A voter's representatives in government. I hired Katie who accepted the job, he wrote. Still, tensions between management and staff are high at the company as it prepares to enter negotiations with the G/O Media editorial union, one of the two unions representing editorial workers at the company. Since Spanfeller took over G/O Media in April, more than a dozen people have left the company voluntarily, in addition to the 25 people who were laid off. This is the same thing that has also happened to Deadspin. It definitely feels like its the old boys club, a G/O Media employee told Deadspin. After two years of mainly working from home, the company wants everyone back in the office four days a week. The two former staffers described Spanfeller as a micromanager who insists on approving minor budget items and sitting in on meetings far beneath his level, like editorial audience meetings with each site. According to Great Hill Partners website, Spanfeller has led comparable media platforms and positioned them for successful strategic exit, which probably means something to someone, somewhere, but Spanfeller is perhaps best known for dramatically increasing Forbes.coms focus on digital advertising (Spanfeller also previously served as chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau). I was going on the input I had been given by Mike McAvoy that he had discussed the position with her and laid out why she was not ready for the larger role. We sent a request for an explanation and did not receive a response. 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. She said Spanfeller told her that he was unaware of what she did at the company, and that she replied: That doesnt help, because that says you not only didnt know what I did, but you also had no interest in meeting the only woman on the revenue leadership team who is an SVP who has been successful, according to meeting her revenue and finance goals. She said the conversation ended with Spanfeller saying, Im sorry, I dont know what else you want me to say., Spanfeller confirmed the womans account to Deadspin. When Spanfeller Offered to Promote a Woman to a Top Position, He Insisted She Fire a Female Editorial Director Should She Accept the Job. Its Extremely Revealing. G/O Media, the newly formed company comprised of the assets of the former Gizmodo Media, will lay off 25 employees, according to a memo that company CEO Jim Spanfeller sent to staffers on Tuesday. According to his LinkedIn, Thompson is the founder of Mediacentric Inc., a multi-media representation company., A man was hired with my same title [vice president for west coast sales] to be my boss, the VP told Deadspin. 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. Mr. Spanfeller has a BA in English Literature from Union College, Schenectady, New York. 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. The differences were as granular as whether to call published pieces "blogs" or "stories." But Spanfellers expectation that the process would be done in the next week or so shocked the tech team. (Though the source spoke in great detail about her experience, she requested her name not be used because she didnt want it to affect her future employment opportunities.) Steve Thompson, 55, was installed over a female vice president who had been running west coast sales for two and a half years. Before we go any further, I feel compelled to acknowledge that nearly everything about this item is a conflict of interest. Ive reached out to Spanfeller for comment multiple times over the past few days and have yet to hear back. Steve Riley on February 14, 2013: Just right off the bat. It laid off 14 staffers in the summer of 2020. "The fact that we could acquire it at a price that would make it one of our smallest investments is that good or bad? [4] He soon switched to the business side of the paper, and later took a tour through Europe. Vacillating Wildly From Dispiriting to Exhilarating. 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). But as Spanfeller began to implement his vision, that hope was replaced by employee frustration and skepticism over his hiring practices and interference with the companys journalism. Spanfellers pushed back against these internal criticisms of his questionably ethical hiring process and management style by blaming G/O Media for losing money too fast. UPDATE: This article has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to former G/O Media Lynn Oberlander leaving her job shortly after the companys latest round of layoffs. In all of those cases Jim listened to my arguments and in many cases agreed with me and the issue was settled, he wrote in response to one question. "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. Spanfellers executive assistant set up a time for us to meet. In turn, Spanfeller hired a number of his old media friends and former colleagues from Forbes, Playboy, and other outlets to fill top roles at G/O Media, while also failing to make public job postings for many of these roles. They include: (Spanfeller declined to be interviewed in person but answered emailed questions. The key journalistic properties descended from . Club managing editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog, who both resigned on July 12. G/O Media executives have discussed potential deal targets in the past, including Genius, The Hill, and HuffPost, according to two people familiar with the matter. I can see why. [8] In June 1993, Spanfeller became associate publisher for advertising at Inc. magazine, replacing Kristin Norrgard, who left to become publisher of Working Woman magazine. 