"We closed Splinter because it was a liberal political site that was losing audience in the middle of a liberal moment," he said. Employees in G/O Media's editorial union urged the company's private-equity owners to replace G/O Chief Executive Jim Spanfeller in a letter Monday, saying a change in leadership was . Deadspin Editor Fired Amid Pushback Over 'Stick to Sports' Memo In his email to the staff, Spanfeller described this story as one that had been commissioned by the site, and attempted to paint the reporting process behind it as haphazard and unfair. Or knowledgeable writers?, Asked about the survey, Rogers said he thinks its responses will accurately and fully reflect Deadspin readers opinions of the site. Once it became clear that the sales department was being restructured in Kurt Muellers absence, another female vice president, who had been at the company for four years, asked McAvoy in early June for the opportunity to be considered for an expanded sales role, providing examples to show her success at the company. Jim Spanfeller - CEO - G/O Media | LinkedIn in English Literature in 1979 and went to work as a reporter for the SoHo Weekly News. 2. Legal review is often a lengthy process involving multiple reads, so talking to a lawyer is certainly not an indication that we would publish without completing the reporting process. And as the only woman on the previous revenue leadership team, I started to wonder if women were being considered for leadership roles. Indeed, Spanfeller told Deadspin that he first contacted Rogers about the job on June 11. Before he started full time in early June, Flanagan was brought in as a consultant just after Spanfeller took over G/O Media. It was a welcome refrain for employees all too aware of how the company had languished under Univisions doomed ownership. The Daily Meal was acquired by Tronc in 2016. Before we go any further, I feel compelled to acknowledge that nearly everything about this item is a conflict of interest. She asked McAvoy, then her immediate supervisor, for the opportunity to interview for the position, citing her leadership of the revenue division, her construction of a diverse team, and her renown in the industry. []. "I think that most media company CEOs probably are as involved as I am," Spanfeller said. It's a culture of fear," said the first former employee, who added that staffers sometimes likened meetings with Spanfeller to the "boar on the floor" scene in HBO's "Succession," where media mogul Logan Roy orders his underlings to crawl and oink like pigs. I can see why. According to Dave Reibstein, past chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association and a professor of marketing at University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business (where he teaches a course on market research), there are several problems with the survey. Several high-ranking employees have left the company over the past three months, departments have been stretched thin, and those who remain say that Spanfellers micromanaging and inappropriate interference has hamstrung their ability to effectively do their jobs. Another was more direct: Thats Jim wanting to be in control. Never mind the recent exodus of company leadership under his tenure, including the editorial director, chief financial officer, and chief revenue officer. Gov. Flanagan volunteered to go first, and what followed wasnt overwhelmingly inspiring, as one sales employee who was at the meeting put it: Flanagan read word for word what was on the slides, two people present confirmed. "People are scared of him. View details on more than 95 Million registered voters across the United States. Back to the Office, But Only to Picket - Curbed We may earn a commission from links on this page. Meanwhile, many people who are still at the company feel their work is being hindered by new management. (Spanfeller told Deadspin that he and Callahan had only been in a single meeting that I recall.). Spanfeller Media Group - Wikipedia On July 9, he hired Faiza Javaid as deputy general counsel, a position that was posted publicly. I was disappointed. Mike hired Steve, and Steve hired Lance after conducting a process around each hire. Great Hill Partners vice president Eric Ahlgren and managing partner Chris Gaffney did not respond to Deadspins emailed questions. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller says the company is profitable and ready He sent a message back about the importance of diversity and inclusion and a full hiring process. Political affiliation means the state of belonging to or endorsing any political party. