Everyone is trying calm down before the weekend. Courtenay Semel totally made up for setting Casey Johnson's head on fire. Madonna tried to not be a demanding, terrible ball-buster constantly.
Your Friday media column is here! Today, possible newspaper death, sort-of magazine rebirth, news anchor lateral movement, and more chomping action:
Model Maggie Rizer is turning 31 today. Dave Matthews is turning 42. Times book critic Michiko Kakutani is 54. Hot 97 host Angie Martinez is 37. Internet tycoon Lockhart Steele is 35. Indie film honcho Michael Barker is turning 55. Earl Graves, the founder of Black Enterprise, is turning 74. Author Judith Krantz is 81. Singer Joan Baez is 68. And Kate Middleton, who stands to become a princess if Prince William ever pops the question, turns 27 today. Weekend birthdays—including that of Jared Kushner—after the jump!
♦ No official confirmation yet, but media insiders say David Gregory has been tapped to take over as host of Meet the Press. [Politico]
♦ It's rumored Carine Roitfeld is replacing Anna Wintour at Vogue. [Gawker]
♦ A former employee of Charles Kushner is accusing him of funneling cash from his real estate empire to prop up Jared Kushner's Observer. [Daily Intel]
♦ Harvey Weinstein owes Cindy Adams $10,000. [NYP]
♦ Condé Nast has shuttered its social networking site Flip.com. [Gawker]
♦ CBS is producing a new hidden camera show with Ashton Kutcher. [NYT]
♦ Katie Couric has a new haircut, in case you haven't noticed. [HuffPo]
♦ Arianna Huffington's how-to book for aspiring bloggers. [Jossip]
♦ Ever fantasized about having lunch with Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel? You can—for $2,500. [NYO]
Did you know the Observer is subsidized by an illicit slush fund? It shamefully is, according to a lawsuit filed by the former president of one of the Kushner Companies. When developer Charles Kushner bought a $1.8 billion office tower, he routed $18 million back to himself as commission on the mortgage, then allegedly siphoned $5 million off that for son Jared's cash-bleeding weekly newspaper.
Have we mentioned that Ivanka Trump is converting to Judaism, presumably so she will be a better marriage match for Jared Kushner, the equally young owner of the New York Observer? We have. Ivanka is only 27, but she recently auctioned off an internship with her for Chabad, the Hasidic organization her boyfriend supports. This donation and the visibility that comes with sounds like a good way to get in with Kushner's family, because we hear that they don't like the idea of Jared marrying outside the tribe. But Ivanka just made another move in the chess game to ingratiate herself with the Kushner family. Oh, UPDATE: apparently nobody wanted to bid on the "internship," and the person who finally did won't be sending the kid to the internship anyway.Park Avenue Peerage reported that she auctioned off for the Habad charity fundraiser "a one-month internship with Ivanka in New York, with the highest bidder choosing between working with her in the acquisitions arm of the Trump Organization or at the Ivanka Trump Collection, her diamond jewelry line." Looks like she has learned a few "how to win friends and influence people" business tricks from Dad! The Kushners have long been good friends with Chabad groups. Jared was the head of the Chabad House at Harvard. And dad Charles got a rabbi from Chabad's Living Legacy organization to write a letter on his behalf when he got into all that prostitute-blackmail trouble. Donating to a Chabad effort, a favored charity of the Kushner family, was the kind of smart move she might want to mention in her upcoming "motivational" book. Update:"I have a friend that went last night and from what I hear no one wanted to buy that internship with her. It eventually sold for $9,000 but the person supposedly felt bad BUT won't be sending their kids to intern with her."
Ivanka Trump and real-estate golden boy and New York Observer owner Jared Kushner have been dating for over a year, and seem to be heading towards marriage—especially when you consider Ivanka's highly-publicized conversion to Judaism. But they keep denying that they're getting engaged, and we've heard a possible reason why: their families can't stand each other.We hear that Trump isn't happy about Jared's dad's time as a jailed felon over real-estate dealings gone bad, and the Kushners aren't happy about Ivanka's shiksa status, despite her ingratiating attempt to convert—maybe because the effort means she's serious about marrying him for real. It's so romantic—like the Montagues and the Capulets! They'll probably want to be together even more now.
