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Mindful Media: 12 Companies Making Health Easier in 2021 – Financial Post

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Vancouver, BC, Dec. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — From nutrition software to medicinal mushrooms, 2021 is the year for health innovation, and many companies are recognizing this opportunity. Mindful Media shares 12 companies that are taking the challenge out of health, making it easier than ever to access.

“Want to get fit and look fabulous this 2021 so you can curl up in your sweatpants on the couch knowing you have 6-pack abs? If so, look no further!” 

If you think the above statement sounds ridiculous, that makes two of us. 

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The reality is, staying mentally and physically healthy has been incredibly challenging over the past year as the societal pressures of having “places to go and people to see” aren’t there to keep us accountable. 

More than ever before, it is actually ENCOURAGED to stay in every night of the week. An activity that leaves many within steps of the refrigerator, home to some dangerous treats like ice cream and perhaps a nice chardonnay. 

The solution to the pandemic-fatigue that many are feeling is discovering ways to make health accessible, fun, and beneficial… or simply put, easier. 

How do we make health easier, you ask? 

Thankfully, there are a number of health and wellness companies out there who have taken on this task. Through an innovative approach to health solutions, these companies experienced rapid growth in popularity throughout 2020. 

With new habits forming, the success of these companies is sure to persist into 2021.  

We’ve outlined 12 companies that are doing amazing things in making health easier in 2021, which is something we can all benefit from. 

Peloton

If 2020 was kind to one industry, it would be that of at-home workout equipment. Peloton is a shining example of the success this industry has experienced. The company, which was founded in New York in 2012, is reported to have grown 350% in 2020 according to a recent Forbes article. So, what’s the reason for this surge in success? Gym closures, social distancing measures, and humanity’s innate thirst for competition have all contributed to the growth of Peloton’s popularity, which is now on a 4 to 8 week backorder for buyers interested in joining the biker gang. 

What we love about Peloton is that they continue to push forth with innovations. They have now expanded on their lineup of stationary bikes to bring customers and members the Peloton tread, providing a full service guided workout experience. And for interested buyers that are spooked by the steep price tag? No problem. The company offers a 90-day free trial to their guided workout programs which require only body-weight and minimal equipment. Peloton has done a sensational job bringing the experience of boutique fitness classes into the home, and many are believing this trend will persist past the pandemic as people are falling in love with the ease of at-home workouts. 

Check out Peloton’s showroom here

3M

As the world’s leading producer of N95 masks, 3M was in high demand this past year. The industry conglomerate found itself at the center of an industry battle to fulfill personal protection equipment orders to countries all over the world. The Minnesota based company responded to this pressure by doubling their global output of N95 masks, which are specially designed to filter 95% of airborne particles, to 1.1 billion units annually.

Almost a year later, the vast majority of the world is still masking up when stepping out of the home. This trend is not anticipated to change until a vaccine is widely available, and even then, some are believing the act of wearing a mask may persist into mainstream culture. Boasting a selection of respirators designed to meet each individual’s need, the 3M will continue to provide protection on a global scale come 2021. 

Learn more about their products here

Calm 

Rated the #1 app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation, Calm is regarded as one of the most successful meditation apps in the world, with a mission to make the world happier and healthier. And let’s face it – 2020 hasn’t been a walk in the park. Globally, mental health issues are on the rise resulting from isolation, social distancing, and disruptions to routine, Calm provides users with a convenient and accessible way to combat anxiety, insomnia, and stress through simply participating in the sessions available in the apps content library.

Through answering a series of questions, Calm curates customized exercise options suited to the needs of each user. This allows users to focus on the areas that they are specifically struggling with by listening to a meditation practice that has been intuitively selected by the app. Daily reminders promote consistency, which is important for beginners looking to benefit from the practice of meditation. Calm is not only highly effective, but highly convenient, and is a wonderful tool to help individuals cope with the heaviness that is the pandemic.

Browse their options here

HelloFresh 

Over the past few years, meal kits have been rising in popularity thanks to their convenience and customization, proving to have an option for nearly all lifestyles. Are you a mom on the go with a handful of kiddos to feed after school and before hockey practice? Or perhaps a busy working professional who has no desire (or time) to stop by the grocery store after work and battle the lines? Whatever the case may be, meal kits are making life easier. 

