By Tali Arbel, AP Technology Writer
Ozy is shutting down less than a week after a New York Times column raised questions about the media organization's claims of millions of viewers and readers, while also pointing out a potential case of securities fraud.
The story triggered canceled shows, an internal investigation, investor concern and high-level departures at the company.
An emailed statement Friday from Ozy Media's board called it a company with many "world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we owe tremendous gratitude." It said it was "with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozy's doors."
The board's statement did not give the reason for shutting down the company based in Mountain View, California. Ozy did not respond to questions about why it was shutting down now or how many employees it had.
Ozy's CEO, former cable-news commentator and host Carlos Watson, started Ozy in 2013. It published stories on its website, made podcasts, newsletters and shows and hosted the OzyFest festival. Its website remained up on Friday afternoon.
The Times story said Ozy's chief operating officer and co-founder, Samir Rao, impersonated a YouTube executive on a call with Goldman Sachs while attempting to raise money from the investment bank. It also addressed long-held industry questions of whether Ozy was inflating its audience size.
In a tweet, Watson claimed 25 million newsletter subscribers — the New York Times, with a much bigger brand presence, says it has 15 million newsletter readers — and more than 30 million views on YouTube. The Times said fewer than 500,000 people went to Ozy's website in 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 chairman in September, resigned, citing Ozy's need for someone experienced in crisis management and investigations. He remained an investor.
A high-profile employee, former BBC anchor Katty Kay, resigned earlier in the week, and an early investor, a venture capital firm, gave up its Ozy shares. The board had reportedly hired a law firm to review Ozy's business activities.
Cable network A&E pulled a special on mental health hosted by Watson that was scheduled for Monday night, and Watson stepped down from hosting a documentary Emmys awards show Wednesday night.
The website Crunchbase, which tracks corporate fund-raising, said Ozy had raised more than $70 million from investors as of late 2019.
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More