Sign up for notifications from Insider! Hes trying to micromanage, the tech employee said last week. Well keep fighting for whats right. Just two weeks after Spanfeller and Great Hill acquired the company, and less than a week after he said in an interview with Variety that he didnt expect any layoffs, Spanfeller fired 25 people across the 400-person company, including Susie Banikarim, GMGs widely respected editorial director, and the only person of color on the executive leadership team at the time. Employees across editorial, sales, and tech have left, but many of these positions, even mission-critical ones, have not been filled. As with any reporting process, we asked questions intending to incorporate the answers. 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.. The JW Player was an interim step, Spanfeller said. 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. When one reviews the actual questions one might feel even more uneasy. 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.". 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. Steve Thompson, 55, was installed over a female vice president who had been running west coast sales for two and a half years. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said the company would become "nicely profitable" by the end of the year, after it's been . Jim Spanfeller the beleaguered boss of G/O Media, which owns The Onion and Deadspin is being sued by two former executives who claim in separate lawsuits that he discriminated against . Stay up to date with what you want to know. That distinction quickly sparked backlash in late 2019, when the staff of Deadspin resigned over the firing of a top editor and the company's mandate that the site stick to covering sports. View Jim Spanfeller's professional profile on LinkedIn. The job, however, came with a condition, they said: Pontiuss first order of business would be to fire newsroom editorial director Susie Banikarim. Now that we are closer to stabilizing the company, there can be a more deliberate recruitment and hiring process. 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. While Carmichael was on a plane to Paris, I discovered that G/O had changed her accounts URL from emma.kinja.com to lajskhclsahkchkad.kinja.com, while going to emma.kinja.com now redirects to the new URL, at the time of the change, it simply showed a broken page. Jim Rich, the former top editor of the New York Daily News, will start as editor-in-chief of Deadspin on Monday. Search over 95 Million Voter Registration Records. At the same time, working with the EICs to set a general editorial direction is clearly in the purview of any owner.). Details may include related records, political party, location, and more. Jim Spanfeller (@JimSpanfeller) / Twitter Or to keep it anonymous, click here. I had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. Another former Daily Meal staffer said that management was straight-up scared of Spanfeller, adding, I can see why. A voter's representatives in government. I am a father of three wonderful woman. ), The internal reaction to these hires has ranged from confusion to anger. Sean Flanagan, 55, who was hired to lead east coast sales, was also installed over a female senior sales employee, who had been at the company for four years before she left in July. The differences were as granular as whether to call published pieces "blogs" or "stories." Both lawsuits detail discrimination personally faced or witnessed by the plaintiffs from Jim Spanfeller, who became CEO of G/O Media in April after private equity firm Great Hill acquired Gizmodo . Voting precincts and districts. [14] A subsequent Deadspin post mocked Spanfeller as a "herb"; after being widely shared on social media, G/O Media removed the post. In late July, more than a month after the womans conversation with Spanfeller (and after the Daily Beast and New York Post published stories about his rocky early days at the company and he became aware of the reporting process for this story about his hiring practices), that same VP was given what management called a promotion, which Spanfeller noted in his responses to Deadspin, saying that she has been promoted to VP Marketing under Bruce Rogers with wider responsibilities., I am at the same level and performing the same duties now as I was before I got this supposed promotion, the VP said. It became clear that she was not a good fit for this position and we both agreed on this. "From the outset, CEO Jim Spanfeller has worked to undermine a successful site by curtailing its most well-read coverage because it makes him personally uncomfortable," the Gizmodo Media Group . According to sources familiar with the situation, the tech team was instructed by Knight, who was directed by Spanfeller, to push out the survey without consent from anyone in editorial. When people came in with good ideas they were rejected., A woman who was hired at The Daily Meal after responding to a Craigslist post said she was once asked to write a story about a companys earnings, which she felt she wasnt qualified to write and for which she didnt receive guidance from her editors. The key journalistic properties descended from . His skin got bright red, she said. Without posting the jobs publicly, Spanfeller hired a stable of white men to fill executive positions overseeing nearly every facet of the company., You also had no interest in meeting the only woman on the revenue leadership team who is an SVP who has been successful., As the only woman on the previous revenue leadership team, I started to wonder if women were being considered for leadership roles., What Spanfeller says is normal is, of course, a reflection of his own values, which evidently rank transparency, diversity, and inclusion as secondary concerns to financial success., The appropriate thing to do would be to talk to the editorial side of the business and have a clear objective for the survey., Chief financial officer Tom Callahan, who worked at Forbes while Spanfeller worked there. "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. Asked for a response to the latter allegation, Spanfeller responded, That is absurd. This sites credibility is not dependent on who and what it reports on, but on its ability to report forcefully and accurately. 