HelloFresh is a leader in the meal kit industry, having been one of the first companies to launch such an innovative solution. With a variety of options to choose from (vegetarian, vegan, low carb, family-sized, couple sized) the meal kit and delivery company is providing a solution for everyone and is taking the guesswork out of “what should I make for dinner tonight?” Furthermore, grocery shopping is something that is no longer safe for at-risk members of the community. With HelloFresh delivering the meal kits once a week, those who are concerned about their health can stay safe from the comfort of their home. 

See what meal kit option is right for you! 

Alo 

Founded in 2007 in Los Angeles, Alo Yoga is driven by the mission to spread good by bringing yoga to the world. The studio-to-street wear company creates minimal, yoga forward workout attire designed to increase movement and mobility, promoting a healthier and grounded lifestyle. Over the years, the company has expanded on its original line of yoga attire to offer workout clothing for a variety of physical activities, including running, barre, pilates, and exploration.

Today, Alo is far more than just a yoga apparel company. The industry titan also features a full virtual fitness program that allows members to follow professional instructors teaching a variety of classes that range in difficulty. This option is affordable on its own at $20/month, or, if you fancy ordering an item from their website, you get one month of the membership for free. 2021 is all about the home workout, and Alo is making this easier through their extraordinary yoga and fitness attire as well as their beautifully curated workout content as available on Alo Moves

Check out what Alo is all about

MenuSano

Lifestyles are busier today than they have ever been before, and this has created an increasing reliance on dining out/ordering in to stay nourished throughout a fully packed day. The problem with these options is that the nutritional value of the dishes is often a guessing game, which is not sustainable for individuals and families looking to source healthy choices. Recognizing this flaw in the system, Sonia Couto launched MenuSano in 2015 as a solution to her and her team “…wondering why, when you purchase boxed food you get nutrition labels, but not when you purchase restaurant food.” 

As a nutrition analysis and recipe costing software, MenuSano allows foodservice, restaurants, manufacturers, schools, and hospitals the ability to create recipes and generate compliant nutrition labels, promoting health through consciousness. This Toronto-based solution to the guessing game of nutrition has been very well received by business owners. It provides an affordable and attainable solution to comply with government regulations for nutrition labeling. Consumers benefit by having access to the information at the point of sale which allows them to make healthier decisions. This breakthrough in awareness and accessibility is why MenuSano is a fundamental player in making health easier in 2021. 

Learn more about the software making health easier here

Fredi

2020 has been the year of burnout for many – the world has imposed a number of uphill battles resulting in high levels of stress, emotional overwhelm, and distractions that have made everyday life incredibly challenging. Fredi is a company that believes success at work starts with wellness, and that’s why they’re helping ambitious women put their wellness first so they can experience snowballing wins at work and in life. Their product, Focused by Fredi, is an all-natural daily supplement in the nootropics space that is helping individuals feel sharp, collected, and energized all day long. Founded in 2019, the wellness company was created to introduce this simple step to your morning routine so you can tackle the day feeling motivated, clear-headed, and confident.

Chelsea and Mitch Glaser are the sibling duo who created the company as a solution to the high-stress and fast-paced lifestyles they had both been living with Chelsea running her own company and Mitch working as a Wall Street Investment Banker. They were both working hard to reach their goals, but often felt held back by the effects of burnout in the process. With their blend of six 100% natural ingredients, the Glasers are upgrading your morning routine and encouraging more self-care. As an industry-leading nootropic solution, Focused by Fredi is the supplement to turn to in 2021 for those looking for a natural and healthy way to boost their productivity.

Check them out here!

SafetyWing

SafetyWing is making health easier in 2021by making health ACCESSIBLE. Developed by a team of nomads themselves, SafetyWing is the world’s first International Travel Medical Insurance and global health insurance created to meet the needs of remote workers and digital nomads who are location independent. This growing workforce now has access to revolutionized subscription-based insurance policies that can cater to the unique needs of each individual.

All of SafetyWing’s products cover COVID-19, an offer that few other insurance companies have included in their policies. By continuing to provide extensive coverage, this San Francisco/Norwegian company is proving to be at the forefront of a global workforce shift that is embracing remote-work opportunities. Regardless of what your office looks like in 2021, SafetyWing will provide the coverage you need to keep you and your family safe and healthy anywhere in the world. 

