But after the staff meeting, sources say, members of the tech team held a meeting with Knight to explain why the date was unrealistic. Mr. Spanfeller has a BA in English Literature from Union College, Schenectady, New York. 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). G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller Tells Employees to 'Brace for Impact' of So put this piece on ice. Laura M. Browning and Caitlin PenzeyMoog, the A.V. Jim Spanfeller . 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. I think the thing thats most strange about it is that they didnt coordinate with the editorial side of the business. Use this information as you see fit. During Jim Spanfeller's younger years, he lived in Pennsylvania and recieved his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1952 from the Philladelphia Academy of the Fine Arts. Former Daily News Editor in Chief Is Tapped to Run Deadspin That union also opposes G/O Media's recent requirement to return to in-person work. I am a father of three wonderful woman, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. The person hired was Bruce Rogers, who most recently ran the institute arm of SITO Mobile, a mobile data company. Katie then refused to assume the HR lead role around other wider layoffs at the company. It will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, he told Insider, and hunt for acquisitions in 2022. All rights reserved. On July 9, he hired Faiza Javaid as deputy general counsel, a position that was posted publicly. In addition to the annoying ads, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller also wants Kotaku to only write about video games. It was four days old. But before a formal interview process could take place, Spanfeller filled the jobs with his ex-colleagues. 12-Year-Old Prankster Throws Dead Snake on Woman's Car and Gets Flattened by Husband 15,743. Another was more direct: Thats Jim wanting to be in control. A G/O Media spokesperson said the company plans to grow the 174-person editorial headcount to 200 by the end of the first quarter next year. G/O Media lawsuits: Two former exec allege discrimination - CNN (Spanfeller denies this claim.). And Fake. (10 is very satisfied, 1 is very unsatisfied); What do you like MOST about Deadspin? My territory has been cut in half. 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. Spanfeller declined to answer a question about whether he expressed these sentiments to Klancnik. 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. The other is still in college.. This particular set of troubles all started when private equity firm Great Hill Partners purchased GMG and hired Spanfeller, a former Forbes.com CEO, to guide the ship. Or knowledgeable writers?, Asked about the survey, Rogers said he thinks its responses will accurately and fully reflect Deadspin readers opinions of the site. 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. When Spanfeller Offered to Promote a Woman to a Top Position, He Insisted She Fire a Female Editorial Director Should She Accept the Job. Club managing editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog, who both resigned on July 12. 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. Senior vice president of marketing Bruce Rogers, who worked with Spanfeller at Forbes. Where people are registered to vote. G/O Media, the company which ran Deadspin, was acquired by the private equity group Great Hill Partners, which installed Spanfeller as CEO and gave him one mission: Make them richer. 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. I have stood up for and advocated for my team since the day I started at G/O. My management style has been widely reported on over the years and the picture you are painting does not comport with that. Spanfeller Hired Media Friends/Former Colleagues to Fill G/O Media Roles Just After Claiming He Had No Plans for Major Turnover. Another former Daily Meal staffer said that management was straight-up scared of Spanfeller, adding, I can see why. Spanfeller responded that he would be happy to get together, but did not say anything about open roles. [1] He is also a past Chairman of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and longtime executive board member of Digital Content Next (DCN). Spanfeller Media Group - Wikipedia Jim Spanfeller (@JimSpanfeller) / Twitter "We have billions of dollars available to go out and buy and make this a bigger company, and that would really be our desire," Gaffney said. 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. [5], In 1984, Spanfeller was named publisher of Newsweek On Campus magazine. View details on more than 95 Million registered voters across the United States. 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. [1] Asked about the contract, Spanfeller responded, I firmly believe in editorial integrity. He started screaming at me, Who told you you were allowed to speak about audience? 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. The anti-herb agenda is being suppressed.. 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 . I expect to be treated the way I treat people., This pattern played out three more times in Spanfellers first few months as CEO. 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. 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. But those efforts did not go very far, the people said, and the company has yet to mount a takeover. 