This reporting is featured on this week’s version of Confiderthe e-newsletter pulling again the curtain on the media. Subscribe right here and ship your questions, ideas, and complaints right here.
The honeymoon is effectively and really over at The Messenger the place, simply 4 months since launching, two key business executives have stop and others want to go away, Confider has discovered.
Mia Libby, who joined The Messenger as chief income officer in November final 12 months, resigned earlier this month; and Stephanie Parker who was head of promoting since December, has additionally exited the troubled startup. Three individuals acquainted with the state of affairs say each ladies resigned following clashes with Richard Beckman, The Messenger’s president who earned the nickname “Mad Dog” for his hard-charging methods at Condé Nast, where he once broke an employee’s nose.
“Beckman is at the center of the problems—the two women left because of him. More are looking to leave,” one well-placed Messenger mole advised Confider. Beckman wildly claimed in an interview earlier than launch that The Messenger deliberate to show a revenue and generate an eye-watering $100 million in income in 2024, however up to now the one distinguished advertiser the positioning has persistently drawn has been Interactive Brokers LLC, a agency that buys and sells shares, bonds, and a few crypto.
Libby, who beforehand served as CRO at The Daily Beast, was giddy just some months in the past when The Messenger went stay. “I am so proud to be a part of today’s historic launch of The Messenger,” she posted to LinkedIn. “We’ve worked for months to build a media brand that’s absent bias and subjectivity alongside verticals that feed your passions. Today is the start of that mission.”
Staffers who spoke with Confider stated she and others have bailed on that “mission” due to Beckman and his fantasyland projections for income and scale. There had already been a rare quantity of notable exits from the fledgling web site, with a number of editors quitting simply days after launch.
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At least a half-dozen staffers who stay at The Messenger have griped to Confider that Editor in Chief Dan Wakeford has but to articulate any editorial imaginative and prescient to the newsroom and exhibits a definite lack of enthusiasm for main the publication. “There’s different verticals and different editors leading their fiefdoms but not one person making sure things work together,” one senior staffer lamented to Confider. Libby and Parker declined to remark.
In a press release to Confider, a Messenger flack wrote: “Two-thirds of our business team are women, and the Company supports women at all levels of the organization. Regarding Mia, she did a wonderful job and built a great team. She ultimately felt ready to run her own show. Stephanie is a talented woman, and as part of the marketing team, she reported to our Chief Brand Officer, formerly head of marketing at Citibank. We currently have 300 people at the Company and continue to grow. Naturally, we have had a small amount of attrition over that time.”
Regarding promoting income, the spokesperson added: “We have several large advertisers on board with dozens of brands joining us in Q4 and 2024.”
And on Wakeford’s management, the PR rep wrote: “Every editorial staff member is inducted into the Company with an understanding of the mission from our editorial playbook and from Dan. Dan holds daily meetings with senior staff who manage the execution of the editorial mission. To allege a lack of communication is ludicrous.”