Find out more about Safety Wing’s policies here

Sunny Culture

It’s time for kombucha to make room on the shelves – water kefir is the new probiotic beverage that is healing gut health one sip at a time! Founded in 2015 by Patrick Whitner and Rany Bochi, Sunny Culture is a health-focused beverage company that has successfully scaled its water kefir product from the countertops of Rani’s kitchen to taking over the shelves of Whole Foods across Florida in only a few short years. The light, probiotic beverage is made with live water kefir culture and is available in four flavors of Probiotic Water Kefir and three flavors of the concentrated Probiotic Shot

The founders, who met at the age of 12 when they were roommates at a tennis academy, have a long history with health and nutrition, and created the product as a way to make wellness easier (and delicious). Sunny Culture’s water kefir beverages are free from the vinegary-bite and bloat that is often associated with kombucha, and offers what Rany described as a “… soft champagne-esque bubbly beverage – without the booze.” With 2021 being the year of fresh starts, let’s hit refresh on our health habits by introducing Sunny Culture into our everyday consumption routines. 

Check out the Sunny Culture beverage options here

Tryp Therapeutics

As a company making waves in medical advancements, Tryp Therapeutics is gaining a name for itself as a drug development company that will be known in 2021. This innovative psychedelic pharmaceutical company is making strides in the development of transformative medicines targeting diseases such as Fibromyalgia and CNS disorders by unlocking the therapeutic potential of psilocybin. Led by a world-class team from biotech companies and pharma giants Pfizer, Roche, and Merck, Tryp is focused on identifying and developing clinical-stage compounds for orphan diseases and other diseases that have ineffective first-line treatment options. Tryp Therapeutics is at the forefront of the emerging psychedelic renaissance which is looking like it will potentially transform medicine in 2021. 

Learn more about Tryp Therapeutics advancements here

Stay Wyld

Mushrooms are making a comeback in 2021, and no we’re not talking about the kind you sautee to serve on top of your steak. Holistic mushrooms, rather, are being widely recognized for their sensational benefits, and Stay Wyld Organics is at the forefront of this movement. The industry-leading health and wellness company is firmly rooted in helping people to live their healthiest daily lives through incorporating the benefits that mushrooms offer. 

As an age-old remedy, medicinal mushrooms have been used for thousands of years, and Stay Wyld is re-purposing their properties to benefit today’s society through an environmentally conscious lens as the first and only medicinal mushroom company to commit to plastic-free packaging  With a line up of 7 different capsule formulas and 5 powders, the company is focused on supporting a variety of health issues, including cognitive function, memory, immune defense, and stress & anxiety. Their organically, North American grown products are steamed for enhanced bioavailability and offer a natural and easy solution to support everyday health. This wellness crusader is guiding us into a healthier 2021! 

Learn more about the StayWyld product line here

OhFresh Brands

A good company creates something good. A great company creates something good with the purpose to create great change. OhFresh Brands is an example of a great company through the change they’re creating in providing American’s with easier access to nutritional food and beverage options. Launched in 2018, the innovative company is disrupting the U.S. beverage industry through its focus on sourcing healthy products and distributing them to retailers across America at an affordable price. Yousef Abuzuaiter, founder and CEO of the importing and incubating firm, stated that OhFresh Brands is “bringing healthy international consumer products to the U.S.”

The past two years have seen OhFresh experience explosive growth. Their lineup of health-focused products has expanded to include a variety of names, from Mogu-Mogu to Sappe Aloe Vera, as well as OhFresh’s own line of canned beverages. On top of this, they continue to partner with a growing number of American retailers to make their products available from coast to coast. Through OhFresh’s determination to provide American’s with healthy beverage and food alternatives, they are making health in 2021 as easy as a walk down the block! 

See what health-focused products OhFresh has in store

Michael Graziano Founder Mindful Media michael@mindfulmediapr.com https://www.mindfulmediapr.com

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Ontario school boards take social media giants to court for disrupting student learning – CBC.ca

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Four major Ontario school boards are taking some of the largest social media companies to court over their products, alleging the way they’re designed have negatively rewired the way children think, behave and learn and have thus disrupted the way schools operate.

