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 . 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. 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. 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. She said Spanfeller told her that he was unaware of what she did at the company, and that she replied: That doesnt help, because that says you not only didnt know what I did, but you also had no interest in meeting the only woman on the revenue leadership team who is an SVP who has been successful, according to meeting her revenue and finance goals. She said the conversation ended with Spanfeller saying, Im sorry, I dont know what else you want me to say., Spanfeller confirmed the womans account to Deadspin. 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.. Jim Spanfeller - Wikipedia Asked about the former employees accounts, Spanfeller said he has no idea what this refers to and it is not my recollection of working at The Daily Meal, adding that he doesnt recall screaming at anyone. 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. Great Hill Partners and current CEO Jim Spanfeller, formerly of Forbes, bought these sites and the Onion from Univision Communications Inc. in April. (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. Holle Abee (author) from Georgia on February 14, 2013: Duff performed at W's inauguration. Another former Daily Meal staffer said that management was straight-up scared of Spanfeller, adding, I can see why. After two years of mainly working from home, the company wants everyone back in the office four days a week. Political affiliation means the state of belonging to or endorsing any political party. I am a father of three wonderful woman, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. I first emailed Spanfeller on June 24, early in my reporting process, telling him that I was working on a story about the new hires hed brought to G/O Media in his first few months. This sites credibility is not dependent on who and what it reports on, but on its ability to report forcefully and accurately. 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. "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 . Views. It laid off 14 staffers in the summer of 2020. Sign up for notifications from Insider! 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. This guy just seems like he doesnt like women, another added. The survey on Deadspin, however, had some serious issues, he said. 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. 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. 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. During an internal sales summit meeting in New York on June 19, sales execs practiced pitching G/O Medias general presentation, a deck of about 15 slides that tells clients why they should do business with the company. He is currently the CEO of G/O Media which consists primarily of sites that were previously part of Gawker Media. Employees across editorial, sales, and tech have left, but many of these positions, even mission-critical ones, have not been filled. On July 9, he hired Faiza Javaid as deputy general counsel, a position that was posted publicly. It wasnt collaborative.. And he made sure to make it clear that I just didnt get it in his mind that I just didnt get this whole digital thing, she said. Spanfeller said that he wasnt preventing, just delaying analytics from being implemented, on the grounds that its not particularly useful information at the moment. (The day after Deadspin contacted Spanfeller for comment, the tech team was given the green light to roll out video analytics. A longtime digital media veteran, Spanfeller was an unconventional choice to lead the new Gizmodo Media Group sites (The Daily Beast's CEO, Heather Dietrick, once served as president of the . This is normal in situations like these where a new group is coming in and is facing a near term challenge.. The anti-herb agenda is being suppressed.. 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. [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. Computing. 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. Great Hill Partners is a growth equity company committed to building businesses. (10 is very satisfied, 1 is very unsatisfied); What do you like MOST about Deadspin? [5], In 1984, Spanfeller was named publisher of Newsweek On Campus magazine. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. The differences were as granular as whether to call published pieces "blogs" or "stories." Club managing editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog, who both resigned on July 12. 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. When pressed, Knight admitted the deadline may be unrealistic. McAvoy described the SVP of marketing job as a combination of sales strategy, account management, and managing creative teamsall responsibilities that fell under the SVPs purview. The other is still in college.. 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. I had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. The next day she refused to join me in communicating our plans to Susie. Former SVP of sales and operations Kurt Mueller had left the company, and McAvoy told the woman Spanfeller was hiring his replacement. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller Tells Employees to 'Brace for Impact' of When I followed up about the meeting the next day with Spanfeller, I was told it was canceled. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller: Company Will Be Profitable by - Insider The VP had a call with McAvoy and Spanfeller to discuss the process, asking Spanfeller why he hadnt even reached out to her about the position. In the months that followed, without posting the jobs publicly, Spanfeller, 62, hired a stable of white men to fill executive positions overseeing nearly every facet of the company. Additionally, Jim Spanfeller has had 6 past jobs including CEO at Forbes. That union also opposes G/O Media's recent requirement to return to in-person work. 