G/O Media

Last updated

G/O Media Inc.
Company type Private
Predecessor Gizmodo Media Group
FoundedApril 8, 2019;5 years ago (2019-04-08)
Headquarters New York City, US
Key people
 Jim Spanfeller (CEO)
OwnerGreat Hill Partners
Subsidiaries
Website g-omedia.com

G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company [1] that owns and operates the digital media outlets Kotaku , The Root , The Inventory, and Quartz . [2] [3]

Contents

It was formed in 2019 after the private equity firm Great Hill Partners purchased two digital portfolios from Univision: Gizmodo Media Group ( Gizmodo , Jezebel, Deadspin , Lifehacker , Splinter, The Root, Kotaku, and Jalopnik) and the Onion portfolio ( The Onion , ClickHole, The A.V. Club , and The Takeout). [4] [5] Since 2023, the company has sold off many of its outlets, [6] [7] [8] [9] including The Onion [10] and Gizmodo, which were the source of "the G and O of its name". [11]

History

G/O was formed in April 2019 when Great Hill Partners, a private equity firm, purchased the websites from Univision for $18.9 million. [4] [5] [12] [13] Prior to the sale, the former Gawker Media properties had operated as Gizmodo Media Group after being acquired by Univision following the conclusion of the Bollea v. Gawker lawsuit and subsequent bankruptcy in 2016. [14] [15] [16] Former Forbes executive Jim Spanfeller became the CEO of G/O Media. [17] In the first twelve months following its purchase of the websites, G/O shut down Splinter News in November 2019 [18] and sold ClickHole in February 2020 to Cards Against Humanity. [19]

In mid-October 2021, G/O Media removed all images from stories published before the acquisition by Great Hill Partners in 2019 from the 11 websites it owns, including Gizmodo , Jalopnik, Deadspin, The A.V. Club , The Onion, and Jezebel. No reason was given, but it was speculated to be related to copyright infringement lawsuits the company was involved in. [20]

From 2023 onwards, the company began to dispose of sites that it owned, with Lifehacker being sold in March 2023 to Ziff Davis, [6] while Jezebel was shuttered [21] and then sold in November 2023 to Paste , along with Splinter News . [7] In January 2024, Adweek reported that G/O Media was looking to sell off the remaining sites under its ownership, following failed efforts to find buyers for the whole organisation. The company claimed the reporting was "largely incorrect" but didn't specify how. [22] On March 11, 2024, G/O Media sold Deadspin to the European startup Lineup Publishing, who immediately laid off all of Deadspin's employees. [8] Later that month, G/O Media sold The A.V. Club to Paste and The Takeout to Static Media, and it was reported that the company was actively looking for buyers of The Onion [9] which was sold in April 2024 to a company called Global Tetrahedron. [10]

Gizmodo, with the website's entire staff, was purchased by the European digital media company Keleops Media on June 4, 2024. [11] [23] [24] The Daily Beast noted that "with the sale of Gizmodo, G/O Media no longer owns the brands that made up the G and O of its name. The company's dwindling portfolio now just consists of business news site Quartz, African-American culture outlet The Root, gaming site Kotaku, gearhead publication Jalopnik, and commerce site The Inventory". [11] Jalopnik was acquired by Static Media in October 2024. [25]

Staff conflicts with leadership

G/O Media's leadership, introduced after the purchase from Univision, has been subject to frequent criticism by employees. [17] Complaints include closer advertiser relationships, a lack of diversity, and suppression of reporting about the company itself. [17] In October 2019, Deadspin's editor-in-chief, Barry Petchesky, was fired for refusing to adhere to a directive that the site "stick to sports". [26] Soon after, the entirety of Deadspin's staff resigned in protest, leaving the site inactive. [27] In November 2021, Gawker reported of approximately 75% of staff at Jezebel resigning over the course of 2021. The resignations were reportedly related to a "hostile work environment" created by G/O's management and the new deputy editorial director Lea Goldman. [28] In January 2022, another article detailed similar staff decline at The Root, with 15 out of 16 full-time employees having left throughout 2021, since Vanessa De Luca started as editor-in-chief, [29] while at The A.V. Club, seven senior staff members left the site after management required them to move from Chicago to Los Angeles. According to the Chicago Tribune , the departing staffers cited a lack of salary increase to account for higher cost of living due to the transfer. [30]