The public district school boards of Toronto, Peel and Ottawa, along with Toronto’s Catholic counterpart, are looking for about $4.5 billion in damages from Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., which operate the platforms Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok respectively, according to statements of claim filed Wednesday.

“The influence of social media on today’s youth at school cannot be denied. It leads to pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” said Colleen Russell-Rawlins, director of education at the Toronto District School Board, in a release Thursday.

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“Therefore, it is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.” 

The school boards, operating under a new coalition called Schools for Social Media Change, allege students are experiencing an “attention, learning, and mental health crisis” because of “prolific and compulsive use of social media products.”

Trying to respond to this has caused “massive strains” on the group’s funds, including in additional mental health programming and staff, IT costs and administrative resources, the release states. The boards call on the social media giants to “remediate” the costs to the larger education system and redesign their products to keep students safe.

Neinstein LLP, a Toronto-based firm, is representing the school boards in their lawsuit. The boards will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached, the release states.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgment and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” said Duncan Embury, a partner and head of litigation at Neinstein.

CBC Toronto has reached out to the companies named for comment.

The latest lawsuit comes after a large civil suit against Meta Platforms Inc. was initiated in the U.S. last fall. Over 30 states accused Meta Platforms Inc. of harming young people’s mental health and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that cause children to be addicted to its platforms.

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Four Ontario school boards sue social-media giants for products that harm students' behaviour and education – The Globe and Mail

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Colleen Russell Rawlins, Director of Education with the Toronto District School Board, talks to students at Selwyn Elementary School on Mar 27.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

Four of Canada’s largest school boards are suing the companies behind social-media platforms Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok, accusing them of negligently designing products that disrupt learning and rewire student behaviour while leaving educators to manage the fallout.

In four separate statements of claim filed on Wednesday in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Peel District School Board accused social-media companies of employing “exploitative business practices” and choosing to “maximize profits” at the expense of the mental health and well-being of students.

The addictive nature of social media means that educators spend more classroom time trying to have students focus on their lessons, the boards say in the statements of claim. They say the compulsive use of social-media platforms has also strained limited school board resources: Schools require additional mental health programs and personnel; staff spend more time addressing aggressive behaviour and incidents of cyberbullying; and information-technology services and cybersecurity costs have increased.

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“The Defendants have acted in a high-handed, reckless, malicious, and reprehensible manner without due regard for the well-being of the student population and the education system,” according to the statements of claim.

Similar lawsuits against social-media companies have been filed in the United States in recent months by individual states and school districts. This would mark the first time it’s being done by school boards in Canada.

The four boards filed their lawsuits against Meta Platforms Inc., which is responsible for Facebook and Instagram, Snap Inc., the parent company of SnapChat, and ByteDance Ltd., owner of TikTok.

The school boards are advancing combined claims of around $4.5-billion. They are also asking that the social-media giants redesign their products to keep students safe.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

In an e-mailed statement, Tonya Johnson, a spokeswoman for Snap, said the platform was “intentionally designed to be different from traditional social-media” so that users could communicate with friends. “While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence,” she stated.

Meta and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Social-media use by children and young people has been the topic of widespread discussion among parents, policymakers and educators. Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans social-media accounts for children under 14 and requires parental permission for 14- and 15-year-olds.

In Canada and elsewhere, there are growing concerns over the role social-media platforms play in cyberbullying, disrupted sleep patterns, brain development, and the inability of young people to focus.

A survey from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 2021 found that 91 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 12 use social media daily, and about a third spend five hours or more daily on it. Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 Ontario students. Almost one-third reported being cyber-bullied at least once in the past year.

In their lawsuits, the four school boards said the companies “knew, or ought to have known, that the deliberate design of addictive and defective social-media products would interfere with students’ access to an education, negatively impact the learning environment, and create a public nuisance within the education system.”

Colleen Russell-Rawlins, education director of the Toronto District School Board, the country’s largest school board, said in an interview on Wednesday that social media has affected the education system in “very significant ways.”

“Students are not present,” she said, describing the addictive nature of social-media platforms. Educators are hearing about more incidents of cyberbullying. They are witnessing the rapid escalation of aggression that starts online. And they are helping students who are coping with anxiety and other mental health challenges.

