View this email in your browser

Received this email from a friend? Subscribe here.

Not too long ago, on the 25th and 26th floors of the One State Street tower in lower Manhattan, a vibrant newsroom existed.

Each morning, hundreds of employees strolled into the offices of Cheddar News, breathing life into the prime real estate that housed studios and the infrastructure for a broadcast news network with big ambitions. As one former employee told me, the space was once "packed" and buzzing with activity as teams of staffers produced an entire lineup of programming.  

The scene at One State Street looks much different today, with the offices void of people and the bustling energy that once made it an exciting upstart news outlet. Employees now "walk into a very desolate, empty office space," I'm told. There is "literally no one there." 

That's because there is, effectively, no one working at Cheddar News, the once spirited financial news-focused streaming television network. The Jon Steinberg-founded "CNBC for millennials," which Altice USA acquired in 2019 for a staggering $200 million before offloading it for an undisclosed amount to Archetype last month, is now essentially a zombie channel.

The outlet technically exists, but its plans of grandeur are far behind it and the network is hanging on by a thin thread, according to people familiar with the company's state of affairs. Currently, only one live news show, "Opening Bell" hosted by Kristen Scholer, remains in production. On Cheddar's website, original reporting has ground to a halt. In its place, a few wire stories from the Associated Press are sporadically published.

In fact, just a handful of employees still remain working on the editorial product, the people who spoke with me said, estimating the group to be no more than a half-dozen staffers or so. And that group of staffers, I'm told, is likely to shrink even more in the days ahead as the remaining Cheddar staffers look to jump off what's left of the sinking ship, which at this point appears to be mostly submerged and headed straight for the ocean floor.

"It feels like the end," a person familiar with the matter candidly told me. 

The once high-flying digital media outlet, which Steinberg started in 2016 when the ground was more fertile for online news ventures, entered the world with grand plans, eventually making its way onto cable lineups and gas station screens. Steinberg openly talked about taking on legacy cable news companies, with the desire to shake up the television industry, which he correctly noted at the time would decline as streaming gained momentum. 

For Steinberg, the investment certainly had a handsome return. Cheddar was sold in 2019 for the lofty price of $200 million to Altice USA, which welcomed the well-regarded digital media veteran into its family as news chief. But soon after, Cheddar's health faltered, the result of a confluence of factors, most prominently the Covid-19 pandemic that decimated the advertising business.

Cheddar was forced to go through a brutal round of layoffs in 2020, with Business Insider reporting at the time that the workforce was slashed by 30% or more. Between turnover and additional cuts in the following years, the outlet that once walked about with a confident step became emaciated, a shell of its former self.

By the time Archetype acquired Cheddar in December, only a couple dozen or so editorial staffers remained at the outlet, people familiar with the matter told me. Initially, those employees were filled with false hope that their jobs were safe. In fact, after the acquisition, Archetype asked all of the employees to sign a new contract. That struck some employees as odd, but they complied, given Archetype was offering them the same position with the same pay.

"Everything they said implied that no big changes were going to be made right away," recalled one former employee.

Soon after signing those agreements, however, Archetype sent furlough notices to many of the remaining employees. The notices were sent to the work email addresses of these employees, which were then shut off soon after, making it difficult for some staffers to retrieve the document, I'm told. 

What Archetype's vision for Cheddar is remains unclear. The company has not responded to multiple requests for comment sent over the last week. On Thursday, I attempted to directly contact senior leaders of Archetype's management, including Kelly Facer, senior vice president and head of operations, and Stephanie Gildea, vice president of marketing. Neither responded. 

Regardless, Cheddar's future is not looking bright.

"There is certainly a death happening as we speak," one of the people familiar with the outlet's state of affairs told me. "I guess, you could try to bring it back from the dead. But right now, it's certainly dying."

———  BELOW THE FOLD  ———

ESPN's Emmys Embarrassment: ESPN returned dozens of Emmy statues and "disciplined" employees after an investigation disclosed Thursday found that the sports network had submitted fake names to the awards organization in a bid to secure trophies for on-air personalities who had been ineligible to receive them. The apparent fraud stretched back to 1997, ESPN said, acknowledging members of its team "were clearly wrong" for concocting the scheme: "This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team. Once current leadership was made aware, we apologized to NATAS for violating guidelines and worked closely with them to completely overhaul our submission process to safeguard against anything like this happening again." The Athletic's Katie Strang, who broke the story, reported that over the years when ESPN was given the prestigious awards using the fictitious names, the broadcaster had them re-engraved and then handed them out to the personalities who had been ineligible to receive them. Yikes! Here's my full story with Liam Reilly.

🔎 Zooming in: An ESPN spokesperson told us on Thursday that when its current leadership was made aware of the scheme, it hired an outside law firm to "conduct a full and thorough investigation" and that "individuals found to be responsible were disciplined by ESPN."

👀 Speaking of embarrassing moments for ESPN management, Pat McAfee invited Aaron Rodgers back on his program Thursday, just one day after announcing that the conspiracy theory peddling quarterback would no appear for the remainder of the NFL season. The two only discussed football, and it was a short appearance, but the message from McAfee to the ESPN c-suite couldn't be more clear.

Trimming the Peacock: NBC News on Thursday became the latest news organization to undergo layoffs. The network laid off between 50-100 employees across its various divisions, I'm told. The news was first reported by Puck's Dylan Byers on X (sorry Dylan, you know we don't link to that social platform anymore). The cuts come as the outlet realigns parts of its business. Deadline's Ted Johnson has all the details here.

Taking Trump: All of the major cable news networks took Donald Trump live on Thursday as the disgraced former president and GOP frontrunner delivered remarks following his appearance in court for his civil fraud trial. As The NYT's Michael Grynbaum wrote, "His appearance lasted only a few minutes, but viewers were treated to an unfiltered fusillade of incendiary and misleading comments." According to Grynbaum, "Trump campaign aides took particular pleasure that CNN carried Mr. Trump live and allowed him to deliver his talking points, unmediated, to the American public. This framing — on Mr. Trump’s own terms, with TV cameras capturing his every word without real-time fact-checking — is exactly how Mr. Trump and his allies envisage they can exploit any criminal trials that might be held during the election season."

🔎 Zooming in: CNN, naturally, offered viewers a robust fact-check after Trump concluded his remarks. But the episode underscored the conundrums news organizations are facing as they decide whether to take Trump's live remarks, which are always rife with misrepresentations, conspiracy theories, and outright lies.

Tumult in Tech: The biggest names in  Silicon Valley continue to bleed. Google, once thought to be one of the most stable companies in the world to work for, announced Thursday that it was cutting hundreds of jobs as it continues to focus on its "biggest product priorities." The slashing comes after the tech titan cut thousands of jobs last January. Over at Discord, the state of affairs was equally grim. The company said it was giving its workforce a haircut of 17%, or by 170 employees. Discord too cited a desire to become more focused, with chief executive Jason Citron confessing that as the company grew, it "became less efficient in how we operated." Meanwhile, the Amazon cuts expanded to Audible, with the audiobook company cutting 5% of its employee base, totaling around 100 staffers. 

🔎 Zooming in: Don't expect layoffs in the tech sector to ease up. With the advent of A.I., it is likely that cuts in the industry will only accelerate, as more and more jobs become automated.

Larry's Last Laugh: The trailer for the 12th and final season of Larry David's acclaimed "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was released Thursday by Max. The trailer noted to viewers of the HBO hit comedy series that "Larry is back for one final act." It went on to say, "It's time to say goodbye to the last of his kind." The final season of "Curb" drops on February 4. Check out the trailer here.

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox Tuesday.