(check all that apply). 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 . 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. (check all that apply); and What do you like LEAST about Deadspin? Head of The Onion, Deadspin sued for sex discrimination - New York Post 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. "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. Neither Sean nor Jim ever reached out to ask, Hey, what are you doing, how are you doing it, how is it working? There was never a conversation about my role, she told Deadspin. Spanfeller, a man who is regularly and perhaps euphemistically referred to in press accounts as a digital media "veteran," has so far hired a slew of his former colleagues at Forbes.comwhere he. And Fake. Two other major jobs Spanfeller gave to women include his new head of talent and deputy counsel, which were both outside hires; he did give a promotion to one woman, who he made deputy editorial director. Spanfeller says Pontius accepted the job, but he decided she was not a good fit for this position after Pontius refused to join me in communicating our plans to fire Banikarim. Spanfeller told Insider that G/O Media plans to reinvest the profits into the business. 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. Spanfeller was hired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners to run the company after it was purchased from Univision. What's happening at Deadspin is a travesty | The Outline According to sources familiar with the situation, the Onions union sent a letter to Spanfeller asking that he help provide a plan for the site and fill the vacuum left by top leadership. 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). Greenwell told Maidment she was unwilling to shut down an ongoing reporting process in response to management demands, and Maidment continued to make his argument against the idea of reporting on G/O Mediaa hallmark of the company since its earliest days, as well as a tradition at other major publicationsin several meetings with the editors and writers he oversees. Jim Spanfeller Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements (Pontius left the company.) Political affiliation Definition | Law Insider 1. Former CEO of http://Forbes.com, Chairman Emeritus, IAB, Sec OPA NYCJoined April 2009 266Following 1,878Followers Tweets Tweets & replies Media Likes Jim Spanfeller's Tweets Jim Spanfeller @JimSpanfeller Mar 13, 2020 Good News! Spanfeller declined to answer a question about whether he expressed these sentiments to Klancnik. Deadspin Editor Fired Amid Pushback Over 'Stick to Sports' Memo Among the multiple Gawker and/or GMG and/or G/O websites I wrote for was, for a brief stint, Deadspin, which is currently without a staff after every single one of its writers quit en masse following the firing of beloved editor Barry Petchesky, who is another friend of mine. It became clear that she was not a good fit for this position and we both agreed on this. It was placed there without consultation or even simple communication to anyone on Deadspins staff. I expect to be treated the way I treat people., This pattern played out three more times in Spanfellers first few months as CEO. Ex-Deadspin EIC Jim Rich resigns in latest turmoil at G/O Media 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. 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. 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. That union's collective bargaining agreement expires in February. To hear G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller tell it, everything at his digital media company is going great. On July 9, he hired Faiza Javaid as deputy general counsel, a position that was posted publicly. In this specific case, I have committed to the current story being fully reported and submitted for external review and, if it passes that review, it will be published. Clashes between the Gawker Media editorial culture and the company's new private equity owner seemed inevitable from the start. Or as Carmichael explained, If you dont know what a herb is, youre probably a herb.. (Spanfeller says this is inaccurate and that he did consider other candidates for the editorial director role, but Paul quickly rose to the top after he expressed an interest in the position.) Three of the men Spanfeller hired were installed over successful women who had been at the company for years. Jim Spanfeller has 2 current jobs as Founder at The Daily Meal and Chief Executive Officer at G/O Media. This sites credibility is not dependent on who and what it reports on, but on its ability to report forcefully and accurately. [12], Spanfeller took over as CEO of G/O Media when Great Hill Partners purchased the company, formerly known as Gizmodo Media Group, and The Onion from Univision on April 8, 2019, and combined the companies. 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. When one reviews the actual questions one might feel even more uneasy. 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. Spanfeller said he asked for the survey; Rogers said he wrote it; and editorial director Paul Maidment said he didnt approve it, but he told Deadspin editor-in-chief Megan Greenwell that he did not attempt to stop it from running on the site when he was filled in shortly before it was scheduled to go up. 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. I found this troubling but was okay with it given the circumstances. ), This isnt the first time Spanfeller has been accused of micromanaging. It wasnt collaborative.. From a womans perspective, I did feel very belittled. The employees, nearly all of whom requested anonymity because of fears of retaliation from company management, are angered by a lack of communication regarding company goals, seeming disregard for promoting diversity within the top ranks of the company, and by repeated and egregious interference with editorial procedures. Heres The REAL Clip, Christian Walker GOES OFF on Predator Matt Schlapp for Allegedly Groping Male Campaign Staffer: Hes Done This Before, Im Sure!, LOL. 