The lawsuits, she said, are not just about raising awareness, but about protecting children by calling for safeguards and ensuring that school boards have the resources to help address the negative effects of increased social-media use.

“I think there’s no other childhood addiction that’s impacting children’s futures through education that we as educators and leaders would be expected to remain silent about. We feel compelled to act on behalf of our young people,” Ms. Russell-Rawlins said.

Pino Buffone, the education director at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, echoed the sentiment, adding that the compulsive use of social media has further strained the finite resources of the school board. Educators and other school staff are being forced to manage behaviour that stems from social-media use.

“It has become clear that we need to hold social-media giants accountable,” Mr. Buffone said.

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Is the US media layoffs phenomenon the next housing crisis?

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In the past few months, the media sector in the United States has gone through one of its worst rounds of layoffs in decades, with some voices within the sector even asking if journalism is a viable career path despite surging subscriptions at publications like The New York Times.

Most recently, outlets like Vice and the sports blog Deadspin were decimated in a massive round of job cuts. Vice ended its online publication, and Deadspin laid off its entire editorial team.

These are the latest in a slew of headcount reductions at countless newsrooms around the US over the past decade at the hands of wealthy owners. The latter overwhelming have the backing of some of the biggest private equity and wealth management firms in the US like Apollo Global Management, Fortress Investment Group and Alden Capital, to name a few. These institutions are also called shadow banks.

A surge in private equity investments in media, experts said, has led to decisions that benefit investors but not always the companies and their employees, similar to the 2008 housing crisis and private equity’s ability to flourish during that time.

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While the media business is in the spotlight now, it is a microcosm of a bigger challenge across the US economy. What makes it stand out is that it’s been a long and high-profile battle.

One such moment came with tech’s control (overwhelmingly led by Meta, then Facebook) in 2018 over audience traffic, which made newspapers, magazines and news portals beholden to the algorithmic choices of social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, which ultimately hurt the sector.

That was an optimal entry point for private equity to get a stronger foothold in the media business.

“Media companies were struggling at the time but not nearly enough as the journalism community was led to believe,” explained Margot Susca, the author of How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy.

“Funds use these market conditions to justify the gutting of these American institutions,” said Susca, who is also a professor of journalism at American University in Washington, DC.

‘Liquidating the entire industry for profit’

Like in the housing market, financial institutions capitalised on someone else’s misfortune to make money from it. In the 2008 recession, it was lenders and big investment banks ranging from Lehman Brothers to Washington Mutual, a move that ultimately led to their collapse.

The key is real estate. In the housing crisis, banks seized foreclosed homes for pennies on the dollar after homeowners defaulted on subprime mortgages.

In the case of the media sector, shadow banks are going after physical newsrooms and selling them. For instance, in 2018, Gannett sold the headquarters of the Asheville Citizen Times to Twenty Lakes Holdings, a real-estate affiliate of Alden Capital. Gannett sold the building for $3.2m. Alden then sold it to developers for $5.3m.

A comparable move happened at Vice last year. Only months after Fortress Investment Group acquired the publication, it left its office in Brooklyn, New York.

There’s a lot of real estate at shadow banks’ disposal. Private equity, hedge funds and other comparable firms control roughly half of all daily newspapers in the US.

“The problem with the news media sector is not its viability. The problem with the news media sector are these locust funds that are liquidating the entire industry for profit,” Susca said.

But where do shadow banks go once physical assets like real estate have been liquidated?

They squeeze out revenue where they can for as long as they can. That often means cutting staff.

G/O Media, formerly known as Gizmodo Media Group, sold off Deadspin, its sports blog. The new owner, Lineup Publishing, said it would not bring over any existing editorial staffers even though it aimed to “be reverential to Deadspin’s unique voice”, G/O CEO Jim Spanfeller said in an email to employees.

Great Hill Partners acquired the media brand in 2019 and drastically shifted Deadspin’s editorial vision. The publication was a sports-centric one that also housed vibrant cultural commentary on a variety of topics. At the direction of the new owner, the publication was directed to “stick to sports”. The announcement led to mass resignations.

This week, G/O Media sold two more publications from its portfolio — The AV Club and The Takeout.

G/O is not in a financially dire position, according to Spanfeller, who told Axios this year, “We’re not strapped for cash.”