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. Jim Spanfeller Biography & Works of Art | Qart.com Jim Spanfeller . 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. So put this piece on ice. Oberlander actually left last week. Jim characterized that as a misunderstanding, she said. In early April, Great Hill Partners, a private-equity firm, acquired Gizmodo Media Groupa collection of sites, formed from the assets of the old Gawker, that included Jezebel, Lifehacker, and Deadspinas well as The Onion, a satirical news site, reportedly at a fire-sale price.The company, renamed G/O Media, installed Jim Spanfeller, formerly of Forbes.com, Playboy, and Ziff Davis, as CEO. My territory has been cut in half. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller says the company is profitable and ready Or to keep it anonymous, click here. Jim Spanfeller - CEO - G/O Media | LinkedIn 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. New York(CNN Business) Two former executives are suing G/O Media, the parent company of sites including Gizmodo, Deadspin and The Onion, alleging discrimination and negligence. It definitely feels like its the old boys club, a G/O Media employee told Deadspin. Former Daily News Editor in Chief Is Tapped to Run Deadspin It was a welcome refrain for employees all too aware of how the company had languished under Univisions doomed ownership. Like many media companies, G/O Media's advertising business was battered by the pandemic. There are regions that were within my scope of responsibilities and within my role that I cannot call on and neither can my team.. Have a tip or story idea? I had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. "There's a fly and he's a swatter, and that's it," the former executive said. I think it's all good," said Chris Gaffney, co-founder and managing partner at Great Hill. It will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, he told Insider, and hunt for acquisitions in 2022. A voter's representatives in government. 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. Text. [1] He is also a past Chairman of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and longtime executive board member of Digital Content Next (DCN). in English Literature in 1979 and went to work as a reporter for the SoHo Weekly News. 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. He sits on the Board of Directors of The New York Chapter of The National Foundation for Teaching . 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 . Deadspin Editor Quits, Rails Against Bosses: 'I've Been Repeatedly Lied We sent a request for an explanation and did not receive a response. In an email, Flanagan disagreed with those assessments: Simply not true. 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. [4] He soon switched to the business side of the paper, and later took a tour through Europe. 3. Jim Spanfeller - Big Think Spanfeller Media is working to redefine content for the digital era. G/O Media, owner of Gizmodo and The Onion, will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, CEO Jim Spanfeller says. Spanfeller accused writers and editors of acting in bad faith based on a list of questions submitted to him before publication and the fact that a draft of the article had been sent for legal. 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. 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. Popular Gaming Website Kotaku Might Be Going Away In Wake of Jim has a different recollection of the facts, McAvoy reiterated. I was disappointed. Find Out With This Weeks News Quiz. The Daily Meal was acquired by Tronc in 2016. Having done it at Forbes, I simply knew it could be done quickly and with incremental value to the company.. 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. [2][3], Spanfeller graduated from Union College with a B.A. The confusion stems from a lack of communication. Another was more direct: Thats Jim wanting to be in control. [10] Spanfeller was also responsible for advertising sales on the magazine's website and that of Yahoo! The JW Player was an interim step, Spanfeller said. G/O Media shuttered its politics site, Splinter, in 2019. 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. Two are now successfully navigating careers in the digital advertising space. Im not building a club, we are working to build a successful companyand that depends on great women and men.. The mess at G/O Media - Columbia Journalism Review Views. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Jim Spanfeller discover inside connections to recommended . Im shocked he would call that a good presentation, said the employee who was in the meeting. 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! Who doesnt like uncompromising commentary or sports stories you couldnt find anywhere else? The detection of possible errors in a person's voter record as well as instructions on how to update it. 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? Jim Spanfeller (@JimSpanfeller) / Twitter Amid the chaos, someone edited Spanfeller's Wikipedia entry to read, "Jim Spanfeller is a fart-faced fascist best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009." (That language has since . According to his LinkedIn, Thompson is the founder of Mediacentric Inc., a multi-media representation company., A man was hired with my same title [vice president for west coast sales] to be my boss, the VP told Deadspin. These actions are clearly management attempting to target, and even intimidate, staff into changing their editorial stance in spite of our contract-protected independence, especially as it comes on the heels of managements repeated attempts to kill this story as it was being reported about the company. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009. Spanfellers all-staff email went on to accuse Deadspins staff of bias and cast doubt on the motives behind the story. 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.