20 Employees Complained to Deadspin About Spanfellers Management, After interviewing nearly two dozen employees, Deadspin found that 20 people who work for 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.. Deadspin Editor Fired Amid Pushback Over 'Stick to Sports' Memo Which he would do by turning Deadspin into a sports-only website. 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. A leading digital publisher producing category leaders The Daily Meal and The Active Times. (Spanfeller told Deadspin that he and Callahan had only been in a single meeting that I recall.). Im not building a club, we are working to build a successful companyand that depends on great women and men.. I think it's all good," said Chris Gaffney, co-founder and managing partner at Great Hill. Former Daily News Editor in Chief Is Tapped to Run Deadspin Emma Carmichael is a friend of mine, and we both worked at Gawker Media and, as it was later named after being purchased by Univision, Gizmodo Media Group, or GMG. Unlike private equity investors who financially engineer acquisitions, burdening companies they buy with debt and massive . Asked about the contract, Spanfeller responded, I firmly believe in editorial integrity. Deadspin Is ZombifiedBut Gawker's Content Warriors Fight On [15][16] In January 2020 the GMG union, which represents the staff of G/O media, announced a vote of no confidence in CEO Jim Spanfeller citing, among other issues, a lack of willingness to negotiate for "functional editorial independence protections. He previously served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Forbes.com, a leading media Internet company, and as Executive Vice President . During those meetings, Maidments ideaswhich included commissioning an editor outside the company to review and approve stories written by about the companywere met with unanimous opposition. 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. In an email, Flanagan disagreed with those assessments: Simply not true. 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. [1] Announcing Persauds hire on July 10, Spanfeller wrote this of the process: After a very fulsome search where we interviewed dozens of qualified candidates we identified two finalists. Club managing editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog, who both resigned on July 12. . Its motivation is simply to publish true and interesting stories, and to make sure the things powerful people would rather stay in the dark end up in the light of day. While we were given a 3pm deadline today to respond to dozens of questions, I understand that the folks at Deadspin have already submitted their story for legal review and plan to publish it on Wednesday all without ever seeing any of the responses to the questions that they asked. Sources say he was retained to consult on sales and how the department could work more directly with clients, which the now-former employee says was her job. Spanfeller said the company hopes to expand into areas like travel, music, business, and news. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller: Company Will Be Profitable by - Insider Im shocked he would call that a good presentation, said the employee who was in the meeting. 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. 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. Deadspin's entire editorial staff is gone - The Washington Post Mad Money Twitter - Jim . 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. I am and will continue to be a very strong advocate for my team.. My management style has been widely reported on over the years and the picture you are painting does not comport with that. As for why that move was never announced, Spanfeller told Deadspin he believed Mike McAvoy would announce Rogers arrival, even though Spanfeller hired Rogers and he has announced other hires across the company since taking over. Thats not reality, a tech staffer told Deadspin. In 1964, Spanfeller recieved the title of Artist of the Year from the Artists Guild of New York. Cramer finally reveals whether he is pro-Trump or anti-Trump - CNBC Takeaways From Deadspin's Expos of G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller One theory was that Spanfeller thought implementing analytics would take developer resources away from building the new video platform and player, though employees said implementing analytics is a relatively easy fix. 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. James J. Spanfeller serves as President & Chief Executive Officer of Forbes.com, a leading media Internet company, and as Executive Vice President of Electronic Publishing for . Youre not qualified. This has led to some protest among employees, as one staffer told Deadspin, It definitely feels like its the old boys club. A second employee told the site, This guy just seems like he doesnt like women.. The other is still in college.. 