Unionized staff at Condé Nast walk the picket line during a 24-hour walk out amid layoff announcements
Unionised staff at US publishing company Conde Nast walk the picket line during a 24-hour walkout amid layoff announcements in New York City in January [File: Angela Weiss/AFP]

According to the Writers Guild of America East, which includes various unions representing editorial staff from multiple media firms, Great Hill Partners made an estimated $44m in revenue in 2023. The guild suggests that Great Hill Partners has enough money to make decisions that do not undermine the financial security of its staffers.

When Spanfeller was appointed in 2019, the private equity firm said he was a significant investor in the company but did not disclose the specifics of the financial agreement. Spanfeller’s appointment came directly from the firm suggesting that it intended to oversee day-to-day editorial operations across G/O’s portfolio.

Great Hill Partners did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

G/O is the latest in a string of companies laying off workers in the last few months alone.

Last month, Engadget, a brand owned by Yahoo, had a series of layoffs including of high-profile editors. It came amid a reported refocus on traffic growth. But how can you drive more traffic with high-quality reporting with fewer people to make the product?

Meanwhile, Apollo Global Management, which now owns Yahoo, is doing very well. The asset management firm’s stock is up nearly 250 percent over a roughly five-year period – 80 percent this past year alone. The firm acquired Yahoo in 2021 and also has a significant stake in several other large media companies, including Gannett, which owns hundreds of newspapers around the US, including USA Today, the fifth largest. In 2019, Apollo provided $1.8bn to finance the acquisition of the newspaper giant and merge it with GateHouse Media.

‘Layoffs were the core strategy’

Once Gannett’s acquisition of GateHouse was complete, it scrapped hundreds of jobs immediately. In 2022, the newspaper group slashed roughly 600 more jobs in two rounds of cuts in August and November.

Apollo also acquired both Northwest Broadcasting and Cox Media Group, which included 54 radio stations, and 33 TV stations.

“After funds became owners, layoffs were the core strategy to try to maximise revenue. [These are] firms that just had profit as the sole motivation,” Susca said. “Layoffs are the stark reality of hedge fund ownership and private equity investment.”

Historically, private equity firm involvement has led to layoffs – an average of 4.4 percent of job losses in two years as well as a 1.7 percent decrease in pay, according to a study from the University of Chicago.

That is what happened at Cox Media Group. Almost immediately after its acquisition, talent from local TV and radio stations across the country was laid off.

Apollo Management did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

New York-based Alden Capital operates a similar job-cutting strategy and is one of the most infamous hedge funds in the sector for decimating a number of newspapers around the country.

In 2020, Vanity Fair referred to the firm as the “grim reaper of American newspapers”.

Vanity Fair’s stern critique is because of the massive slate of layoffs at the papers Alden Capital owns, including the Denver Post, even as one of the company’s executives said “advertising revenue has been significantly better”, according to reporting from Bloomberg in 2018.

Alden bought Tribune Publishing and gutted many of its newsrooms. At the time, Tribune was profitable, but Alden still moved forward to strip down its papers to make more profits.

Alden often pushed to beef up subscriptions even after shedding physical assets like office space and social assets like its people, which, Tim Franklin, senior associate dean at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, suggests is a losing strategy.

“It’s like charging for 16 ounces of Coca-Cola and putting it in a 12-ounce bottle. You’re giving people less and then expecting people to pay. The problem is that you end up in this doom loop. You’re getting less digital subscription revenue because you are providing less content, so then you make cuts and then you see even less revenue and you make more cuts. It’s this never-ending cycle of rinse and repeat,” Franklin said.

Alden Capital did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Doomed to failure

Shadow banks and big banks have made risky investments and hoped they would work out financially.

They sold the idea that someone could very well make payments on a subprime mortgage. Now, the idea is that a media company can create quality reporting on a shoestring budget and a fraction of its headcount. But those are unrealistic expectations and doomed for failure.

During the 2008 housing crisis, big banks essentially created an insurance plan for themselves: sell the debt and make money off the interest. Now private equity is employing a comparable strategy for media.

