Its everything Ive wanted and more.. When asked if it was inaccurate, then, to say she had accepted the job, Spanfeller did not respond. We have no credibility in writing about ourselves. 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. When Spanfeller Offered to Promote a Woman to a Top Position, He Insisted She Fire a Female Editorial Director Should She Accept the Job. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009. 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. Its Extremely Revealing. Ultimately, the issue of building a wall has raised political risk, Cramer said. "You're not a 'blogger,' you're a professional journalist. My territory has been cut in half. (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.) These conversations reveal that Spanfellers biggest effect on the company since taking over has been a deflation of morale. Asked about the contract, Spanfeller responded, I firmly believe in editorial integrity. It was four days old. Steve Riley on February 14, 2013: Just right off the bat. The Deadspin takedown covered numerous issues that have arisen since Univisions sale of the company to Great Hill, ranging from accounts of Spanfeller screaming at past employees, to allegations that the new G/O Media boss is on-boarding his old media buddies over highly qualified women who have worked at the company for years, along with numerous other accusations of mismanagement. (Pontius left the company.) We had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. Multiple people who worked for him at The Daily Meal (part of Spanfeller Media Group) told Deadspin that Spanfeller couldnt cede any control. Mad Money Twitter - Jim . Ex-Deadspin EIC Jim Rich resigns in latest turmoil at G/O Media 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. 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. 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 had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. Youre not qualified. A source at the company familiar with the situation said Thompsons hire had been flagged to upper management as a potential problem. Jim Spanfeller, It wasnt collaborative.. It was placed there without consultation or even simple communication to anyone on Deadspins staff. I was unclear about what she did. Stay up to date with what you want to know. 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. 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. View Jim Spanfeller's professional profile on LinkedIn. They include: (Spanfeller declined to be interviewed in person but answered emailed questions. 15 Life Hacks That Are Actually Pretty Good 17,580. The VP, who said she now reports to Thompson, said all of her previous reviews from her managers have exceeded expectations, and that she was able to more than double revenue for my region in less than a year. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said the company would become "nicely profitable" by the end of the year, after it's been . [2], In 2019, G/O Media's sports blog Deadspin received media attention when all of its writers and editors resigned after an edict given by upper management to "stick to sports". Below are some of the biggest revelations outlined in Deadspins roughly 7,000 word report on their parent company and its new management, which they spoke to nearly two dozen G/O Media employees for. He is currently the CEO of G/O Media which consists primarily of sites that were previously part of Gawker Media. Hes trying to micromanage, the tech employee said last week. 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. ), This isnt the first time Spanfeller has been accused of micromanaging. We sent a request for an explanation and did not receive a response. Laura M. Browning and Caitlin PenzeyMoog, the A.V. 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. 4 Dumb Ways Your Favorite Sites Are Dying | Cracked.com I thought she was going to be great, and it didnt work out by her own assessment., In response to follow-up questions, Spanfeller clarified that there was never a signed offer between Pontius and the company. He credited The Root for its journalism on the Black Lives Matter movement. Initially, we had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, he said. 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 . Additionally, Jim Spanfeller has had 6 past jobs including CEO at Forbes. On July 9, he hired Faiza Javaid as deputy general counsel, a position that was posted publicly. 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. It laid off 14 staffers in the summer of 2020. I hired Katie who accepted the job, he wrote. 12-Year-Old Prankster Throws Dead Snake on Woman's Car and Gets Flattened by Husband 15,743. 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. "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. 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. Computing. He started screaming at me, Who told you you were allowed to speak about audience? Jim Spanfeller - New York, New York, United States - LinkedIn "We were a leftist site, not a liberal one, which gives you a sense of how closely Spanfeller followed our work," he said. 1. 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. Spanfeller responded that he would be happy to get together, but did not say anything about open roles. Spanfeller Hired Media Friends/Former Colleagues to Fill G/O Media Roles Just After Claiming He Had No Plans for Major Turnover. And Fake. This is normal in situations like these where a new group is coming in and is facing a near term challenge.. Gizmodo Media Staff Enraged at New CEO's 'Insane' Direction LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Jim Spanfeller discover inside connections to recommended . The role was not posted nor was it communicated to me in time where I would have even been given equal opportunity to be considered, she said. The tech team managed to execute the move in about a month, but before they had finished, Spanfeller changed course and decided that the developers should build an entirely new video platform and player from scratch, explaining the decision by saying that that was what he did at Forbes, according to employees involved. Spanfeller Has an Alleged History of Screaming at Women Employees. Steve Thompson, 55, was installed over a female vice president who had been running west coast sales for two and a half years. The sales employee (who is not an SVP) wasnt surprised to hear that Spanfeller didnt know what she did. 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. 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. [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. Employees across editorial, sales, and tech have left, but many of these positions, even mission-critical ones, have not been filled. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION are core to our culture, and we expect all staff to advance and promote that. Heartened, the SVP emailed Spanfeller to remind him of their meeting in April and express her hope that women, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQ would be considered as he hired his leadership team, and to say that she looked forward to discussing her role in the organization. G/O Media workers went on strike today in part to protect remote work. Cramer finally reveals whether he is pro-Trump or anti-Trump - CNBC 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. Im kind of a tipsy at a bar in Paris, she added. Im shocked he would call that a good presentation, said the employee who was in the meeting. Who even told you you were allowed to think about audience? the woman alleged. Head of The Onion, Deadspin sued for sex discrimination - New York Post