In this Jan. 24, 2020, record photo, Marc Lasry, co-owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks attends a property league up of NBA hoops crippled betwixt Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks successful Paris. Lasry, the hedge-fund billionaire and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner who was named president of embattled media enactment Ozy earlier this month, has resigned from its board. Credit: AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File
Ozy is shutting down little than a week aft a New York Times column raised questions astir the media organization's claims of millions of viewers and readers, portion besides pointing retired a imaginable lawsuit of securities fraud.
The communicative triggered canceled shows, an interior investigation, capitalist interest and high-level departures astatine the company.
An emailed connection Friday from Ozy Media's committee called it a institution with galore "world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we beryllium tremendous gratitude." It said it was "with the heaviest of hearts that we indispensable denote contiguous that we are closing Ozy's doors."
The board's connection did not springiness the crushed for shutting down the institution based successful Mountain View, California. Ozy did not respond to questions astir wherefore it was shutting down present oregon however galore employees it had.
Ozy's CEO, erstwhile cable-news commentator and big Carlos Watson, started Ozy successful 2013. It published stories connected its website, made podcasts, newsletters and shows and hosted the OzyFest festival. Its website remained up connected Friday afternoon.
The Times communicative said Ozy's chief operating officer and co-founder, Samir Rao, impersonated a YouTube enforcement connected a telephone with Goldman Sachs portion attempting to rise wealth from the concern bank. It besides addressed long-held manufacture questions of whether Ozy was inflating its assemblage size.
In a tweet, Watson claimed 25 cardinal newsletter subscribers—the New York Times, with a overmuch bigger marque presence, says it has 15 cardinal newsletter readers—and much than 30 cardinal views connected YouTube. The Times said less than 500,000 radical went to Ozy's website successful June and July, according to Comscore data.
On Thursday, Marc Lasry, the hedge-fund billionaire and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner who had been named Ozy's president successful September, resigned, citing Ozy's request for idiosyncratic experienced successful situation absorption and investigations. He remained an investor.
A high-profile employee, erstwhile BBC anchor Katty Kay, resigned earlier successful the week, and an aboriginal investor, a venture superior firm, gave up its Ozy shares. The committee had reportedly hired a instrumentality steadfast to reappraisal Ozy's concern activities.
Cable web A&E pulled a peculiar connected intelligence wellness hosted by Watson that was scheduled for Monday night, and Watson stepped down from hosting a documentary Emmys awards amusement Wednesday night.
The website Crunchbase, which tracks firm fund-raising, said Ozy had raised much than $70 cardinal from investors arsenic of precocious 2019.
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