The company also saw multiple disputes with the employee unions. In January 2020, the GMG Union, which represents the staff of six G/O Media sites, 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". [31] On February 4, 2021, the Writers Guild of America, East, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that G/O Media told employees it had fired Alex Cranz for labor activism. [32] On March 1, 2022, GMG Union members went on strike after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract. [33] The strike was resolved on March 6 with a new contract that included some of the members' terms. [34] On June 29, 2023, G/O Media implemented a "modest test" of AI-generated content on its websites, in a move similar to BuzzFeed and CNET . This sparked backlash from GMG Union members, who cited AI's track record of false statements and plagiarism from its training data, with basic errors in the generated content also attracting attention. [35] [36] In January 2024, a strike involving members of the Onion Union, which represents workers at other G/O Media sites, was narrowly averted following an agreement. [37]

Acquisitions

Sold properties

Related Research Articles

<i>The Onion</i> American satire news organization

The Onion is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 29, 1988, in Madison, Wisconsin. The Onion began publishing online in early 1996. In 2007, they began publishing satirical news audio and video online as the Onion News Network. In 2013, The Onion stopped publishing its print edition and launched Onion Labs, an advertising agency. The Onion was then acquired three times, first by Univision in 2016, which later merged The Onion and its several other publications into those of Gizmodo Media Group. This unit was sold in 2019 to Great Hill Partners, forming a new company named G/O Media. G/O Media then sold The Onion in April 2024 to Global Tetrahedron, a firm newly created by former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson, which revived the print edition in August that year.

Gawker was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Founded in 2002, Gawker was the flagship blog for Denton's Gawker Media. Gawker Media also managed other blogs such as Jezebel, io9, Deadspin and Kotaku.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gawker Media</span> Defunct British-American online media company and blog network

Gawker Media LLC was an American internet media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, as of 2012, Gawker Media was the parent company for seven different weblogs and many subsites under them: Gawker.com, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik, and Jezebel. All Gawker articles are licensed on a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license. In 2004, the company renamed from Blogwire, Inc. to Gawker Media, Inc., and to Gawker Media LLC shortly after.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinja (website)</span> Online news aggregator

Kinja is a free online news aggregator, launched in April 2004. It is operated by G/O Media. It was formerly operated by Gizmodo Media Group, which was purchased by Univision Communications during Gawker Media's bankruptcy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Denton</span> British Internet entrepreneur and journalist (born 1966)

Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist, and blogger. He is the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and he was the managing editor of the New York City–based Gawker until a lawsuit by Terry Bollea bankrupted the company.

Kotaku is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.

<i>Paste</i> (magazine) American music and entertainment digital magazine

Paste is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication from 2002 to 2010 before converting to online-only.

<i>The A.V. Club</i> Online newspaper and entertainment website

The A.V. Club is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. The A.V. Club was created in 1993 as a supplement to its satirical parent publication, The Onion. While it was a part of The Onion's 1996 website launch, The A.V. Club had minimal presence on the website at that point.

Deadspin is a sports blog owned by Lineup Publishing. Founded by Will Leitch in 2005, and originally based in Chicago, it was then sold to Gawker Media, Univision Communications and G/O Media. Lineup Publishing acquired it in March 2024, then laid off the entire editorial staff. The blog is operational on 8 November, 2024.

Lifehacker is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on 31 January 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is owned by Ziff Davis. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux programs, iOS, and Android, as well as general life tips and tricks. The website is known for its fast-paced release schedule from its inception, with content being published every half hour all day long.

<i>Gizmodo</i> Design, technology, science, and science fiction website and blog

Gizmodo is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. Gizmodo also includes the sub-blogs io9 and Earther, which focus on pop-culture and environmentalism, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TelevisaUnivision</span> Mexican-American media company

TelevisaUnivision is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in Miami and Mexico City that owns American Spanish language broadcast network Univision and free-to-air channels in Mexico such as Las Estrellas, Canal 5, Foro, and NU9VE alongside a collection of specialty television channels and production studios. 45% of the company is held by the Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company Grupo Televisa, which was a major programming partner for Univision until the company sold their content assets to Univision in 2022.

