Youre not qualified. We had to move fast because the company was losing money at a rapid pace, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. Stay up to date with what you want to know. ), The internal reaction to these hires has ranged from confusion to anger. He is currently the CEO of G/O Media which consists primarily of sites that were previously part of Gawker Media. 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. As you know, one reason that I dont believe that publications should write about themselves is because I fear it damages perceived external credibility in editorial independence, which, if anything, makes keeping advertisers at bay harder, not easier. 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 . Mr. Spanfeller has a BA in English Literature from Union College, Schenectady, New York. Spanfeller said he did not recall the specific request. (Spanfeller told Deadspin that he and Callahan had only been in a single meeting that I recall.). 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. But Spanfellers expectation that the process would be done in the next week or so shocked the tech team. I think the biggest problem was the leadership wouldnt get out of the way of everyone, one former employee told Deadspin. Lastly, I firmly believe, personally, that Jim Spanfeller is a herb. This is normal in situations like these where a new group is coming in and is facing a near term challenge.. I am a father of three wonderful woman, Spanfeller wrote in a statement. [8] In June 1993, Spanfeller became associate publisher for advertising at Inc. magazine, replacing Kristin Norrgard, who left to become publisher of Working Woman magazine. 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. One major conflict arose over whether the company should build a video player in-house or pay for a third-party platform. (Pontius declined to comment. 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 . Vice president for west coast sales Steve Thompson, who worked with Spanfeller at, Vice president for east coast sales Sean Flanagan, who worked with Spanfeller at. So Out of Touch: Gen Z Congressman-Elect Mocks RNC Tweet Criticizing Him For His Housing Woes. 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. Once it became clear that the sales department was being restructured in Kurt Muellers absence, another female vice president, who had been at the company for four years, asked McAvoy in early June for the opportunity to be considered for an expanded sales role, providing examples to show her success at the company. 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. tips@mediaite.com, Caleb Ecarma was a reporter at Mediaite. Ad revenue rebounded, Spanfeller told Insider last year. 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. But those efforts did not go very far, the people said, and the company has yet to mount a takeover. The other is still in college., Four of nine major hires have been women, Spanfeller said. (check all that apply); and What do you like LEAST about Deadspin? Cramer finally reveals whether he is pro-Trump or anti-Trump - CNBC Spanfeller admitted he contacted Maidment in June after receiving my initial email requesting an interview. 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. It wasnt collaborative.. Spanfeller said the goal was to find out what the key points of attraction are for our visitors.. [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. (The people I work for and the people who report to me know what I do, Rogers, 63, told Deadspin in an email.). 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. Top Women at the Company Expressed Interest in Filling Executive Roles and Were Promised Interview Opportunities Prior to Spanfeller Hiring His Friends, Two G/O Media employees Deadspin spoke to, who are women who have an experienced track record with the company, say Spanfeller promised to give them a chance to interview for upper-level roles. I had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. The person hired was Bruce Rogers, who most recently ran the institute arm of SITO Mobile, a mobile data company. Club executive editor Laura M. Browning and former A.V. 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. 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.. This guy just seems like he doesnt like women, another added. Justice announced he was switching his party affiliation . 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. The Daily Meal Founder G/O Media Chief Executive Officer Board and Advisor Roles Number of Current Board & Advisor Roles 3 Number of Past Board & Advisor Roles 2 Without posting the jobs publicly, Spanfeller hired a stable of white men to fill executive positions overseeing nearly every facet of the company., You also had no interest in meeting the only woman on the revenue leadership team who is an SVP who has been successful., As the only woman on the previous revenue leadership team, I started to wonder if women were being considered for leadership roles., What Spanfeller says is normal is, of course, a reflection of his own values, which evidently rank transparency, diversity, and inclusion as secondary concerns to financial success., The appropriate thing to do would be to talk to the editorial side of the business and have a clear objective for the survey., Chief financial officer Tom Callahan, who worked at Forbes while Spanfeller worked there. The union said that it wants the money to translate into higher salary minimums, trans-inclusive healthcare, and a focus on talent retention. When asked by Deadspin why he wouldnt name an interim editor while that search took place in order to stabilize the site and ensure that the people filling in were properly compensated for their work, Spanfeller said that the Onion union demanded that we immediately promote two people into those roles. 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. [1] We sent a request for an explanation and did not receive a response. I read that she's a registered Republican in Texas. It will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, he told Insider, and hunt for acquisitions in 2022. ), Spanfeller described the situation differently. "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 . 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. 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. Spanfeller Media Group ( SMG ), a subsidiary of publishing company Tribune Publishing, is a digital media company based in New York City. 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. 