Home » Ozy Media Hit by Revelations and Departures. Here’s the latest.

Ozy Media Hit by Revelations and Departures. Here’s the latest.

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Ozy employed a staff to make a chat present for A&E — “The Carlos Watson Present,” hosted by Ozy’s co-founder and chief govt. Friends had been instructed the present would air on A&E, and the present’s govt producer was instructed it could premiere in August 2020 in prime time.

The issue: A&E stated there was no such deal. The manager producer resigned after discovering out, writing to Ozy’s leaders: “You’re enjoying a harmful sport with the reality. The results of providing an A&E present to friends once we don’t have one to supply are catastrophic for Ozy and for me.”

That’s the newest revelation concerning the embattled media firm from The New York Instances media columnist Ben Smith. It adopted his report on Sunday that raised questions on Ozy’s enterprise practices, together with an incident wherein an govt apparently impersonated a YouTube govt as Ozy was making an attempt to lift cash.

Right here’s what we all know.

When the manager producer, Brad Bessey, resigned, he instructed the present’s workers that this system was not, in actual fact, going to be proven on A&E. Mr. Watson then instructed the folks on the Zoom name that “The Carlos Watson Present” would ultimately wind up on A&E, in accordance with Mr. Bessey and one different particular person on the decision. Till that point, Mr. Watson added, the present would seem on YouTube as a part of its YouTube Originals, a slate of programming made by skilled studios and paid for by YouTube.

“The Carlos Watson Present” ended up showing on Ozy.com and on YouTube, though not as a YouTube Unique. A YouTube official confirmed that the present was not a YouTube Unique. Mr. Watson and an Ozy spokesperson didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Learn extra concerning the proposed A&E present →

Marc Lasry, the chairman of Ozy’s board and a hedge fund supervisor who can be a co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, resigned on Thursday, 4 days after The Instances reported that somebody from Ozy appeared to have impersonated a YouTube govt throughout a convention name with Goldman Sachs bankers whereas the corporate was making an attempt to lift $40 million.

“I consider that going ahead Ozy requires expertise in areas like disaster administration and investigations, the place I wouldn’t have specific experience,” Mr. Lasry stated in an emailed assertion. “For that motive, I’ve stepped down from the corporate’s board. I stay an investor within the firm and want it one of the best going ahead.”

Learn extra concerning the resignation of Mr. Lasry →

Katty Kay, who left her job as a BBC anchor and correspondent to hitch Ozy in June, stated on Wednesday that she had resigned. “The allegations in The New York Instances, which caught me abruptly, are severe and deeply troubling, and I had no alternative however to finish my relationship with the corporate.”

Learn extra concerning the resignation of Ms. Kay →

SV Angel, led by the enterprise capitalist Ron Conway, knowledgeable Ozy on Tuesday that it was giving up the shares it had acquired within the firm in 2012, in accordance with an adviser to SV Angel. (Axios first reported that SV Angel was giving up its shares.)

The board stated on Tuesday that it had employed Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, a big worldwide agency with headquarters in New York, to conduct a overview of Ozy’s enterprise actions. The board additionally stated it had requested Samir Rao, the chief working officer of Ozy and the one that apparently impersonated the YouTube govt, “to take a go away of absence pending the outcomes of the investigation.”

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