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61-418: G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that owns and operates the digital media outlets Kotaku , The Root , The Inventory , and Quartz . 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

122-462: A corporate group . In some jurisdictions around the world, holding companies are called parent companies , which, besides holding stock in other companies, can conduct trade and other business activities themselves. Holding companies reduce risk for the shareholders , and can permit the ownership and control of a number of different companies. The New York Times uses the term parent holding company . Holding companies can be subsidiaries in

183-495: A tiered structure . Holding companies are also created to hold assets such as intellectual property or trade secrets , that are protected from the operating company. That creates a smaller risk when it comes to litigation . In the United States, 80% of stock, in voting and value, must be owned before tax consolidation benefits such as tax-free dividends can be claimed. That is, if Company A owns 80% or more of

244-669: A directive that the site " stick to sports ". Soon after, the entirety of Deadspin ' s staff resigned in protest , leaving the site inactive. 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. 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, while at The A.V. Club , seven senior staff members left

305-560: A directive to " stick to sports " content only. Deadspin began publishing content again in March 2020. The site has suffered after the mass resignations, reportedly attracting only 10.22% of its previous readership. In March 2024, G/O Media sold Deadspin to Lineup Publishing; as a result of the sale, the site's entire staff was laid off. Deadspin was founded in December 2005 by editor-in-chief Will Leitch , an author and at that time

366-561: A founding editor of the New York City-based culture website, "The Black Table", in his New York City apartment, where he wrote 40 blog posts a day. The blog joined the Gawker Media network of websites. Leitch announced on June 5, 2008, that he would be leaving to take a position at New York magazine. He was replaced by A. J. Daulerio, former senior writer for the site. Author and journalist Drew Magary , formerly

427-596: A frequent contributor to the site's comments section, joined as an editor and chief columnist in 2008. Time magazine named the site one of the 50 coolest websites of 2006. Deadspin was one of six websites that were purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016. The Gizmodo Media Group was subsequently formed to operate the properties. The website's masthead consisted of editor-in-chief Megan Greenwell , managing editor Tom Ley, and senior editor Diana Moskovitz, along with

488-552: A lack of willingness to negotiate for "functional editorial independence protections". 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. On March 1, 2022, GMG Union members went on strike after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract. The strike

549-526: A matter of broadcast regulation . In the United States, a personal holding company is defined in section 542 of the Internal Revenue Code . A corporation is a personal holding company if both of the following requirements are met: A parent company is a company that owns enough voting power in another firm (or subsidiary ) to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors . The definition of

610-425: A parent company differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with the definition normally being defined by way of laws dealing with companies in that jurisdiction. When an existing company establishes a new company and keeps majority shares with itself, and invites other companies to buy minority shares, it is called a parent company. A parent company could simply be a company that wholly owns another company, which

671-445: A picture of Duke University star Grayson Allen , which then prompted Deadspin to reply with "Go eat shit." In July 2017, Deadspin sparked controversy when in response to Senator John McCain 's brain cancer diagnosis, Deadspin ' s Twitter account tweeted that the website did not want to "hear another fucking word about John McCain unless he dies or does something useful for once." In March 2018, The Concourse posted

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732-421: A result of Petchesky's firing, at least 10 employees participated in a mass resignation on October 30. Among those who left were Ley, writers Albert Burneko, Kelsey McKinney, Patrick Redford, Lauren Theisen, Chris Thompson, and Laura Wagner. Moskovitz also announced her departure, though she had given her two weeks' notice the week prior. Comments on the site were subsequently disabled as well. The GMG union posted

793-455: A staff of full-time writers and regular contributors. On March 11, 2024, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller told staff the site had been sold to the European startup Lineup Publishing. Spanfeller said the new owner would not be retaining any of the current staff, who were laid off as a result of the sale. He said G/O was not actively looking to sell Deadspin , but that Lineup Publishing approached

854-623: A statement saying: "Today, a number of our colleagues at Deadspin resigned from their positions. 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. This is not what journalism looks like, and this is not what editorial independence looks like. 'Stick to sports' is and always been a thinly veiled euphemism for 'don't speak truth to power.' In addition to being bad business, Spanfeller's actions are morally reprehensible." On October 31, Magary and Dan McQuade announced their departures. By November 1,

915-491: A strike involving members of the Onion Union, which represents workers at other G/O Media sites, was narrowly averted following an agreement. Holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own stock of other companies to form

976-565: A teenager, and the main source of the story said the report mischaracterized his comments. In response, Deadspin published an article entitled: "How Deadspin Fucked Up The Cory Gardner Story", stating: "we're sorry and embarrassed", it was "shitty" of them to have wronged Gardner, and "the only thing for us to do now is to eat shit." After Deadspin posted an article asking readers to post proof of Ted Cruz playing basketball, Cruz responded by jokingly tweeting

