 23,000+ certifications and found:

• Only one in eight led to notably higher pay for workers within a year of completion.
• But sometimes the difference was big: With the 2,000 best-performing credentials, workers made ~$5,000 more per year. Many of those were in medical fields, like nursing, where credentials are important to employers and qualified employees are in short supply.

Either way, certificates have grown popular. From 2013 to 2023, the number of certificates people earned rose by a third, Burning Glass said, and more than 700,000 options were available in the US as of 2022, per the nonprofit Credential Engine.—AR