From "‘It Was Weird and Culty’: Carlos Watson’s Mismanagement of Ozy" (Intelligencer).
October 2, 2021
"If the company had merely been an empty shell propped up to lure positive publicity and venture-capital dollars, it likely would have been less alarming than the apparent reality."
"According to the five former Ozy staffers Intelligencer spoke with, what’s remarkable isn’t how little there was behind the façade but how much. These staffers say that founder and CEO Carlos Watson’s demands, expectations, and plans were often detached from reality, yet were enforced with an intensity that some felt bordered on cruelty.... Founder and CEO Carlos Watson, a Stanford and Harvard graduate who had briefly worked on-air at MSNBC, was a charismatic salesman for a website that offered Obama-era corporate-friendly multiracial optimism.... Numerous former employees describe the environment as abusive and cultlike.... Editors were expected to turn out eight or nine pieces a week and have their stories polished and filed two weeks in advance.... 'Carlos didn’t like that people slept...'.... 'You work your ass off on a thing, and then it gets like 60 readers, you know?... There was just no one there. It’s crickets.'... Ozy’s failure to catch on had a silver lining for Watson: The lack of attention also meant a lack of scrutiny. That free pass came to an end on Sunday with Smith’s New York Times column and its detailing of Ozy’s apparent deceptions.... On Friday... came word that the company was folding."
From "‘It Was Weird and Culty’: Carlos Watson’s Mismanagement of Ozy" (Intelligencer).
From "‘It Was Weird and Culty’: Carlos Watson’s Mismanagement of Ozy" (Intelligencer).
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45 comments:
Smart money. ESG. Social impact investing. The only thing I expect less of in the future is such stark coverage of fiascos like this one.
So, basically a microcosm of the Biden administration. Except the Bidenistas have a way of failing up given the endless river of cash, influence and media cover flowing through the federal government that obviates any accountability for the consequences.
oh, this all makes much more sense now!
yesterday; i saw a headline about Ozy something failing, and the leader being insane
and i couldn't for the life of me figure out Why people would invest in Ozzy Osbourne
Harvard, and Stanford. Why??
It's not like it makes you more smart, but rubes like credentials.
I'll bet one of those credentials is cooked.
Ozy sends me emails that I never get around to reading.
I have no idea who they are or what they do.
Some kind of news operation?
The article says the owners would send emails on holidays like Christmas just to see if the staff was working. That’s certifiably crazy.
Basically if you have a good spiel, the right look, and a degree from Harvard, you get lots of money to play with.
Carlos Watson is precisely the sort of person who would be feted at a LLR Chuck or AMDG dinner party.
"Founder and CEO Carlos Watson, a Stanford and Harvard graduate who had briefly worked on-air at MSNBC"
I know all that was supposa impress me, but it didn't work.
He was on the board of NPR until yesterday, won an Emmy, produced shows for the major streaming companies, and had also been on on-air news person for CNN as well as MSNBC.
So what does that tell us about our news organizations? What does that tell us about the news we are fed?
gilbar: "oh, this all makes much more sense now!
yesterday; i saw a headline about Ozy something failing, and the leader being insane
and i couldn't for the life of me figure out Why people would invest in Ozzy Osbourne"
Carlos Watson is a glib, substanceless obama type. The LLR's and lefties swooned and couldnt wait to line up and throw money at him.
"On Friday, (Carlos) Watson announced that he would step down from the board of directors of National Public Radio."
I'm shocked! He was a policy maker at NPR?
gilbar said...
i couldn't for the life of me figure out Why people would invest in Ozzy Osbourne
Or vice versa?
Sharon Osbourne says Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson lied when he claimed the Osbournes invested in his company
Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson boasted on CNBC in 2019 that Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne had invested in his company. It was a lie, according to Sharon Osbourne.
Watson’s Ozy Media has been under fire following several reports about alleged misconduct by the company.
Osbourne told CNBC her story as Marc Lasry, an investor and hedge fund honcho, quit as Ozy chairman after just three weeks on the job.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/30/ozy-media-founder-carlos-watson-lied-about-investment-sharon-osbourne-says.html
OT, but this is for you, Althouse:
David Sedaris: 'Satan bit you on the breast and it surprised you?'
Read an exclusive extract from the outrageous new diaries of America’s greatest living humorist
Oh, for the days when a small, dedicated band of ideologues could produce something like the National Lampoon, or the National Review, Mother Jones or Rolling Stone, and have it indeed go national as a publication with enough readership to be self-sustaining. Now, with the ability to reach the entire world using just the click of a keyboard, one has to have something the the readers want, because they can get anything else just as easily and at the same price - free.
