Donald Trump sat down with the New York Times for a wide-ranging interview. The content is notable — there’s lots of Russia in there, of course — as is the fact that he did it with the “failing New York Times,” which Trump constantly complains about, and reads. [New York Times]
Recode Daily: Donald Trump loves the failing New York Times
Plus, how the “Game of Thrones” budget and audience compares with other blockbusters, and Samsung’s Bixby finally finds its voice.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
If you are reading a story about a potential media merger or acquisition, there is a very good chance John Malone is involved. The cable pioneer/dealmaker has talked to Univision about a big investment, and is pushing Discovery to merge with Scripps. [New York Times]
Airbnb is on track to rack up more than 100 million stays this year, up from around 80 million in 2016 — and that’s just the beginning of its threat to the $550 billion global hotel industry. Half of those who used Airbnb last year used it to replace a traditional hotel stay; the company is aggressively going after the market for business travelers. [Rani Molla / Recode]
After a splashy introduction during April’s Galaxy S8 launch, Samsung finally rolled out the voice component of its Bixby virtual assistant. The rollout was marred by sexist hashtag descriptions for its male and female voice options — labeling the female voice “#chipper #clear #cheerful,” and the male voice “#assertive #confident #clear.” Samsung quickly said it would remove the gendered descriptions. [Dani Deahl / The Verge]
Here’s what really happens in a corporate PR-crisis war room, as told by a veteran of Google and Twitter’s communications teams, who has been privy to a variety of corporate meltdowns. [Karen Wickre / Backchannel]
Want to write a bestseller? There’s a book for that. On the latest episode of Recode Media with Peter Kafka, “Perennial Seller” author and self-described media manipulator Ryan Holiday describes the process of creating something and marketing it as “two consecutive marathons.” [Eric Johnson / Recode]
Recode presents ...
Fanatics is a new breed of sports licensing company — part manufacturer, part e-commerce retailer, part technology company. Its verticalized structure and on-demand manufacturing capacity has earned Fanatics lucrative deals with the MLB, NBA and NFL. That’s why we’ve invited Fanatics executive chairman Michael Rubin and NBA commissioner Adam Silver to our September Code Commerce event in New York City. Silver will discuss why the NBA will partner with Fanatics to design and sell its new player replica jerseys. Register now to receive a $200 discount on your ticket to the two-day event to discuss all things retail and commerce.
Top stories from Recode
The HBO series averaged 25.7 million viewers last season, with 26 percent of those views from HBO Go and HBO Now.
Alphabet says the letter is relevant because shareholders reportedly blamed the former Uber CEO for putting the company at legal risk.
The founders will talk about how they built a brand that millennials love.
This is cool
Just going to run the original headline verbatim here: China mall introduces “husband storage” pods for shopping wives. “Inside each individual pod is a chair, monitor, computer and gamepad, and men can sit and play retro 1990s games.” [BBC]
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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