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. [] While it is what we did at Forbes that has nothing to do with the reason to do it here. Popular Gaming Website Kotaku Might Be Going Away In Wake of He said the company was just profitable before the pandemic hit its business, and is now comfortably back in the black. "I think that most media company CEOs probably are as involved as I am," Spanfeller said. Everything theyve done in reaction to it is the herbiest shit I could possibly imagine. I was also hiring a good portion of these jobs before I actually took over day to day control of the company. Thats not reality, a tech staffer 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. She told Deadspin she was surprised that Spanfeller seemed to know little about her team, which last year won Digidays best content studio award.. [5] Upon returning from Europe, Spanfeller took a position at AMP Marketing Systems. 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. I think the biggest problem was the leadership wouldnt get out of the way of everyone, one former employee told Deadspin. Jeremy Gordon Oct292019 03:41PM EST. 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 never changed my mind. Views. They cant even pitch effectively, said another employee who was present. Sole dedication to revenue, getting it the cheapest, quickest way possible. 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. 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. The survey on Deadspin, however, had some serious issues, he said. 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. Great Hill Partners and current CEO Jim Spanfeller, formerly of Forbes, bought these sites and the Onion from Univision Communications Inc. in April. Two are now successfully navigating careers in the digital advertising space. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Jack Crosbie, a former Splinter contractor and co-owner of Discourse, said that traffic declined at Splinter because G/O did not refill lost positions. To hear G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller tell it, everything at his digital media company is going great. Additionally, Jim Spanfeller has had 6 past jobs including CEO at Forbes. 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. They requested anonymity to speak candidly but their identities are known to Insider. Enter Jim "Herb" Spanfeller. Jim Spanfeller, Political affiliation means the state of belonging to or endorsing any political party. Now that we are closer to stabilizing the company, there can be a more deliberate recruitment and hiring process. Clubs executive editor and managing editor, respectively, stepped down on July 12. Reverse Phone Search Tool And much more all for free! 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. Mr. McAvoy was clear to me on his opinion that he did not think she was the right choice at this time, Spanfeller said. Internet Life, a joint publication of Ziff-Davis and Yahoo!. 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.. 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. 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). Head of The Onion, Deadspin sued for sex discrimination - New York Post 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. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Jim Spanfeller Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements Im shocked he would call that a good presentation, said the employee who was in the meeting. He previously served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Forbes.com, a leading media Internet company, and as Executive Vice President . Back to the Office, But Only to Picket - Curbed Steve Thompson, 55, was installed over a female vice president who had been running west coast sales for two and a half years. It definitely feels like its the old boys club, a G/O Media employee told Deadspin. The only person that I was aware of that was calling directly on clients was an SVP at The Onion and that was to sell creative services, he said. That said, I and the management team received a list of questions from the reporter working this story for Deadspin and those questions left me greatly concerned about the objectivity and core intentions of this piece. 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. 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. Six days after the SVPs exchange with McAvoy, Spanfeller sent an email to the entire staff announcing G/O Medias new company values. Gaffney and Spanfeller said that G/O Media is looking for acquisitions itself. 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. Jim Justice speaks during President Donald Trump's political rally inside the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington on Thursday. 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. Email us. Jim Spanfeller @JimSpanfeller Founder of http://TheDailyMeal.comand http://TheActiveTimes.com. Whats left of that company is currently called G/O Media. Multiple sources say that Spanfeller reached out to VP of media operations Brad Klancnik to tell him he was a valuable employee and that the new owners would like him to stay at the company, but female VPs say he did not relay such messages to them. Never mind that employees called for his resignation last year. 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. Oberlander actually left last week. 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 . Other top employees who have left the company since the start of Spanfellers reign include former A.V. 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. Spanfellers executive assistant set up a time for us to meet. Its Extremely Revealing. (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. Deadspin Editor Quits, Rails Against Bosses: 'I've Been Repeatedly Lied "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.