Sources estimate that 20 Blaze
employees will lose their jobs in New York, a dozen in Washington, five in
Ohio, and two or three in L.A. to satisfy the requirements of a
multimillion-dollar bank loan.
The axe fell once again on Glenn
Beck’s crumbling media empire Thursday as employees in the New York and
Washington offices of The Blaze, Beck’s multi-media online operation, along
with business staffers in Los Angeles and the documentary unit in Columbus,
Ohio, were told their jobs are on the chopping block, according to multiple
sources who spoke The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity.
Sources estimated that nearly
40 people are being laid off—including about 20 in New York, a dozen in
Washington, five in Ohio and two or three working out of the LA office suite of former Blaze CEO
Kraig Kitchin—in order to satisfy the
requirements of a multimillion-dollar bank loan taken out recently to keep
Beck’s revenue-challenged enterprise running.
Ironically, the mass layoffs
are occurring shortly after the company hired CNN alumnus Matt Frucci, former executive producer
of the cable network’s New Day morning show, to run The Blaze’s
television operation in New York—which apparently will no longer exist.
New York-based radio and television
personality Buck Sexton will remain with Beck’s operation, according to
an informed source, although at least some of Sexton’s production staff are
losing their jobs.
Radio industry guru Kitchin, a
longtime mentor and business associate of the talented but erratic, radio
performer and former Fox News personality, quit
as CEO of The Blaze last February as turmoil reigned at the company’s suburban
Dallas headquarters.
Kitchin was replaced by digital startup
entrepreneur Stewart Padveen, who sources said has been orchestrating
the layoffs for the past several weeks.
Padveen was recruited to the
company by Jonathan Schreiber, a mysterious figure nicknamed “Voldemort” by
staffers, after the Harry Potter villain.
Schreiber, another digital
industry denizen who showed up in the fall of 2014 as a consultant, worked his
way into Beck’s confidence and was eventually named president of Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s
privately held umbrella company.
A company spokesman said
Schreiber unavailable for comment on Thursday’s developments because his wife
just gave birth, but sources said the layoff announcements were originally
planned for Friday but moved up by a day in an attempt to pre-empt a story by
The Daily Beast.
According
to sources, Beck’s frequent travel in support of the presidential candidacy of Sen. Ted Cruz, among other distractions, has
prevented him from appearing daily on his syndicated radio program and
live-streaming television show, resulting in declining advertising revenue for Mercury Radio
Arts, Beck’s privately held parent company.
Similarly,
said these sources, declining traffic for Glennbeck.com and TheBlaze.com have
also resulted in dropping ad revenue—and Padveen was under increasing pressure
to meet the requirements of the bank loan, details of which were not available
as of this writing.
However
shocking to the pink-slipped employees, this latest round of mass firings comes
as no surprise to insiders at The Blaze and Mercury Radio Arts, which laid off
dozens of employees last May on a day referred to internally as “Black Monday,”
around the same time that Beck was purchasing a private jetliner and a $200,000
Maybach sedan.
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