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. Most recently, after the latest edict that Deadspin stick to sports, its writers revolted, and Spanfeller retaliated by firing the top-ranking employee, Petchesky (Deadspins latest editor-in-chief, Megan Greenwell quit in August for many of the reasons described above). Oberlander actually left last week. Asked about the meeting, Knight initially didnt answer. Three and a half hours later, Maidment sent an email to Greenwell and me with the subject line, Reporting on ourselves. The body of the message read: This is a tradition that makes no sense. Multiple employees on the tech team say the chief technology officer, Jesse Knight, has repeatedly shown himself unable or unwilling to stand up to Spanfeller and advocate for his team and best practice standards. In April, the tech team was told to move the companys video operations off of MCP, which Univision paid for to host video content, and onto JW Player, a cheaper video system. [6] Just under two years later, Spanfeller was replaced as publisher by Scott Kauffmann and became the national sales manager of Newsweek magazine in 1986. 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. In the email, Spanfeller said he was "greatly concerned about the objectivity and core intentions of this piece," and questioned the editorial standards of Deadspin's editors. Initially, we had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, he said. [4] He soon switched to the business side of the paper, and later took a tour through Europe. Political affiliation. (10 is very satisfied, 1 is very unsatisfied); What do you like MOST about Deadspin? It was four days old. He would stop into peoples offices with the doors open and scream at them, so everyone knew what was going on., A fourth source, a former senior staff member at The Daily Meal who worked with Spanfeller, confirmed his temper issues and the dysfunctional nature of the workplace. That union's collective bargaining agreement expires in February. 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. Never mind the flood of negative stories about staff blowback over the company's editorial direction. Having done it at Forbes, I simply knew it could be done quickly and with incremental value to the company.. She told Deadspin she was surprised that Spanfeller seemed to know little about her team, which last year won Digidays best content studio award.. Text. One of the former staffers said that as companies sought to double down on diversity and inclusion during the summer of 2020, the branded content team received incoming requests from companies hoping to fund content for The Root, G/O Media's Black news publication. But before a formal interview process could take place, Spanfeller filled the jobs with his ex-colleagues. Who doesnt like uncompromising commentary or sports stories you couldnt find anywhere else? [1] He is also a past Chairman of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and longtime executive board member of Digital Content Next (DCN). Jim Spanfeller - New York, New York, United States - LinkedIn I have stood up for and advocated for my team since the day I started at G/O. These two highly talented HR executives then met with a number of people around our company including representatives of the unions., When asked why Spanfeller didnt follow this thorough search process before filling seven key positions with his former coworkers, he blamed his hiring practices on the financial shape of the company. Spanfeller did offer to promote one female employee, former chief of staff for The Onion Katie Pontius, and make her the companys head of talent, but the position fell through after he demanded that she fire newsroom editorial director Susie Banikarimas her first management move, which Pontius refused, according to sources who spoke to Deadspin. Though neither Spanfeller nor Knight provided the team a hard deadline, they made clear that they wanted the task, which should have taken months, completed in a matter of weeks. 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. Views. Nearly two dozen current G/O Media employees spoke to Deadspin for this story. The SVP shared her teams revenue goals and their success in meeting those goals, staying focused on numbers and her teams value because she knew her work would be key to profit margins. Use this information as you see fit. That management did not respond to our request for an explanation is only another of the many ways the workers at GMG have been ignored and put on the back burner in the name of a profitability mirage that is clearly more attractive to the big decision-makers than a functioning workplace. These include a senior vice president of marketing who last week wrote a baffling reader satisfaction survey for Deadspin at Spanfellers behest; a sales executive who, sources say, appears unable to give an effective sales pitch; and an editorial director who repeatedly attempted to kill the reporting process for this story. Gizmodo Media Staff Enraged at New CEO's 'Insane' Direction I hired Katie who accepted the job, he wrote. It will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, he told Insider, and hunt for acquisitions in 2022. Great Hill Partners is a growth equity company committed to building businesses. 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. Who even told you you were allowed to think about audience?, My management was straight-up scared of him, said a staffer who worked at the site for two years and had responsibilities on both the editorial and marketing sides of the company. Two are now successfully navigating careers in the digital advertising space. Additionally, Jim Spanfeller has had 6 past jobs including CEO at Forbes. Find Out With This Weeks News Quiz. 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.