The Root is an African American-oriented online magazine. It was launched on January 28, 2008, by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Donald E. Graham.

Jezebel is a US-based website featuring news and cultural commentary geared towards women. It was launched in 2007 by Gawker Media under the editorship of Anna Holmes as a feminist counterpoint to traditional women's magazines.

Bollea v. Gawker was a lawsuit filed in 2013 in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas County, Florida, delivering a verdict on March 18, 2016. In the suit, professional wrestler Terry Gene Bollea, known professionally as Hulk Hogan, sued Gawker Media, publisher of the Gawker website, and several Gawker employees and Gawker-affiliated entities for posting portions of a sex tape of Bollea with Heather Clem, at that time the wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge. Bollea's claims included invasion of privacy, infringement of personality rights, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Prior to trial, Bollea's lawyers said the privacy of many Americans was at stake while Gawker's lawyers said that the case could hurt freedom of the press in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fusion Media Group</span>

The Fusion Media Group is a division of Univision Communications. The company was launched in April 2016 after Univision bought out Disney's stake in Fusion through the Fusion Media Network joint venture between Univision & Disney-ABC. While Univision is focused on serving Hispanic America in Spanish, FMG is the company's multi-platform, English language division targeting young adults.

Gizmodo Media Group was an online media company and blog network formerly operated by Univision Communications in its Fusion Media Group division. The company was created from assets acquired from Gawker Media during its bankruptcy in 2016. In April 2019, Gizmodo and The Onion were sold to private equity firm Great Hill Partners, which combined them into a new company named G/O Media.

Splinter is an American left-leaning news and opinion website owned by Paste. It launched in July 2017 under Univision Communications and ceased publication in November 2019 following a sale to G/O Media. The dormant publication was acquired by Paste in November 2023 and relaunched March 26, 2024.

James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American executive known for running Forbes.com from 2001 to 2009. He is currently the CEO of G/O Media which consists primarily of sites that were previously part of Gawker Media. Spanfeller was hired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners to run the company after it was purchased from Univision. He is also a past Chairman of the IAB and longtime executive board member of Digital Content Next (DCN).

James Rich is an American journalist and newspaper editor. Originally known for his sports coverage with the New York Post, Rich has served twice as editor-in-chief of New York's Daily News, also editing The Huffington Post and later the sports website Deadspin on two separate occasions.

