Apple sends one of its top men to speak before Congress, jumps almost twenty spots on the Fortune 500, and strikes a deal with another major publisher—all before noon. Guess someone ate their Wheaties. The remainders for Friday, May 6, 2011 are part of this complete breakfast.
Apple’s Bud Tribble to testify before Judiciary Subcommittee on Mobile Privacy (The Loop)
The office of Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has released the list of folks giving testimony at next week’s Congressional hearing on mobile privacy, spawned by the recent iPhone location kerfuffle. Among them, Apple vice president of software technology Bud Tribble; we look forward to the inevitable heartwarming movie on the topic, The Trouble with Mr. Tribble Goes to Washington.
35. Apple (Fortune)
Apple has jumped to the number 35 spot on the Fortune 500, up from its previous ranking of 56. The key to its astronomical rise? A secret plan it likes to call “selling a whole ton of products.”
Conde Nast Springs Ahead of Hearst With iPad Subscription Pact: Report (Wired)
On the heels of a reported agreement between Apple and Hearst, rival publisher Conde Nast is said to have snagged its own exclusive deal to bring subscriptions to the iPad by the end of the month. Strange that all the major publishers seem to be jumping onboard now, three months after Apple announced its subscription plan—maybe it was that orbital death laser Steve Jobs recently had installed.
Warner Music bought by Len Blavatnik for $3.3bn (The Guardian)
The major record label has been snapped up for a tidy sum, despite the fact that its debts total $2 billion. Fans of Warner Music Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. shouldn’t worry—Bronfy is expected to stay on, along with the rest of the executive team, after the purchase. Because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Right?
How ‘Glee’ Stars Used Dance to Grow Their Roles (Backstage)
Buried in this interview with Glee stars Heather Morris and Harry Shum Jr.—which you know you were reading anyway—is this tidbit: Shum was one of the dancing silhouettes in the old iPod commercials. So much for my theory that they were all Apple executives. (I totally hear Phil Schiller does a mean pop-and-lock.)