The upside of being in a recession is that you can score some sweet concessions on a new apartment! Assuming you have money to get an apartment. If you're lucky enough to be a buyer these days, "Don't be afraid to ask for anything." So says boy wonder Jared Kushner, the publisher of the Observer and also a real estate mogul in his own right! Want to ask the current owner to come clean your kitchen every week? Need them to throw in a hypoallergenic puppy free with your purchase? Or something a bit more kinky? Nothing's too obnoxious to ask for, according to Jared. Click through to hear some buyer's wisdom straight from the lips that regularly make out with Ivanka Trump:
As you've probably heard, the real estate market has softened and developers and apartment owners are getting increasingly desperate as they try to unload condos and co-ops. Real estate scion/Observer owner Jared Kushner has a few tips on navigating the market: "There is nothing too obnoxious you can ask for right now," he advises. "For the first time in a long time, brokers have to earn their commissions." Video of his remarks is to your left. [The Real Deal]
♦ Keith Olbermann has signed a new, four-year contract with MSNBC. He'll earn $7.5 million a year, which is 25 percent less than what his arch-nemesis Bill O'Reilly is collecting from Fox News. [TVDecoder]
♦ MSNBC's new slogan—"Experience the power of change"—has absolutely nothing to do with Barack Obama's victory, naturally. [NYT]
♦ The job cuts at Time Inc. are underway. People is looking for 18 people to take buyout packages. Time is looking for 20 volunteers. [WWD]
♦ Jared Kushner says revenues at the Observer are up 40 percent, although the paper is still losing $2 million a year. [Guardian]
♦ Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, from DreamWorks/Paramount, reeled in $63.5 million in its first weekend. [NYT]
Britain's Guardian profiled Jared Kushner, and while the Observer owner makes some positive noises about his company, the salient facts are as follows: After two years and a purported 40 percent revenue increase, the paper is still losing about $2 million per year. Kushner said he is " definitely scared about newspapers" and compared the industry to "a falling knife." And despite having Ivanka Trump on his arm, Kushner was recently turned away from fading nightclub Bungalow 8:
Ivanka Trump chats with Lloyd Grove over at Portfolio.com about the turbulent real estate market, her silly new lunch venture with ConAgra, and where she sees herself in 20 years. (Answer: The same place as today, just with more experience.) She also tells us who she's voting for: John McCain, just like her dad and unlike her boyfriend, in case you were wondering. [Portfolio]
How's that going? They're grooming the Trump daughter to marry boy-mensch and 27-year-old New York Observer owner Jared Kushner. But first they've got to beat the Gentile out of her! Of course the YNet's Jewish World has something to say about it, declaring Kushner the "perfect match" and informing us that " following her husband-to-be's request, Ivanka has begun the conversion process at the Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue in Manhattan's Upper East Side." Has she been turned away by a rabbi three times, as is the custom? Update: But Kushner & Trump are not engaged as this article suggests, says Robert Sommer, Observer Media Group President. Apparently, they're just really seriously going steady.[YNet]
♦ Angelina Jolie is either "burning up with jealousy" over Brad Pitt's flirtatious relationship with co-star Diane Kruger, or she's completely happy and getting ready for her next adoption in the next few weeks, depending on which tabloid you pick up. [Star, OK!]
♦ Elisabeth Hasselbeck gets more death threats than any other host on the View, news that probably won't surprise you. [P6]
♦ Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer spent last weekend at a romantic spa in Arizona. [Star]
♦ Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen appeared at a book signing yesterday, but they did not permit fans to talk to them. [P6]
♦ Page Six follows up on the news from three weeks ago and reports Ivanka Trump is converting to Judaism for Jared Kushner. She's attending synagogue regularly, too. [P6]
The website Jewssip.com ("celebrity news from a higher authority") reports that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner may be one step closer to walking down the aisle. The site's "inside source" says Ivanka has been taking conversion classes with Rabbi Haskel Lookstein at the Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue on the Upper East Side. And Jewssip says she'll be back at the synagogue with on Thursday for Yom Kippur services. [Jewssip]