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. G/O Media sites generated about 45.7 million unique visitors in October, according to Comscore, down from 47.8 million in October 2020 and 101.6 million in October 2019, right before the Deadspin exodus. New York City. 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 . Where people are registered to vote. He also claimed to have hired four women for major roles though, one of these jobs has not been filled yet, as Spanfeller instead claims he plans to give it to a woman. G/O Media workers went on strike today in part to protect remote work. Jim Spanfeller, The G/O Media union sent the following statement regarding the survey: The GMG Union has made repeated good-faith efforts to cooperate with management in resolving the many outstanding issues currently facing the company, from workplace accessibility to a video player that lacks viable metrics. The takeover of G/O Media, previosuly known as Gizmodo Media Group and Gawker Media, by former Forbes executive Jim Spanfellercontinues to throttle downhill, as one of the companys news sites, Deadspin, published a scathing expos on Friday detailing a litany of problems employees have faced since investment firm Great Hill purchased Gizmodo and placed Spanfeller in control. 3. 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. I think the thing thats most strange about it is that they didnt coordinate with the editorial side of the business. I can see why. Nearly two dozen current G/O Media employees spoke to Deadspin for this story. Additionally, Jim Spanfeller has had 6 past jobs including CEO at Forbes. 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. But before a formal interview process could take place, Spanfeller filled the jobs with his ex-colleagues. Unlike private equity investors who financially engineer acquisitions, burdening companies they buy with debt and massive . Traffic has fallen across G/O Media's portfolio over the past two years, which Spanfeller pinned on industry-wide struggles to generate audience plus the loss of Deadspin and Splinter. Lastly, I firmly believe, personally, that Jim Spanfeller is a herb. 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. Spanfeller said he would go into negotiations "with an open mind and good faith," but a former executive at the company predicted conflict at the negotiating table between the union and the CEO, given their view of Spanfeller's heavy-handed leadership style. Clubs executive editor and managing editor, respectively, stepped down on July 12. That is absurd. G/O is still wracked with internal tensions ahead of contract negotiations with one of its editorial unions. 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. After Gawker's high-profile legal battle with Hulk Hogan, Univision in 2016 purchased its other media properties out of bankruptcy for $135 million, but struggled and sold the assets, including add-ons like The Onion, to Great Hill Partners in 2019. No media company does. G/O Media lawsuits: Two former exec allege discrimination - CNN A source at the company familiar with the situation said Thompsons hire had been flagged to upper management as a potential problem. Vice president of sales for the south Lance Johnson, who worked with Spanfeller at Forbes (and most recently worked with Bruce Rogers at a company called SITO Mobile). My management style has been widely reported on over the years and the picture you are painting does not comport with that. Deadspin's entire editorial staff is gone - The Washington Post (G/O Medias Collective Bargaining Agreement contains a clause that explicitly states that editorial decisions can only be made by editorial staff members, which Spanfeller is not. 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.. 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. It has introduced real uncertainty in to stocks, and Trump's agenda has become shaky. Over the last few weeks, during their attempts to hinder or prevent the publication of this story, Maidment and Spanfeller invoked concerns about Deadspins credibility in covering G/O Media. Have a tip or story idea? While the archived version of the post did not preserve the original images, you can view a PDF of the original post below. WV Gov. Justice switching political parties, returning to GOP View Jim Spanfeller's professional profile on LinkedIn. 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. I think it's all good," said Chris Gaffney, co-founder and managing partner at Great Hill. About their hires, he wrote, I introduced Steve and Lance to Mike McAvoy, but I did not make the hires. [7], Spanfeller was named associate publisher and senior vice president of marketing of Playboy Enterprises in April 1989. "We closed Splinter because it was a liberal political site that was losing audience in the middle of a liberal moment," he said. I have stood up for and advocated for my team since the day I started at G/O. Then, Thursday night, after Bernie Sanders tweeted in support of Deadspin, supporter collective People for Bernie tweeted the post at its new URL: After which, sometime today, the post disappeared, only to be replaced by this: Its not entirely clear which of Kinjas guidelines were violated, particularly considering that theres no agreed upon definition of what constitutes a herb. Having done it at Forbes, I simply knew it could be done quickly and with incremental value to the company.. The mess at G/O Media - Columbia Journalism Review He is currently the CEO of G/O Media which consists primarily of sites that were previously part of Gawker Media. The key journalistic properties descended from . That evening, the woman received an email from McAvoy telling her that the SVP of marketing job had been filled with someone who worked with Spanfeller at Forbes. Spanfeller said the company hopes to expand into areas like travel, music, business, and news. 