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said the company would become "nicely profitable" by the end of the year, after it's been . Spanfeller Has an Alleged History of Screaming at Women Employees. [] While it is what we did at Forbes that has nothing to do with the reason to do it here. Then, in early June, former Onion CEO Mike McAvoy, whountil he was separated from the company on July 11had been leading sales across all the sites, told the SVP that Spanfeller had hired two new sales leaders, Flanagan and Thompson. A week after Spanfeller insisted to Varietythat he did not plan to cut our way to growth, the CEO fired 25 employees, including in top positions, such as axing former Gizmodo Media Group editorial director Susie Banikarim. The Onion Union, which represents AV Club staffers, told Insider in a statement that it hoped "this period of prosperity creates tangible benefits for all of our members especially those whose jobs are being moved to Los Angeles, one of the most expensive cities in the world.". I was also hiring a good portion of these jobs before I actually took over day to day control of the company. [12][13], In 2011, Spanfeller launched The Daily Meal with an estimated $2 million investment. It definitely feels like its the old boys club, a G/O Media employee told Deadspin. While these high-ranking women were being overlooked and bypassed, Spanfeller evidently was concerned about retaining at least one other VP on the sales side. He started screaming at me, Who told you you were allowed to speak about audience? When Jim Spanfeller and a private equity firm called Great Hill Partners took over G/O Mediaformerly Gizmodo Media Groupin April, their stated goal was to make the company profitable. Spanfeller Media Group ( SMG ), a subsidiary of publishing company Tribune Publishing, is a digital media company based in New York City. The rigorous and thorough reporting, editing, and legal review process that Greenwell promised to oversee has since been completed, which is why you are reading this story now. Combined with more data-driven metrics like unique views, how long a reader spends on a story, and how many times a story is shared, reader feedback can provide useful information. ), The internal reaction to these hires has ranged from confusion to anger. When Spanfeller Offered to Promote a Woman to a Top Position, He Insisted She Fire a Female Editorial Director Should She Accept the Job. The post was so popular, in fact, that it apparently gained the attention and ire of Spanfeller himself (perhaps partially due to the fact that someone registered Deadspin2.com and set it to redirect to Carmichaels post). I told Mike, verbally and in writing, that I would be interested in taking on new responsibilities and opportunities within the organization and I would like to interview for whatever position would be a part of that, she told Deadspin. The four women who Spanfeller counts as major hires include two he hired (head of talent and deputy counsel); one he promoted from within to executive managing editor; and a yet-to-be-filled position he says he plans to offer to a woman. Sources say the meeting concluded with an agreement that the best course of action would be to explain to Spanfeller why the player would not be finished by August 15. Jim Rich, the former Daily News editor charged with bringing Deadspin back to life following a mass staff exodus, has resigned after just 18 months on the job, The Post has learned. I have stood up for and advocated for my team since the day I started at G/O. In addition to the annoying ads, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller also wants Kotaku to only write about video games. In one instance in which Spanfeller tried to promote a woman within the company, his offer came with strings attached. Have a tip we should know? Jim Spanfeller has 2 current jobs as Founder at The Daily Meal and Chief Executive Officer at G/O Media. G/O Media, from a business perspective, has turned a corner, Spanfeller says. When asked if she stood by the content of the since-disappeared post, Carmichael remained steadfast: I did really careful, thorough research, and the evidence is there. Whenever a publication shuts down, as has happened more and more over the last few years, it undergoes a public eulogizing by its employees, the friends of its employees, the people who wanted to work there, and most importantly the readers, whose tributes are . In one case, sources say Spanfeller did offer to promote a woman to run human resources, but on the condition she fire another woman at the company as her first order of business. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. And I didnt know what Sean was doing. 4 Dumb Ways Your Favorite Sites Are Dying | Cracked.com I told him I had a few questions Id like to ask him, and asked if he had any availability for a meeting the following day. 15 Life Hacks That Are Actually Pretty Good 17,580. Multiple people who worked for him at The Daily Meal (part of Spanfeller Media Group) told Deadspin that Spanfeller couldnt cede any control. Vacillating Wildly From Dispiriting to Exhilarating. Everyone can seeit on the pageor at least, everyone could see it before the censorship. Jim Spanfeller - Wikipedia (The other woman on the executive leadership team, general counsel Lynn Oberlander, left the company this week.) I was also hiring a good portion of these jobs before I actually took over day to day control of the company. "We are happy to hear that the company is profitable and financially stable enough for Jim Spanfeller to consider further acquisitions, and look forward to welcoming more workers into our union," the G/O Media union said in a statement. A source