1037-472: A tending subsidiary of the purchasing company, which, in turn, becomes the parent company of the subsidiary. (A holding below 50% could be sufficient to give a parent company material influence if they are the largest individual shareholder or if they are placed in control of the running of the operation by non-operational shareholders.) In the United Kingdom, the term holding company is defined by

1098-547: A video showcasing versions of a controversial "journalistic responsibility" promo being produced by television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group , which helped bring mainstream attention to them. Deadspin ' s former last post each evening (before the October staff resignations), called DUAN ("Deadspin Up All Night"), was infamous for its occasionally viral and usually wildly diverse commentaries. Under

1159-572: A vote from a BBWAA writer which was "purchased" not through a cash payment to the writer, but instead to a charity of the writer's choice. On January 8, after the Hall of Fame voting was announced, Deadspin revealed that its voter was Miami Herald sportswriter Dan Le Batard . Le Batard was heavily criticized by fellow sportswriters for "selling" his vote. The BBWAA permanently revoked his Hall of Fame voting privileges and suspended his membership for one year. In 2014, Deadspin provided coverage of

1220-455: Is biracial. On January 22, 2022, Deadspin published a story criticizing then- San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel , who is biracial and whose father is Black, as "ticking off all the boxes to be the next trendy, young, white guy who takes a head coaching position [in the NFL] before one of the many deserving Black candidates." After the article's publication, an editor's note

1281-466: Is defined by Part 1.2, Division 6, Section 46 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) , which states: A body corporate (in this section called the first body) is a subsidiary of another body corporate if, and only if: Toronto-based lawyer Michael Finley has stated, "The emerging trend that has seen international plaintiffs permitted to proceed with claims against Canadian parent companies for

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1342-486: Is himself Native American. Holden's father, Raul Armenta Jr., is a member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians , and his grandfather, Raul Armenta Sr., is a member of the tribe's Business Committee. On December 4, NewsNation reported that lawyers for Raul Armenta Jr. and Shannon Armenta had written to Deadspin demanding a retraction of Phillips' article and threatening further legal action against

1403-458: Is sometimes done on a per- market basis. For example, in Atlanta both WNNX and later WWWQ are licensed to "WNNX LiCo, Inc." (LiCo meaning "license company"), both owned by Susquehanna Radio (which was later sold to Cumulus Media ). In determining caps to prevent excessive concentration of media ownership , all of these are attributed to the parent company, as are leased stations , as

1464-654: Is then known as a " wholly owned subsidiary ". Deadspin#Conflicts with G 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. Deadspin posted daily previews, recaps, and commentaries of major sports stories, as well as sports-related anecdotes, rumors, and videos. In addition to covering sports,

1525-540: The 2012 season , was apparently a hoax. Deadspin found no evidence that the girlfriend had ever existed, much less died. A 2022 documentary, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist , features former staffers Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey speaking about the methods Deadspin used in exposing the hoax. Deadspin received attention for "buying" a vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame election in 2013. The site announced in late November 2013 that it had acquired

1586-562: The COVID-19 pandemic . Deadspin broke the story of NFL quarterback Brett Favre 's alleged sexual misconduct toward journalist Jenn Sterger . Deadspin also broke the story of Sarah Phillips, a reporter hired by ESPN who lied about her identity and credentials to staffers in order to gain employment. In 2013, Deadspin broke the news that the reported September 2012 death of the girlfriend of Notre Dame All-American linebacker Manti Te'o , which Te'o had said inspired him during

1647-480: The Companies Act 2006 at section 1159. It defines a holding company as a company that holds a majority of the voting rights in another company, or is a member of another company and has the right to appoint or remove a majority of its board of directors, or is a member of another company and controls alone, pursuant to an agreement with other members, a majority of the voting rights in that company. After

1708-606: The Gamergate controversy , "expos[ing] a shocking view of sexism and harassment in the gaming industry to the wider public", according to Salon . On October 15, 2014, Deadspin published an article which alleged that Cory Gardner , the Republican who ran for the U.S. Senate in Colorado , had faked his high school football career. Later that day, Gardner tweeted photographic evidence of himself in his football uniform as

1769-760: The Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium . Half of Armenta's face was painted black, and the other half was painted red, two of the Chiefs' team colors; Phillips, based on a photo that showed only the side of Armenta's face that was painted black, falsely accused him of wearing blackface . The article was headlined "The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress"; in

1830-632: The financial crisis of 2007–2008 , many U.S. investment banks converted to holding companies. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 's website, JPMorgan Chase , Bank of America , Citigroup , Wells Fargo , and Goldman Sachs were the five largest bank holding companies in the finance sector, as of December 2013 , based on total assets. The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 caused many energy companies to divest their subsidiary businesses. Between 1938 and 1958

