Google is holding talks with both The Washington Post and The New York Times about collaboration possibilities. Post executive Philip Bennett says, "We're talking to Google about improved ways of creating and presenting news online." A Google rep says of the Post discussions, "This was an informal meeting, and we're always talking with publishers to find creative ways to help them make money from online content." It's no surprise to hear such talks are happening, writes columnist Peter Kafka. "Contrary to what you may have heard, every sentient Web publisher realizes that Google directs a fire hose of …

The family that controls The New York Times empire has lost more than 86% percent of its fortune and may have to sell its controlling stake to get out of debt. The Ochs-Sulzberger family has run the paper since 1896 and until this year, had been living on wealth valued as high as $425 million. Four months ago, the family lost its biggest source of steady cash from the company -- a 92-cent annual dividend paying nearly $8 million. The family's stock fortune also crashed this year from a high of $411.5 million four years earlier to a …

People make fun of infomercials, but they work. The number of businesses using them has risen 10% in the past year. Known as direct-response television, or DRTV, the ads have been helped by the recession, with infomercial marketers enjoying better air time on the cheap. The cost of television ad time has fallen as much as 50% lately because so many Fortune 500 companies slashed their advertising budgets. "Networks have been willing to unload" certain time slots for "fire-sale prices," says Sam Catanese, CEO of Infomercial Monitoring Service. DRTV is well-suited for hard times. Customers make their …

Music magazines may be struggling, but Vibe is looking to defy the odds by launching The Most!, a biannual print magazine and Web site. The Most! is set to hit national newsstands June 16 with a print run of 300,000. TheMostmag.com is expected go live about two weeks earlier. The magazine will feature "tabloid-themed" content focusing on urban style, celebrity, beauty and culture. "We will focus heavily on digital, social networking and eventually mobile," says publisher Edgar Hernandez. He says the company tested similarly themed issues of Vibe over the past two years and "had great sell through …

News Corp is planning to introduce micro payments for individual articles and premium subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal's Web site, says managing editor Robert Thomson. "It's a [new] payments system. Once we have your details we will be able to charge you according to what you read. In particular, [there will be] a high price for specialist material," Thomson says. The payments service is expected to launch this autumn and -- if it works -- will be seen as a milestone in the news industry's search for better business models for its online outlets.

Katie Caperton is out of a job only two months after being promoted to the top editorial slot at celebrity magazine OK! An executive team, made up primarily of former consultants, will manage the magazine's "new initiatives and goals," say reps. As part of the shake-up, OK! named Juliet Gray its East Coast executive editor and Jason Oliver Nixon creative director. Earlier this month, the magazine's London-based publisher Northern & Shell hired Gray as a consultant on the business-side operations and brought on Nixon, the former editor of Niche Media's Gotham, to advise editorial. The aim is to …

Starcom MediaVest Group is creating an entity called the SMG Exchange (SMGX) -- a new ad-buying unit that will serve clients at all three SMG media shops. John Muszynski has been elevated to the new post of chief investment officer and is charged with building the new operation from scratch. SMGX will attempt to maximize the leverage of the estimated $22 billion in buying clout brought to the marketplace each year by Starcom, Spark and MediaVest. The new operation will initially focus on about $7 billion in local media, including TV and radio, out-of-home, newspaper, kid's media and sports …

For a possible glimpse of the ad-buying future, take a look at Unilever. The company, which spends about $499 million on TV, wants to rewrite the rules of the TV upfront and is increasingly setting the agenda with its "reverse upfront." Last year, Unilever presented brand plans to media companies and asked them to develop media plans and content deals around them. This year it hopes to expand the process to even more of its media outlay. An early example is Hellman's integration with CBS's "The New Adventures of Old Christine" in which extensive footage and references to …

The Los Angeles Times is bucking the trend of cutting back print efforts by launching a weekly spinoff magazine, LAetcetera in yesterday's edition of the newspaper. LAetcetera has a controlled circulation of roughly 480,000 and is being distributed three times per month to newspaper subscribers who don't already receive the monthly publication: LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine. The new magazine seeks to bring readers timely pop culture, shopping, fashion, and home coverage. The launch comes at a difficult time for newspaper magazines. Ad pages at LA, Los Angeles Times Magazinewere down 19.4% through the first quarter, according to …

Several magazine publishers have turned the Web into a sophisticated tool for signing up new subscribers to their print publications. Hearst Magazines, for instance, has focused heavily on online subs and last year one-fourth (2.2 million) of new customers came in that way. Fully 95% of those online subscribers were new to Hearst titles, says Chuck Cordray, Hearst executive. Condé Nast is rolling out an ambitious effort to generate more subscription revenue from the Web, stating with its magazines Golf Digest and Wired. Insiders said the ramped-up sub service would use customers' subscription history and behavioral targeting to …