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    More advertisers say they have ditched Fox’s O’Reilly show 

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2100 Views
    In this combination photo, former Fox News contributor Wendy Walsh, left, appears at a news conference in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles on Monday, April 3, 2017, and Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly appears on the set of his show, "The O'Reilly Factor" on Oct. 1, 2015 in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony McCartney, left, and Richard Drew)
    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Bill O'Reilly's top-rated Fox News show may be starting to feel a financial sting after allegations that he sexually harassed several women.

    A dozen major advertisers, ranging from automakers Hyundai and BMW, to financial firm T. Rowe Price, insurer Allstate and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, have pulled their ads from "The O'Reilly Factor."

    The moves come after a weekend report in The New York Times that O'Reilly and his employer paid five women $13 million to settle harassment or other allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fox's star.

    O'Reilly is Fox News' top revenue producer, according to research firm Kantar Media, bringing in over $178 million in ad dollars in 2015 and $118.6 million in the first nine months of 2016.

    Fox News itself makes up one-fifth of parent company 21st Century Fox's profit, according to estimates from Anthony DiClemete, a media analyst with the Nomura investment bank.

    The advertiser boycotts, however, are likely manageable for Fox, said Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser in a note Tuesday.

    Wieser noted some advertisers had already decided to stay way following the sexual harassment scandals of the network's departed head, Roger Ailes, and newly concerned companies will wind up on other Fox News programs. Even if O'Reilly were forced to leave the network if the scandal broadened, the channel's brand is bigger than its hosts, he said.

    The other companies pulling ads Tuesday were automaker Mitsubishi, personal finance site Credit Karma, drugmaker Sanofi, pet food company Ainsworth, men's shirt seller Untuckit, and online marketing firm Constant Contact. They joined Mercedes Benz, which said Monday it was backing away from O'Reilly's show.

    Hyundai said it currently has no ads on "The O'Reilly Factor," but it pulled spots on future episodes. The automaker said it wants to partner with companies and programming that share its values of inclusion and diversity.

    BMW said it suspended advertising on the show due to the recent allegations, as did T. Rowe Price, Sanofi, Ainsworth and Constant Contact. Allstate said support for women is a company value and it had also suspended advertising on the show.

    GlaxoSmithKline said it had "temporarily put a hold" on ads on O'Reilly's show while it reviews the situation.

    A Mercedes-Benz spokesman said Monday night that the company had pulled ads from O'Reilly's show and reassigned them to other Fox News shows. Sanofi and Untuckit have the same plan. BMW said it wasn't sure where it would place its ads instead.

    In a statement, Fox News said that advertisers who pulled their ads would be directed to the network's other programs.

    Tags:Bill O'ReillyBMWHyundaiMercedes-BenzT. Rowe Price



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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