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 . Steve Riley on February 14, 2013: Just right off the bat. Youre not qualified. This conversation inspired her to write a post on the personal account she still holds on G/Os publishing platform, Kinja, titled Jim Spanfeller Is a Herb., Pronounced with a hard h, herbs are difficult to define, but typified by the individuals seen in this earlier Carmichael post about herbitude. 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. 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. A source at the company familiar with the situation said Thompsons hire had been flagged to upper management as a potential problem. The company is also on the hunt for acquisitions, according to Spanfeller. Spanfeller, who became head of the digital media company when GMG was purchased by private equity firm Great Hill Partners, told staff that he expected the site's direct advertising to "take the. [4] He soon switched to the business side of the paper, and later took a tour through Europe. Which he would do by turning Deadspin into a sports-only website. James J. Spanfeller is president of The Spanfeller Group, a management consultancy focusing on digital strategy, audience development, revenue acceleration and talent acquisition. 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. To hear G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller tell it, everything at his digital media company is going great. When she tried to edit the post, she was greeted by the following image: Attempts to create a new post were similarly thwarted. Steve Thompson, 55, was installed over a female vice president who had been running west coast sales for two and a half years. 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. 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. Asked about the meeting, Knight initially didnt answer. 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. G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller: Company Will Be Profitable by - Insider Former Daily News Editor in Chief Is Tapped to Run Deadspin 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. 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. Jim Spanfeller - Big Think 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. Its something that Im working to improve. The confusion stems from a lack of communication. Oberlander actually left last week. pretty big scoop from me Jim Spanfeller is a herb https://t.co/gZDCs6mfhC. This has led to some protest among employees, as one staffer told Deadspin, It definitely feels like its the old boys club. A second employee told the site, This guy just seems like he doesnt like women.. On July 25, a pop-up survey appeared on Deadspin asking three questions: How satisfied are you with Deadspin? 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.. The sales employee (who is not an SVP) wasnt surprised to hear that Spanfeller didnt know what she did. 1. And I didnt know what Sean was doing. . I was also hiring a good portion of these jobs before I actually took over day to day control 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. I told Mike, verbally and in writing, that I would be interested in taking on new responsibilities and opportunities within the organization and I would like to interview for whatever position would be a part of that, she told Deadspin. According to Dave Reibstein, past chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association and a professor of marketing at University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business (where he teaches a course on market research), there are several problems with the survey. In one case, sources say Spanfeller did offer to promote a woman to run human resources, but on the condition she fire another woman at the company as her first order of business. Great Hill Partners did not disclose the financial terms of the private, all equity transaction but stated in a press release that Spanfeller is an investor. in English Literature in 1979 and went to work as a reporter for the SoHo Weekly News. When asked if she stood by the content of the since-disappeared post, Carmichael remained steadfast: I did really careful, thorough research, and the evidence is there. We could have video analytics today. Search over 95 Million Voter Registration Records. The digital media and blogging network, which oversees websites like Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jezebel, A.V. A source said Spanfeller told editors-in-chief of the companys websites that he had chosen Maidment, 68, for the job before the sale was completed and did not interview other candidates, including Banikarim. Jim Spanfeller Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements Gov. 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. ), This isnt the first time Spanfeller has been accused of micromanaging. This sites credibility is not dependent on who and what it reports on, but on its ability to report forcefully and accurately. Jim Spanfeller - CEO - G/O Media | LinkedIn The rigorous and thorough reporting, editing, and legal review process that Greenwell promised to oversee has since been completed, which is why you are reading this story now. 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. [15][16] In January 2020 the GMG union, which represents the staff of G/O media, announced a vote of no confidence in CEO Jim Spanfeller citing, among other issues, a lack of willingness to negotiate for "functional editorial independence protections. Its everything Ive wanted and more.. Spanfeller said no one told him that a female VP was already successfully performing that job before he hired Thompson. Jim Spanfeller - New York, New York, United States - LinkedIn Fuck Jim Spanfeller and Paul Maidment. 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). This is the same thing that has also happened to Deadspin. G/O Media, owner of Gizmodo and The Onion, will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, CEO Jim Spanfeller says. I think it makes him a bad role model for the rest of his team.. 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. Takeaways From Deadspin's Expos of G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller Never mind the flood of negative stories about staff blowback over the company's editorial direction. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009. Back to the Office, But Only to Picket - Curbed I was going on the input I had been given by Mike McAvoy that he had discussed the position with her and laid out why she was not ready for the larger role. 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. Thats not reality, a tech staffer told Deadspin. "You can write a blog, just don't publish them here.". 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.