References

  1. ↑ Hayes, Dade (November 1, 2019). "Deadspin Loses Veteran Writer Drew Magary as Website's News Flow Runs Dry – Update". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  2. ↑ Abdel-Baqui, Omar; Bruell, Alexandra (April 28, 2022). "Gizmodo Owner G/O Media Buys Business News Site Quartz". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  3. ↑ Owen, Laura Hazard (April 29, 2022). ""An audible gasp": Quartz, once a high-flying startup, has sold to G/O Media". Nieman Journalism Lab . Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Hayes, Dade (April 8, 2019). "Univision Finalizes Sale of Former Gawker Portfolio and the Onion to Private Equity Firm Great Hill Partners". Deadline. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  5. 1 2 Mullen, Benjamin (April 8, 2019). "Great Hill Partners Agrees to Acquire Gizmodo Media Group". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 Fischer, Sara (March 13, 2023). "Scoop: Lifehacker sold by G/O to Ziff Davis". Axios. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Robertson, Katie (November 29, 2023). "Jezebel to Be Resurrected by Paste Magazine". The New York Times . Archived from the original on November 29, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Baragona, Justin (March 11, 2024). "G/O Media Sells Off Deadspin to Be Entirely Gutted". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  9. 1 2 Baragona, Justin (March 26, 2024). "G/O Media Continues Fire Sale, Dumps A.V. Club and Takeout". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Spangler, Todd (April 26, 2024). "The Onion Sold to Founder of Twilio, Who Taps Ex-NBC News Reporter Ben Collins to Lead Satire Site as CEO". Variety. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Baragona, Justin (June 4, 2024). "G/O Media Sells Off Gizmodo". The Daily Beast . Archived from the original on June 4, 2024. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Univision Communications Inc and subsidiaries 2020 First Quarter Reporting Package" (PDF). Univision Communications Inc. – Financial Reports – Quarterly Reports. March 30, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Univision Communications Inc and subsidiaries 2020 Second Quarter Reporting Package" (PDF). Univision Communications Inc. – Financial Reports – Quarterly Reports. June 30, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  14. ↑ DiNapoli, Jessica (August 17, 2016). "Univision to buy Gawker out of bankruptcy for $135 million". Reuters. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (April 8, 2019). "Univision sells Gizmodo Media Group". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on July 28, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  16. ↑ Adams, Robert N. (April 8, 2019). "Gizmodo sold to Great Hill Partners, forming G/O Media". GameRevolution . Archived from the original on July 28, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  17. 1 2 3 Tani, Maxwell (July 18, 2019). "Gizmodo Media Staff Enraged at New CEO's 'Insane' Direction". The Daily Beast . Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  18. ↑ Tani, Maxwell (October 10, 2019). "Splinter Shutting Down". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  19. 1 2 Notopoulos, Katie (February 3, 2020). "Cards Against Humanity Bought Clickhole". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  20. ↑ Hitt, Tarpley (February 4, 2021). "Pictures Disappear En Masse from G/O Media Posts". Gawker. Bustle Digital Group. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Trailblazing feminist blog Jezebel is shutting down has to shut down from a lack of buyers. The writers claim 'strategic and commercial ineptitude'". Fortune. November 9, 2023. Archived from the original on November 15, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  22. ↑ Stenberg, Mark (January 24, 2024). "G/O Media Hangs 'For Sale' Sign Across Its Portfolio". Adweek. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  23. ↑ Robertson, Katie (June 4, 2024). "Gizmodo Sold to European Media Company". The New York Times . Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  24. ↑ Stenberg, Mark (June 4, 2024). "Gizmodo Acquired by European Media Firm Keleops". Adweek . Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  25. 1 2 Flynn, Kerry (October 21, 2024). "G/O Media agrees to sell car culture site Jalopnik". Axios. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
  26. ↑ Tracy, Marc (October 29, 2019). "Deadspin Editor Fired Amid Pushback Over 'Stick to Sports' Memo". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  27. ↑ Robertson, Katie (November 1, 2019). "Deadspin's Last Staff Member Quits. But Deadspin Is Not Dead, the Boss Says". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Inside the Turmoil at Jezebel". Gawker. November 18, 2021. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  29. ↑ "What Happened at The Root?". Gawker. January 27, 2022. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  30. ↑ Channick, Robert (January 19, 2022). "Top editorial staff leaving A.V. Club entertainment site after refusing to relocate from Chicago to new offices in LA". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  31. ↑ "GMG Union votes no confidence in G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller". Awful Announcing. January 14, 2020. Archived from the original on January 14, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  32. ↑ Eidelson, Josh (February 4, 2021). "G/O Media Told Staff Activism Got Editor Fired, Union Says". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  33. ↑ Geier, Thom (March 1, 2022). "Jezebel, Gizmodo, The Root and Other G/O Media Writers Go on Strike". The Wrap. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  34. ↑ Fuster, Jeremy (March 6, 2022). "G/O Media, WGA East Agree to New Contract After 5-Day Strike". The Wrap. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  35. ↑ Tangermann, Victor (June 30, 2023). "Gizmodo and Kotaku Staff Furious After Owner Announces Move to AI Content". Futurism. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  36. ↑ Spangler, Todd (July 5, 2023). "Gizmodo's io9 Published an AI-Generated Star Wars Article That Was Filled with Errors". Variety. Archived from the original on July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  37. ↑ Kilkenny, Katie (February 1, 2024). "The Onion Union Reaches Tentative Deal with Management, Averting Strike". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  38. ↑ "G/O Media acquires Quartz". Flashes & Flames. April 28, 2022. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  39. ↑ Calhoun, Jordan (March 30, 2023). "A New Beginning for Lifehacker". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  40. 1 2 Baragona, Justin (March 26, 2024). "G/O Media Continues Fire Sale, Dumps A.V. Club and Takeout". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 27, 2024.

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