at the company familiar with the situation said Thompsons hire had been flagged to upper management as a potential problem. In reality, this story started with a tip the site received about Spanfellers hiring practices, and grew from there thanks to sources accounts. Have a tip or story idea? One major conflict arose over whether the company should build a video player in-house or pay for a third-party platform. Shortly after the sale in April, she said, she met briefly with Spanfeller and explained to him her role and responsibilities in the company, which was primarily to work directly with clients to secure partnerships, instead of going through media ad agencies. We had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. Club, and Splinter, was purchased by the firm in April, along with the satirical news site The Onion, which led to a massive shift in the companys culture and considerable turnover in the top ranks or, as one G/O Media employee put it, Spanfeller has brought in a bunch of white dudes to change the company. That is absurd. In addition to clichs like we are ambitious and be passionate and have fun, the fifth value on the list said, We will be at our best when we embrace many different perspectives and experiences. I found this troubling but was okay with it given the circumstances. Endnotes [1] Statement from G/O Media: "Some reports have miscast Jim Spanfeller as a private equity businessman when, in fact, he has spent his entire career in editorial-driven businesses. The differences were as granular as whether to call published pieces "blogs" or "stories." The CEO alleged. Spanfeller also said that he did not ask Katie to fire Susie, only to be in the room while I had the conversation about Susies future with the company., Spanfeller ended up firing Banikarim himself, and then, months later, hiring Angela Persaud for the chief talent officer job after a public search. For the life of me, I am not sure how you can have a legal review without a complete story and I cannot imagine how you can consider your work to be objective without reviewing the answers to the questions that you have asked. "We remain optimistic that our labor will be taken into consideration as this period of financial promise collides with a time that has been particularly rough on morale," the Onion Union statement said. I intend to continue supervising the reporting process, including legal review, and then publish a thorough and fair story, which of course would include responses from people we spoke to. It is also worth noting that multiple internal candidates have expressed interest in the position of EIC of the A/V Club. The Onion union declined to comment, but a source with knowledge of the situation disputed that the union demanded promotions, saying its letter demanded action and used the words We ask for the following when addressing promotions. Spanfeller was hired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners to run the company after it was purchased from Univision. In the midst of the fallout, former Deadspin, Gawker, and Jezebel editor Emma Carmichael had a spirited discussion with [former Jezebel writer] Clio Chang on the overwhelming herbishness of Jim Spanfeller, she told me over the phone. That the story has been submitted for legal review without the benefit of our responses leads me to the conclusion that the piece is already fully written and that our responses to questions are mere window dressing. When asked why he didnt consider the SVP, Spanfeller told Deadspin, I was unaware of her interest in the role and that Mike had made that commitment and Im sorry. This response, which Spanfeller emailed out along with the questions to and answers from every other executive to the entire company as an attempt to undermine this story, prompted this response from a third sales employee. Senior vice president of marketing Bruce Rogers, who worked with Spanfeller at Forbes. Former Daily News Editor in Chief Is Tapped to Run Deadspin In two cases, women asked for and were promised the opportunity to interview for executive-level positions for which they were qualified, only to see Spanfeller hire one of his former colleagues before they were given a chance to interview. Employees across editorial, sales, and tech have left, but many of these positions, even mission-critical ones, have not been filled. But Spanfeller said that he wants G/O Media to keep the voice and mission that made Gawker Media sites singular in the digital media industry. A week after Spanfeller insisted to Variety that he did "not plan to cut our way to growth," the CEO fired 25 employees, including in top positions, such as axing former Gizmodo Media Group. New York City. Initially, we had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, he said. They include: (Spanfeller declined to be interviewed in person but answered emailed questions. 3. That union's collective bargaining agreement expires in February. Now that we are closer to stabilizing the companys finances, we can take even more time and be more deliberate in our hiring, which the SVP Talent is already doing..
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