In the housing crisis, the banks bundled the mortgage loans in a package and sold them to the bond market to random investors. The banks had protections. If a lender defaults, they sell the debt on the secondary market for a profit. The strategy was to bet on the homeowners who were most likely not going to be able to afford the mortgage payments. But ultimately, that backfired, and the resultant housing crisis has been well documented.

“The only people there [who] were able to buy homes at the point could do so with cash or with Wall Street financing because that cash was still flowing,” said Aaron Glantz, author of Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream.

“Private equity is not depending on that credit system,” Glatz added.

A view of a sign for NBC News at Rockefeller Center in New York
NBC and MSNBC laid off employees [File: Justin Lane/EPA]

In either situation, the protections afforded investors were not passed down to homeowners in 2008 or writers, editors, on-air talent and others in the media industry now.

While some savings and lending banks failed and were the recipients of massive bailouts, shadow banks flourished. Generally speaking, these companies make money during times of economic vulnerability, leading to an even more challenging situation for average people.

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, funds were largely criticised for buying up distressed housing across New York City and forcing out longtime residents – a move that brought rent-stabilised properties to market rate, which ultimately allowed them to drive up prices on their buildings and raise the value of the buildings around them.

“They’re reliant on cash that is just sitting around ready to be spent or credit lines that they can get from banks like JPMorgan Chase or they can leverage other assets. They own so many other assets,” Glatz said.

One of those assets over the past decade is a growing number of media companies.

But even then, it poses the question: If all these media companies are struggling, why are their executives so wealthy?

Behind a number of these mass layoffs are uber-wealthy executives. That’s the case for Business Insider, The Washington Post and Vice, just to name a few.

In January, Business Insider, owned by the German media giant Axel Springer, laid off 8 percent of its workforce. Axel Springer, however, is doing well financially. Its CEO, Mathias Doepfner, has a net worth of $1.2bn.

Executives on both the editorial and business side at the short-lived outlet The Messenger raked in close to million-dollar salaries. Meanwhile, editorial staffers launched a crowdfunding campaign to make ends meet because the outlet did not give them any severance packages.

NBC and MSNBC laid off 75 people this year. Brian Roberts, the CEO of NBC’s parent company, Comcast, raked in more than $32m in 2022.

Despite the recent layoffs, the network hired former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a contributor. Hiring McDaniel was met with swift backlash from high-profile talent across the news organisation and the NBC News Guild, the union representing journalists across the network.

The union in particular pointed out that McDaniel – who was known for helping to enable former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged – was hired after the company laid off more than a dozen unionised journalists. Amid the backlash, NBC cut its ties with McDaniel.

NBC is just the latest major network to make job cuts. At CBS, despite its high viewership during American football’s Super Bowl, parent company Paramount laid off staffers the following day at CBS News. Meanwhile, CEO Bob Bakish made $32m in 2022.

In November, Conde Nast laid off 5 percent of its workforce. The Newhouse family, which leads Advance Publications, the parent company of the magazine giant, has a net worth of $24.1bn, according to Forbes.

A VICE Media Group location
Vice Media, which was once valued at close to $6bn, has since filed for bankruptcy and ended publishing on its website [File: Eric Thayer/Getty Images/AFP]

In recent weeks, Vice laid off hundreds of employees and ended publishing on its website. It has been plagued with a nearly endless series of layoffs in the past few years. Prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, the media company paid its executives roughly $11m – even though its executives were notoriously known for mismanagement.

Yet they were bailed out. Amid the Chapter 11 filing, Fortress Investment Group acquired Vice – a company that was once valued at $5.7bn – for $225m. Executives left with hefty paycheques while staffers were left jobless with little notice.

Fortress did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

The Washington Post eliminated 240 jobs, yet it is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who is worth more than $200bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the second-richest person in the world.

In 2019, Senator Sherrod Brown sent a stern letter to Alden Capital, pressing the fund not to buy Gannett. Brown was unsuccessful.

In 2021, Brown, alongside Senators Tammy Baldwin and Elizabeth Warren, introduced the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, which would have reformed the private equity industry.

The bill never made it past committee, so it never had a vote in the full Senate.

Experts believe that Washington has not done nearly enough to curb the power of private equity.

“You have a government system, a regulatory, legislative system that has basically failed at every turn to stop the growth of these hedge funds,” Susca said. “And private equity firms in the journalism market, to me, is an institutional failure.”

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