AZ Bob: "'On Friday, (Carlos) Watson announced that he would step down from the board of directors of National Public Radio."
I'm shocked! He was a policy maker at NPR?"
Just one of many reasons LLR Chuck has been such a passionate advocate for NPR over the years.
You will recall that after NPR was forced to kick Garrison Keillor to the curb because of the "minor problem" related to Keillor secually assaulting women over the years, LLR Chuck went Full Lincoln Pedophile Project Defense Mode for Keillor, as LLR Chuck does for all dems really.
madAsHell said...
Harvard, and Stanford. Why??
in a word.... Contacts. There was this 19 year old blonde, that went to Stanford.
While there, she started sucking the cock her advisor* who introduced the blonde, to Other rich men that wanted their cocks sucked. Pretty soon; the blonde was running blood 'testing' company; even though she was supposedly studying Chem Eng (not that she knew anything about Chem Eng, either).
The point is: If the blonde had gone to State U, she might have made it as a internet porn girl... But, with the contacts she had at Stanford; she became (for a while) the world's youngest self-made female billionaire... Without a product, without a degree**, without Anything besides the Stanford contacts
sucking the cock of her advisor* to be 'fair' to the advisor; it's possible, that she never Actually sucked him off... he Might have been SO STUPID, that he just thought that she might
with out a degree** We keep hearing about how people like Bill Gates, or Zuckerdude, or the Blonde; were SO SMART, that they 'didn't even need a degree! They dropped out of college.' BUT, the colleges that they drop out of are places like Harvard or Stanford. They did NOT go to community college for a year and a half and then drop out to start Billion Dollar companies. The go to Harvard or Standford for a year or so (long enough to make contacts), Then drop out to USE those contacts
You people are all WAY smarter and WAY more informed than me; please let me know, if you can think of a Billionaire that dropped out of a state school?
I looked at the Ozy website. It looks completely unfamiliar to me. I can't recall even one time when I saw a blog/FB/Twitter/reddit/or any other post that linked to an article from there. They couldn't have been more outside what I see if they had begun with the intention of failing (like "The Producers", but where they actually succeeded at failing.)
a charismatic salesman
Quality products don’t need charismatic salesmen.
Obviously, doing social justice was part of the draw. But if nobody cares--which is to say nobody reads it..... That leaves the money and working conditions.
The headline made “Theranos!” pop into my head. Never heard of Ozy. Must be a million of this type of story to be told.
I never heard of them. And if I did, I forgot. Did Althouse ever link to them?
A rerun of the dot.com bust of 20 years ago. Nothing but hype and red ink behind the curtain.
Mike (MJB Wolf): "The headline made “Theranos!” pop into my head. Never heard of Ozy. Must be a million of this type of story to be told."
Theranos, of course, is the outfit that paid off Gen Mattis for his earlier support to the establishment to keep the Afghan war going and to undermine Trump.
"Editors were expected to turn out eight or nine pieces a week...." Ann does that in a day!
Eugene Robinson still has his day job doing the same thing over and over.
I sometimes read the whole internet in a day, it seems.
I read from VDARE to Frontpagemag to NYT to Bloomberg to Unz to the Daily Mail to The Nation to American Greatness. New Yorker to Glenn Greenwald to Epoch Times to Inside Education to NAS to Mark Steyn (who is as productive and urbane and funnier than the whole staff of the current New Yorker combined) No other endorsements here: I just read it.
I have never, ever heard of Ozy. But this sentence is so hilarious I feel I missed the boat:
“In 2017 they launched Ozyfest, an ideas festival in NYC that featured … Martin Gladwell, Laverne Fox, Jeb Bush, and Hillary Clinton.”
I would PAY to see that. No, I really would pay.
“ Did Althouse ever link to them?”
Once or twice
@ Gilbar please let me know, if you can think of a Billionaire that dropped out of a state school?
Did not drop out of a college, but Ken & Diane Hendricks of Janesville, WI became billionaires (he died in 2007, Diane is now worth $10 Billion). He was a high school drop out & she was a local farm girl. Had a roofing business that his father founded. Gave the business to his employees and bought a failing building supply company and it became ABC Supply.
He died a tragic death - house was being constructed (on an abandoned gravel pit). They were in the house at night, power was off, stepped on some plywood that was covering a hole in the floor. It shifted and he wound up dropping on to the concrete garage floor on the lower level.
She has been the bane of Democrats in Wisconsin - has given huge amounts to Republicans and conservative causes.
Ken Hendricks
There was a point where “weird and culty” could have described Apple. But apparently this guy ain’t no Steve Jobs.