1891-473: The "ad experience". The posts were subsequently removed by G/O Media management. The Gizmodo Media Group (GMG) union, which represents editors and writers across the G/O Media sites and is supported by Writers Guild of America, East , responded to the post removals with a statement that said, "We condemn this action in the strongest possible terms." According to The Wall Street Journal , G/O Media enabled

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1952-425: The European digital media company Keleops Media on June 4, 2024. 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 ". Jalopnik

2013-466: The European startup Lineup Publishing, who immediately laid off all of Deadspin ' s employees. 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 which was sold in April 2024 to a company called Global Tetrahedron. Gizmodo , with the website's entire staff, was purchased by

2074-565: The Onion portfolio ( The Onion , ClickHole , The A.V. Club , and The Takeout ). Since 2023, the company has sold off many of its outlets, including The Onion and Gizmodo , which were the source of "the G and O of its name". G/O was formed in April 2019 when Great Hill Partners, a private equity firm , purchased the websites from Univision for $ 18.9 million. Prior to the sale, the former Gawker Media properties had operated as Gizmodo Media Group after being acquired by Univision following

2135-455: The United Kingdom, is generally held that an organisation holding a 'controlling stake' in a company (a holding of over 51% of the stock) is in effect the de facto parent company of the firm, having overriding material influence over the held company's operations, even if no formal full takeover has been enacted. Once a full takeover or purchase is enacted, the held company is seen to have ceased to operate as an independent entity but to have become

2196-439: 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. From 2023 onwards, the company began to dispose of sites that it owned, with Lifehacker being sold in March 2023 to Ziff Davis , while Jezebel

2257-423: The ads. Farmers ultimately backed out of the deal on October 30. That same week, G/O Media editorial director Paul Maidment sent a memo to Deadspin employees ordering them to discontinue any content not related to sports. He said that in order to "create as much great sports journalism" as possible, " Deadspin will write only about sports and that which is relevant to sports in some way." The GMG union called

2318-499: The allegedly wrongful activity of their foreign subsidiaries means that the corporate veil is no longer a silver bullet to the heart of a plaintiff's case." The parent subsidiary company relationship is defined by Part 1, Section 5, Subsection 1 of the Companies Act, which states: 5.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, a corporation shall, subject to subsection (3), be deemed to be a subsidiary of another corporation, if — In

2379-499: The article, Phillips wrote that Armenta had "found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time," and accused his parents of teaching him racism. Deadspin posted the article on its X account, where it received over 18,000 replies and a Community Note explaining that it was false. Despite photographic evidence showing Armenta's entire face, Phillips stood by the article, writing in posts on X, "For

2440-485: The autoplaying ads in an attempt to fulfill the terms of an advertising deal it agreed to with Farmers Insurance Group . The companies had signed a deal worth $ 1 million that was planned to run from September 2019 – 2020 and required G/O Media to deliver 43.5 million impressions . However, after the first few weeks of the campaign, the G/O media and operations teams did not think they could meet that goal and subsequently enabled

2501-434: The changes in the site's content "undermin[ing] the nearly two decades of work writers have put into building a profitable brand with an enormous, dedicated readership". On October 29, following the memo, staffers filled the site's front page with non-sports stories that had been among the site's most popular in the past; by that afternoon, interim editor-in-chief Barry Petchesky had been fired for "not sticking to sports." As

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2562-477: The company is incorporated. In the lawsuit, the Armentas described Phillips as "someone who makes his livelihood through vicious race-baiting," and said that the family had received "a barrage of hate," including threats against Holden's life, since the article's publication. On March 11, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller announced that Deadspin had been sold to Malta -based media company Lineup Publishing, and that

2623-506: The company with an attractive offer. In April 2019, the Gizmodo Media Group was purchased by private equity firm Great Hill Partners and was renamed G/O Media , with Jim Spanfeller appointed as CEO. Greenwell resigned from Deadspin effective August 23, 2019. She said that dysfunction had been caused by corporate management. She also alleged that corporate management tried to intimidate Deadspin writers from reporting on

2684-636: The conclusion of the Bollea v. Gawker lawsuit and subsequent bankruptcy in 2016. Former Forbes executive Jim Spanfeller became the CEO of G/O Media. In the first twelve months following its purchase of the websites, G/O shut down Splinter News in November 2019 and sold ClickHole in February 2020 to Cards Against Humanity . In mid-October 2021, G/O Media removed all images from stories published before

2745-496: The dysfunction, and said that corporate management had undermined and been condescending to the site's senior staff. In late October 2019, the editorial staff across several G/O Media sites, including Deadspin , posted articles acknowledging complaints from readers about advertisements that were autoplaying with audio. The Deadspin post said that the editorial staff "are as upset with the current state of our site's user experience as [readers] are" but that they could not control