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. Text. In an emailed statement to Deadspin, Spanfeller claimed that he did not make the hires, but admitted to making professional introductions for some of these new employees. These actions are clearly management attempting to target, and even intimidate, staff into changing their editorial stance in spite of our contract-protected independence, especially as it comes on the heels of managements repeated attempts to kill this story as it was being reported about the company. Other top employees who have left the company since the start of Spanfellers reign include former A.V. (Deadspin reached out to 10 former Spanfeller employees at The Daily Meal; four consented to be interviewed, though all declined to be named because they fear retribution from Spanfeller or their current companies.) Im sorry that Mike didnt more clearly convey the information to me., McAvoy said, Jim has a different recollection of the facts., The SVP said she told Spanfeller that she wasnt the only person who noticed this pattern of hiring his former colleagues over women at the company, and that he should be prepared to address it. Deadspin cited an account from a former writer at The Daily Meal, a food and beverage site that Spanfeller founded in 2015, who claims her former boss once started screaming at her because she voiced concerns about writing a story on the websites earning figures, which she felt she was not qualified for. But after the staff meeting, sources say, members of the tech team held a meeting with Knight to explain why the date was unrealistic. I think it's all good," said Chris Gaffney, co-founder and managing partner at Great Hill. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said the company would become "nicely profitable" by the end of the year, after it's been . 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. Nearly two dozen current G/O Media employees spoke to Deadspin for this story. Everyone can seeit on the pageor at least, everyone could see it before the censorship. John Taggart for The Washington Post via Getty Images, NOW WATCH: WATCH: How advertisers can navigate the death of third-party cookies, according to execs from Mars Petcare, R/GA, The Washington Post, and The Trade Desk, Clashes between the Gawker Media editorial culture. G/O Media, from a business perspective, has turned a corner, Spanfeller says. [He] wasnt interested in hearing what someone with 20 years of experience would say.. 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. Spanfeller said he did not recall the specific request. She said Spanfeller didnt have many questions for her, describing him as apathetic. Spanfeller seemed not to recall this interaction, telling Deadspin that the sales team was not covering direct clients.. Thats not reality, a tech staffer told Deadspin. Email him here: caleb@mediaite.com He previously served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Forbes.com, a leading media Internet company, and as Executive Vice President . The two former staffers described Spanfeller as a micromanager who insists on approving minor budget items and sitting in on meetings far beneath his level, like editorial audience meetings with. Youre not qualified. I think the biggest problem was the leadership wouldnt get out of the way of everyone, one former employee told Deadspin. Mr. Rich, who will report to G/O Media Chief Executive Jim Spanfeller, . "We want to do it in a way that's a little more buttoned up," he said. I think it makes him a bad role model for the rest of his team.. He sent a message back about the importance of diversity and inclusion and a full hiring process. Who doesnt like uncompromising commentary or sports stories you couldnt find anywhere else? At the same time, working with the EICs to set a general editorial direction is clearly in the purview of any owner.). Political affiliation. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 20012009. This guy just seems like he doesnt like women, another added. 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. Two are now successfully navigating careers in the digital advertising space. That union also opposes G/O Media's recent requirement to return to in-person work. I was unclear about what she did. In addition to poor planning and communication around the video player, multiple sources say Spanfeller wouldnt allow the tech team to implement video tracking analytics on JW Player, so no one had any idea how many views videos were getting. In addition to the annoying ads, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller also wants Kotaku to only write about video games. , in respect of a candidate, means the name of the political party that has endorsed him or her or the word "independent", as the case may be, included in the nomination paper in accordance with subparagraph 66 (1) (a) (v). As traffic dipped and employees headed for the exits, staffers at the company wrote a letter to Great Hill asking that Spanfeller be replaced as CEO. The anti-herb agenda is being suppressed.. New York(CNN Business) Two former executives are suing G/O Media, the parent company of sites including Gizmodo, Deadspin and The Onion, alleging discrimination and negligence. A spokesperson for G/O has yet to respond to a request for clarification, but we will update this post if and when that changes. Soon after Flanagan started, other members of the sales team began to question his ability to do the job he was hired forspecifically, his ability to represent the websites and the company mission. According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, in April Spanfeller offered the job of head of talent to Katie Pontius, who until recently was the chief of staff for The Onion, Inc. In conversations with Deadspin, more than 20 employees from across the business, tech, and editorial departments of G/O Media expressed frustration with Spanfellers approach to hiring and his new executives lack of knowledge about the company combined with their seeming unwillingness or inability to get up to speed. 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. These conversations reveal that Spanfellers biggest effect on the company since taking over has been a deflation of morale. This former staffer said the team wished to add Black creatives to help create more representative branded content to meet the demand, but it was not given additional resources. He did not answer a question about whether he was aware that a female VP was already leading west coast sales or that he installed a man (who also carries a VP title) above her. As I said in the article, some of the celebs I mentioned could have changed their political leanings. He would stop into peoples offices with the doors open and scream at them, so everyone knew what was going on., 5.

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