Or to keep it anonymous, click here. G/O Media, owner of Gizmodo and The Onion, will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, CEO Jim Spanfeller says. Spanfeller told Insider that G/O Media plans to reinvest the profits into the business. The detection of possible errors in a person's voter record as well as instructions on how to update it. 3. 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. Im not building a club, we are working to build a successful companyand that depends on great women and men.. 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. 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. For the last two questions, the options were the same: Uncompromising commentary, sports stories I cant find anywhere else, knowledgeable writers, broad scope of coverage, political coverage and strong political point of view, and criticism and coverage of other media companies.. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. This sites credibility is not dependent on who and what it reports on, but on its ability to report forcefully and accurately. As the former publisher of National Geographic, Mens Health & Maximmy successful presentation & leadership skills are evident.. 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. 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.. Six of these hires were Spanfellers colleagues from his previous jobs at Forbes, Playboy, and Ziff Davis. [7], Spanfeller was named associate publisher and senior vice president of marketing of Playboy Enterprises in April 1989. The digital media and blogging network, which oversees websites like Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jezebel, A.V. View Jim Spanfeller's professional profile on LinkedIn. []. 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. Holle Abee (author) from Georgia on February 14, 2013: Duff performed at W's inauguration. That union's collective bargaining agreement expires in February. Ive reached out to Spanfeller for comment multiple times over the past few days and have yet to hear back. The Daily Meal was acquired by Tronc in 2016. That is clearly evident when you note the poor syntax and galling bias of the questions. The next day she refused to join me in communicating our plans to Susie. While G/O Media has often placed importance on diversity among their staff and in their coverage, these executive-level jobs went to white males. 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). 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. 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. Before he started full time in early June, Flanagan was brought in as a consultant just after Spanfeller took over G/O Media. Mr. Rich, who will report to G/O Media Chief Executive Jim Spanfeller, . Initially, we had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, he said. From a womans perspective, I did feel very belittled. Why Ketanji Brown Jackson Split With the Courts Liberals in a 54 Decision, the firing of beloved editor Barry Petchesky, According to Great Hill Partners website, increasingly insisted on directing editorial coverage. But Spanfellers expectation that the process would be done in the next week or so shocked the tech team. It wasn't Great Hill's first foray into the media business it had previously invested in IGN and sold Ziff Davis but the G/O deal was a tiny one for a firm that describes itself as "targeting investments of $25 million to $500 million.". In the meantime, Carmichael had her own message for Spanfeller: Congratulations on confirming your herb-ishness.. Additionally, as you are reporting here, there are numerous outstanding people, both men and women who have worked for me on more than one occasion., By July, Spanfellers third full month at the company, questions about Spanfellers commitment to his journalists editorial independence began to dominate conversation in the office. Multiple sources say Pontius declined to go along with the plan, angering Spanfeller. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 20012009. Asked about the contract, Spanfeller responded, I firmly believe in editorial integrity. View details on more than 95 Million registered voters across the United States. When Rogers was hired less than a week after McAvoy told the SVP that she would be able to interview for the job, she said, she realized that he must have been chosen well before. 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. Search over 95 Million Voter Registration Records. 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 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? 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.. 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. 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. I had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. pretty big scoop from me Jim Spanfeller is a herb https://t.co/gZDCs6mfhC. 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. His skin got bright red, she said. 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 union said that it wants the money to translate into higher salary minimums, trans-inclusive healthcare, and a focus on talent retention. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009. "We closed Splinter because it was a liberal political site that was losing audience in the middle of a liberal moment," he said. At the same time we are still exploring all options to get this work done by August 15th.. Its everything Ive wanted and more.. 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. Jim Rich, the former Daily News editor charged with bringing Deadspin back to life following a mass staff exodus, has resigned after just 18 months on the job, The Post has learned. Page 1 of 9,554,641. 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. 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,. In addition to the removal of the post itself, Carmichael also discovered that shes now unable to use her personal Kinja account at all. , 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). 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.". Spanfellers executive assistant set up a time for us to meet. Lastly, I firmly believe, personally, that Jim Spanfeller is a herb. Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise. Sources say that on the tech side of the company, Spanfeller has taken to micromanaging various aspects of developers work, holding meetings to ask what each one is working on, demanding detailed accounts of how they spend their working days, and mandating various projects based on his work at Forbes in the mid-2000s. Great Hill Partners and current CEO Jim Spanfeller, formerly of Forbes, bought these sites and the Onion from Univision Communications Inc. in April. Stay up to date with what you want to know. (10 is very satisfied, 1 is very unsatisfied); What do you like MOST about Deadspin? (check all that apply). ), Spanfeller described the situation differently. This guy just seems like he doesnt like women, another added. 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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. Never mind the recent exodus of company leadership under his tenure, including the editorial director, chief financial officer, and chief revenue officer. He credited The Root for its journalism on the Black Lives Matter movement. Ultimately, the issue of building a wall has raised political risk, Cramer said. Email us. We had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. 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. And Fake. I think it's all good," said Chris Gaffney, co-founder and managing partner at Great Hill. [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. Meanwhile, many people who are still at the company feel their work is being hindered by new management. The other is still in college., Four of nine major hires have been women, Spanfeller said. in English Literature in 1979 and went to work as a reporter for the SoHo Weekly News. 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. To hear G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller tell it, everything at his digital media company is going great. [We] had a phone conversation, kind of confronting Jim about it, and he told Mike, I thought we talked about this. It was throwing Mike under the bus, and Mike told Jim that they had not talked about it. The survey on Deadspin, however, had some serious issues, he said. You wrote a 'story,'" Spanfeller recalled telling staff. (The people I work for and the people who report to me know what I do, Rogers, 63, told Deadspin in an email.). 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. 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. Where people are registered to vote. I hold myself to a high regard and ensuring that Im respectful to others and create a community of camaraderie, hire for diversity, and that there is a work life balance, she told Deadspin. Spanfellers cronies now fill the G/O Media positions of chief financial officer, editorial director, senior VP of marketing, VP of west coast sales, VP of east coast sales, and VP of southern sales. 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 is president of The Spanfeller Group, a management consultancy focusing on digital strategy, audience development, revenue acceleration and talent acquisition. Oberlander actually left last week. John Taggart for The Washington Post / Getty Images. Political affiliation means the state of belonging to or endorsing any political party. [5] Upon returning from Europe, Spanfeller took a position at AMP Marketing Systems. [2][3], Spanfeller graduated from Union College with a B.A. Club, and Splinter, was purchased by the firm in April, along with the satirical news site The Onion, which led to a massive shift in the companys culture and considerable turnover in the top ranks or, as one G/O Media employee put it, Spanfeller has brought in a bunch of white dudes to change the company. A leading digital publisher producing category leaders The Daily Meal and The Active Times. Its Extremely Revealing. I am a father of three wonderful woman, Spanfeller wrote in a statement.