2806-511: The entire staff of nearly 20 writers and editors had announced their resignations or already departed. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders expressed his support for the editorial staff, tweeting, "I stand with the former @Deadspin workers who decided not to bow to the greed of private equity vultures like @JimSpanfeller. This is the kind of greed that is destroying journalism across the country, and together we are going to take them on". Maidment resigned from G/O Media on November 5, 2019, stating that it

2867-439: The idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse...Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco ." The posts were later deleted. On November 29, The Daily Beast reported that Armenta's mother, Shannon Armenta, had criticized Deadspin in a post on Facebook and revealed that Holden

2928-475: The new staff, the site has occasionally drawn controversy for the quality of its reporting and editing. In 2021, critics claimed the site mishandled reporting related to a clash between Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor at ESPN . Later that year, the site was criticized for calling ESPN anchor Sage Steele "the Black Candace Owens ." Owens, a conservative commentator, is Black, while Steele

2989-571: The number of holding companies declined from 216 to 18. An energy law passed in 2005 removed the 1935 requirements, and has led to mergers and holding company formation among power marketing and power brokering companies. In US broadcasting , many major media conglomerates have purchased smaller broadcasters outright, but have not changed the broadcast licenses to reflect this, resulting in stations that are (for example) still licensed to Jacor and Citicasters , effectively making them such as subsidiary companies of their owner iHeartMedia . This

3050-653: 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. 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,

3111-507: The site expanded into more investigative journalism and broke several stories, including the revelation of the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax . Alumni writers of Deadspin have gone on to work for The New York Times , The Washington Post , and Sports Illustrated , and established Defector Media . During October and November 2019, the website's entire writing and editorial staff resigned due to conflicts with G/O Media management over

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3172-406: The site wrote about the media, pop culture , and politics, and published several non-sports sub-sections, including The Concourse and the humor blog Adequate Man. Contrasting with traditional sports updates of other outlets, Deadspin was known for its irreverent, conversational tone, often injecting crude humor into its writing and taking a critical lens to the topics it covered. Over time,

3233-500: The site, Phillips, G/O Media, and Great Hill Partners, which owns G/O Media. At some point on December 7, the original article was edited to remove photos of Holden; an editor's note was added to the article which read, in part, "Three years ago, the Chiefs banned fans from wearing headdresses in Arrowhead Stadium , as well as face painting that 'appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions.' The story’s intended focus

3294-540: The stock of Company B, Company A will not pay taxes on dividends paid by Company B to its stockholders, as the payment of dividends from B to A is essentially transferring cash within a single enterprise. Any other shareholders of Company B will pay the usual taxes on dividends, as they are legitimate and ordinary dividends to these shareholders. Sometimes, a company intended to be a pure holding company identifies itself as such by adding "Holding" or "Holdings" to its name. The parent company–subsidiary company relationship

3355-481: The week of April 20 , sponsored by a cannabis oil company. In July 2020, they subsequently announced a new subscription-based sports and culture website, Defector . The first new content posted to the Deadspin site following the resignations appeared on March 13, 2020, as new editor-in-chief Jim Rich announced that the website was building a new team. New articles began publishing earlier than planned due to

3416-404: Was acquired by Static Media in October 2024. G/O Media's leadership, introduced after the purchase from Univision, has been subject to frequent criticism by employees. Complaints include closer advertiser relationships, a lack of diversity, and suppression of reporting about the company itself. In October 2019, Deadspin ' s editor-in-chief, Barry Petchesky, was fired for refusing to adhere to

3477-483: Was appended to the piece and a tweet promoting the article was deleted, but none of the copy was changed. On February 6, 2022, the Miami Dolphins announced they had hired McDaniel as head coach. On November 27, 2023, Deadspin published an article written by Carron J. Phillips, centered on a photo of a boy, 9-year-old Holden Armenta, wearing a Native American war bonnet at the previous day's game between

3538-452: Was resolved on March 6 with a new contract that included some of the members' terms. 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. In January 2024,

3599-403: Was shuttered and then sold in November 2023 to Paste , along with Splinter News . 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. On March 11, 2024, G/O Media sold Deadspin to

3660-462: Was the "right moment" to "pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity". On January 10, 2020, G/O Media announced its decision to move Deadspin operations from New York City to Chicago, where it would operate as part of The Onion . On January 31, 2020, Ley and several other former writers established Unnamed Temporary Sports Blog , an interim site sponsored by Dashlane that operated exclusively over Super Bowl LIV weekend. The site reopened for

3721-578: Was the NFL and its failure to extend those rules to the entire league. We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan or his family." The article's headline was also changed to "The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint in the Stands (UPDATED)." On February 6, 2024, Raul Armenta Jr. and Shannon Armenta filed a lawsuit for defamation against G/O Media in Delaware , where

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