WPP, the ad giant led by Martin Sorrell, last week moved ahead of Omnicom as the world's largest owner of agencies based on reported revenue. WPP posted $13.6 billion in revenue for 2008, compared to Omnicom's revenue of $13.4 billion, thanks to WPP's inclusion of two months of revenue from TNS, its new $1.9 billion acquisition. But Sorrell had to rack up the largest debt load in his sector to become the biggest player. WPP ended 2008 with a total debt of $8.2 billion, including debt from the TNS deal. WPP's debt increased last year by $3.4 billion …

For vulture investors like Carl Icahn, Charlie Ergen, Carlos Slim and John Malone, media debt is a siren song. They are buying up media companies' debt not to save struggling companies, but instead to generate high yields, to have a voice in a potential bankruptcy or to gain control of a company on the cheap. Malone, the head of Liberty Media, was primarily looking to capture the hundreds of millions in tax credits gained from inheriting Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Slim's New York Times investment, which carries a steep 14% interest rate, simply offers too rich a return …

The New Republic is quietly considering a sale. Martin Peretz, the editor-in-chief who was a part owner of the magazine until 2007, is negotiating to reacquire the assets of the magazine from CanWest Global Communications. Winnipeg, Canada-based CanWest acquired a 30% stake in the magazine in 2006, and bought the remaining assets in early 2007 on behalf of its subsidiary, CanWest Media. Before that, Peretz had been a partial owner for more than 30 years. CanWest Global reported a net loss of $33 million for the fiscal first quarter of 2009, compared to a $41 million net …

It may come as consolation to some -- or maybe not. Layoffs in the media business don't come close to the carnage in some other sectors. In the first two months of this year, 7,453 jobs were lost at media companies, per a new Challenger, Gray & Christmas report. In contrast, the industry suffering the most is retail, which slashed 72,727 jobs in January and February. Automotive had the second-most job losses, at 70,058, followed by industrial goods, with 51,545 jobs lost. Challenger breaks its data down into 25 industries. Fourteen industries suffered more layoffs than media. In …

As the economy slumps, the ethnic media is getting cut off at the knees. For instance, Ming Pao Daily in New York is slated to shut down entirely, while Hoy New York abandoned print at the end of last year. At the venerable Ebony and Jet in Chicago, all employees must reapply for the jobs that remain. With the loss comes some serious harm. Ethnic media do a great deal of unrecognized work for journalism and they cultivate democracy in ways that the mainstream seems to have abandoned. Univision, for instance, has led bipartisan citizenship and voter registration …

Univision has finalized more than 50 retransmission-consent deals with video providers, adding Insight Communications and AT&T's U-verse to its roster with multiyear agreements. The U.S. Spanish-language media leader reached a contract with top cable operator Comcast in January and earlier this week concluded a retransmission-pact with DirecTV. The company says it also has accords with such distributors as Atlantic Broadband, Baja Broadband, Etan Industries, Grande Communications, Guadalupe Valley Communications, Qwest Communications, Service Electric and TVMAX. Next up could be a deal with Time Warner Cable. Univision's carriage contract with the nation's second largest operator expires at the end …

Paris-based luxury goods and fragrance marketer LVMH has placed the U.S. media portion of its ad account into review. The company spent $185 million in major domestic measured media in 2008, per Nielsen. Incumbent MediaCom will defend the account in the review, says insiders. The client's brands include Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon, Fendi, Christian Dior, Donna Karan and Celine.

Sports Illustrated is finding out what happens when a magazine publishes an excerpt of a book that turns out to be bogus. It just ran a 6,000-word chunk of "Odd Man Out," Matt McCarthy's memoir of playing minor league baseball. This week, The New York Times revealed that many of the anecdotes from the book appear fabricated or embellished, and are being disputed by teammates and others. Baseball editor Chris Stone says his magazine conducted its own, independent fact-check of the excerpt, but did not call up people who are quoted and read them back their quotes. He says …

Reader's Digest Association has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to explore restructuring options including a possible bankruptcy filing, says an insider. The law firm was asked to evaluate options for the publisher that include a possible "pre-packaged" or "pre-arranged bankruptcy," in which much of the restructuring work is completed out of court. The company's restructuring could take a number of different forms: "an out-of-court restructuring, an in-court restructuring, or a debt buyback," says Moody analyst John Puchalla. Moody's said in a credit opinion Feb. 18 that Reader's Digest's capital structure appears "unsustainable" and may violate its covenants …

With about two weeks to go before the start of the NCAA "March Madness" men's basketball tournament, CBS is nearly sold out of TV ad inventory. Plus, March Madness on Demand, which allows fans to stream all the televised tournament games, has attracted nearly $30 million in ad dollars. Total revenue for MMOD will be about 20% more than last year, say executives. CBSSports.com has again signed on AT&T, Coke and Pontiac as presenting sponsors. Comcast will be the first sponsor of the "boss button," which enables at-work viewers to display a fake spreadsheet on their screens with …