Griftin', got his chips cashed in
Keep griftin', like 0bama man
Together, crossin’ every line
Just keep griftin' on
I met a con artist from Harvard and MSNBC
Who said—“Two vast trunks of treasure
are here for the taking. . . .
alan said...
Did not drop out of a college, but Ken & Diane Hendricks of Janesville, WI became billionaires
i imagine, that there's quite a few, actually (Sam Walmart (sic) comes to mind)...
BUT, i'll bet MOST of the non Harvard (or such) Billionaires MADE it rich,
that is: Thousandaire -> Millionaire -> Billionaire
instead of having venture capitalists invest in their startups
Why would you prop up a hollow shell. I'd with shoring up.
"‘It Was Weird and Culty’: Joe and Nancy's Mismanagement of America"
The deplorable "feel good" story of the day.
Interesting that Laurene Powell Jobs isn’t mentioned at all in the article. Her investment and involvement in Ozy was a big deal when it launched. According to Wikipedia, she founded a non-profit with Watson back in 1997, well before they collaborated on Ozy.
Gilbar said “ please let me know, if you can think of a Billionaire that dropped out of a state school?”
Michael Dell - University of Texas
WK said...
if you can think of a Billionaire that dropped out of a state school?”
Michael Dell - University of Texas
Interesting! From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dell
Dell incorporated the company as "Dell Computer Corporation" and relocated to a business center in North Austin. The company employed a few people as order takers, a few more to fill the orders, and, as Dell recalled, a manufacturing staff consisting of "three guys with screwdrivers sitting at six-foot tables". The venture's capitalization cost was $1,000.
So, instead of Harvard contacts; he had three guys with screwdrivers, and $1,000
Kinda impressed with him! On the other hand...
Dell married Susan Lieberman on October 28, 1989, in Austin, Texas; the couple reside there with their four children
So, he's still married to his 1st wife, and he married her when he was just starting out.
Sounds like some sort of a freak! </sarc
Just keep griftin' on
10/2/21, 1:47 PM
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream.
WK said...
if you can think of a Billionaire that dropped out of a state school?”
1. Bill Gates
He is the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, the world largest software company. Dropped out of Harvard to focus on building Microsoft.
5. Richard Branson
Best known for his adventurous spirit and outrageous business tactics. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 to start his first successful business venture; Student Magazine, bought his own 79-acre Caribbean island when he was just 24 and he was knighted in 1999.
8. Steve Jobs
Billionaire co-founder of Apple Inc and Pixar; dropped out of Reed College to start Apple.
10. Walt Disney
Walt, regarded as the most influential animator because of his creativity with cartoons. He dropped out of high school at 16 and founded Walt Disney; a company which now has an annual revenue of about $30billion.
https://www.profitableventure.com/school-drop-out-billionaires-successful-entrepreneurs/
Yeah, but I heard of Theranos. Maybe inside the liberal bubble some people had heard of Ozy? Or the world is so big and complex today that zillionaire investors are perfectly comfortable investing in huge important companies that they've never heard of and neither has anyone else they know.
wendybar said...
if you can think of a Billionaire that dropped out of a state school?”
1. Bill Gates
Wendy, i like you; and i know you got here late,but
a) Harvard is NOT a state school
b) THAT is my point, the WHOLE discussion was about "WHY GO TO HARVARD?"
And the answer was: to meet CONTACTS, that; in fact; you did NOT even need to graduate,
'cause the WHOLE POINT of Harvard is to meet contacts.
Thanx for Branson. Steve Jobs, though? Steve didn't "drop out of Reed to start Apple".
Steve dropped out of Reed in 1972. In 1974, Steve got a job at Atari
"In mid-1975, after returning to Atari, Jobs was assigned to create a circuit board for the arcade video game Breakout.[61] According to Bushnell, Atari offered US$100 for each TTL chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little specialized knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari engineers, Wozniak reduced the TTL count to 46, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line.[62] According to Wozniak, Jobs told him that Atari gave them only $700 (instead of the $5,000 paid out), and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.[63] Wozniak did not learn about the actual bonus until ten years later, but said that if Jobs had told him about it and explained that he needed the money, Wozniak would have given it to him.[64]
Jobs and Wozniak attended meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in 1975, which was a stepping stone to the development and marketing of the first Apple computer"
By March 1976, Wozniak completed the basic design of the Apple I computer and showed it to Jobs, who suggested that they sell it;
Steve Job's Contact was Wozniak.... that was all he needed
With all the talk among business gurus about the necessity of being "audacious" and "disruptive," how could OZY go wrong?
Getting an employee to impersonate a YouTube executive for a meeting with Goldman Sachs about making 40 million dollar investment ...
Priceless ...
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