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. Its something that Im working to improve. Jim characterized that as a misunderstanding, she said. 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. Spanfeller Hired Media Friends/Former Colleagues to Fill G/O Media Roles Just After Claiming He Had No Plans for Major Turnover. The anger stems from Spanfellers apparent disregard for his own stated company values, which include a commitment to diversity and inclusion. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 20012009. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Jim Rich, the former top editor of the New York Daily News, will start as editor-in-chief of Deadspin on Monday. This guy just seems like he doesnt like women, another added. Deadspin Editor Quits, Rails Against Bosses: 'I've Been Repeatedly Lied 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. Maidment never responded to my questions directly; the first time I saw his answers was when they were included in Spanfellers company-wide email, but he had this to say about his role in the newsroom: I have always shielded the editorial teams I have managed from commercial or business-side interference in what they write, which to my mind is the essence of editorial integrity. Spanfeller, a man who is regularly and perhaps euphemistically referred to in press accounts as a digital media veteran, has so far hired a slew of his former colleagues at Forbes.comwhere he was CEO from 2001 to 2009and Playboywhere he was a senior vice president from 1989 to 1993. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. It was a welcome refrain for employees all too aware of how the company had languished under Univisions doomed ownership. James J. Spanfeller is president of The Spanfeller Group, a management consultancy focusing on digital strategy, audience development, revenue acceleration and talent acquisition. I think it makes him a bad role model for the rest of his team.. 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. When she tried to edit the post, she was greeted by the following image: Attempts to create a new post were similarly thwarted. [9], In 1996, Spanfeller left his job at Inc., where he had become publisher, to become publisher of Yahoo! The fourth known instance of Spanfeller overlooking a woman at the company in favor of a white male former colleague also happened on the sales team. "[17], "Great Hill Partners Agrees to Acquire Gizmodo Media Group", "Great Hill Partners Acquires Gizmodo Media Group", "President & CEO, Jim Spanfeller Named as IAB Chairman", "Alumni Album: Helping Us Connect to the Web", "Advertising; 4 Young Executives On Move at Newsweek", "Playboy Hires 2 New Execs; Title of Publisher Goes to 1", "New Gizmodo boss Jim Spanfeller is an old school digital media vet", "After Days Of Resignations, The Last Of The Deadspin Staff Has Quit", "Deadspin Is ZombifiedBut Gawker's Content Warriors Fight On", "The Media-Sensational Rise and Fall of "Jim Spanfeller Is a Herb", "GMG Union votes no confidence in G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Spanfeller&oldid=1074755870, This page was last edited on 2 March 2022, at 00:52. When Spanfeller Offered to Promote a Woman to a Top Position, He Insisted She Fire a Female Editorial Director Should She Accept the Job. "There's a fly and he's a swatter, and that's it," the former executive said. pretty big scoop from me Jim Spanfeller is a herb https://t.co/gZDCs6mfhC. 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.. Sole dedication to revenue, getting it the cheapest, quickest way possible. I think the general sentiment coming out of that meeting, at least for some of the senior sales people, was like, these guys are going to lead our sales team? Elsewhere in the company, G/O Media has pushed staffers at its site the AV Club to relocate to Los Angeles from Chicago, according to a recent report in Gawker, which is now owned by Bustle Digital Group. (Spanfeller told Deadspin that he and Callahan had only been in a single meeting that I recall.). Deadspin Is ZombifiedBut Gawker's Content Warriors Fight On McAvoy told her she would be able to interview for a bigger role, she said, only to follow up a few weeks later and say that Rogers had been hired. Before we go any further, I feel compelled to acknowledge that nearly everything about this item is a conflict of interest. (Spanfeller denies this claim.). I was unclear about what she did. In other words, G/O media had effectively broken the redirect at Deadspin2.com, so that the site now redirected to a dead link. That union also opposes G/O Media's recent requirement to return to in-person work. It definitely feels like its the old boys club, a G/O Media employee told Deadspin. She told Deadspin she was surprised that Spanfeller seemed to know little about her team, which last year won Digidays best content studio award.. At least have everybody well briefed on this is what were doing and this is what wed like to learn from it, Reibstein said. Stay up to date with what you want to know. In an email read to Deadspin, McAvoy agreed that she was qualified for the role and said he would talk with Spanfeller to ensure she was interviewed for the new opportunity, which had not been posted publicly. Find Out With This Weeks News Quiz. The company is also on the hunt for acquisitions, according to Spanfeller. 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 detection of possible errors in a person's voter record as well as instructions on how to update it. While cleaning house and bringing in some trusted former colleagues is not entirely uncommon in private-equity acquisitions, Spanfeller filled nearly his entire top layer of management without any public recruitment process; the only woman hired as a department head, head of talent Angela Persaud, was also the only person at that level whose job was posted publicly.
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