Axios co-founders Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz and Jim VandeHei. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Axios | Live Nation)
When Cox Enterprises acquired Axios in 2022 for $525 million, the deal structure included financial incentives for the digital media company’s three founders—Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz—in an effort to keep them throughout the ownership transition and beyond.
Since then, the bullet-point style Smart Brevity™ outlet has expanded into the events space and invested significantly in local journalism, while ensuring that its top journalistic talent remains front and center. Indeed, the Arlington-based Axios is having a good year financially, according to a memo VandeHei sent last month, alerting staff that the company had already beaten its revenue goal for the year. “We need to keep our foot on the gas,” he wrote. Over the last two years, however, Axios has also restructured the company, enacting its first ever layoffs in 2024, impacting around 10% of the workforce. Then in November, the outlet cut 19 roles from the product, tech and design team.
In any case, three years after Cox’s acquisition of Axios made its co-founders millionaires, much of their financial incentives have vested, according to people familiar with the matter, giving them the option to cash out—a move that would trigger a leadership shake-up at a critical moment for the digital-media company.
The potential of Axios’ founders cashing out has crossed the desks of executives at Cox, who I’m told have had early informal discussions about how to handle the situation if it were to happen.
In the event that Axios were to face a leadership vacuum, some insiders have pointed to Andrew Morse, the president and publisher of the Cox-owned Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as a potential candidate to help fill the void. Morse headed CNN Digital before joining the paper, which has embarked on an ambitious digital-first investment strategy that has allowed its newsroom and product teams to grow, and result in the sunsetting of its print edition at the end of the year.
As of now, VandeHei and Allen are projecting that they have no plans to leave the company, but with much of their incentives vesting in August, the outlet is vulnerable to an eventual leadership loss. And for Cox, which coughed up a hefty half-billion for Axios three years ago, that would certainly be a concern going forward.
“We’re not able to comment on rumors and speculation,” a Cox spokesperson told Status when asked for comment. “We are highly confident in Jim and Mike’s leadership of Axios, and we look forward to continuing to work with and support them in the years ahead.” An Axios spokesperson said, "Any speculation that they’re leaving” is “false, dumb, and based on nothing real or accurate.”
Meanwhile, at the same time that equity was unlocked for the Axios founders, other employees who might have held stakes in the company also became eligible to cash out and exit for other opportunities.
Given Axios’ mission of building up individual journalists' personal brands—making them the face of newsletter franchises and live events—its marquee talent is vital to the overall success of the operation. Journalists, including Dan Primack, Ina Fried, and Sara Fischer, have all been able to leverage their success at Axios into significant individual followings. With the recent boom in independent media, the prospect of cashing out to pursue opportunities elsewhere may be tempting.
Those potential exits could be contingent on VandeHei and Allen’s plans. Were they to leave, there’s a likelihood they could be followed out the door by others who have contributed significantly to Axios’ success.
For now, of course, everyone is staying put. And it is possible that will remain the case for a while. But, with the financial incentives changing, the possibility of a changing of the guard looms more than it ever has. As one person familiar told me, “It is absolutely a vulnerability.”
CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss and Erika Kirk. (Screen grab via Snapstream/CBS)
Top advertisers stayed away from Saturday night’s CBS News town hall led by Bari Weiss in conversation with Erika Kirk, which could dampen plans for more forums like it, Brian Steinberg reported. [Variety]
Weiss indicated more programming similar to the town hall is in the works, saying, “CBS is going to have many more conversations like this in the weeks and months ahead, so stay tuned. More town halls. More debates. More talking about the things that matter.”
Weiss mixed in curated questions from recruited audience members, but generally didn’t ask follow-ups when Kirk dodged with her answers.
Status Scoop |:Internal backlash against The WaPo’s new A.I.-generated podcast feature, which Status previously reported, continued as staffers expressed frustrations with its errors in the newsroom’s standards Slack channel, according to internal communications obtained by Status. “This AI ’tool’ is damaging Washington Post credibility and brand in real time,” one staffer wrote in Slack, urging leadership to respond immediately.
Another staffer posted, “I hope that the product team understands that this is not just a pearl-clutching overreaction by a bunch of backwards thinking Luddites. These errors are a threat to the core of what we do.”
“Journalists today are continuing to raise complaints to standards (as they've asked us to) over the AI podcast,” one Post staffer messaged me. “The standards department, which consists of Karen Pensiero and Carrie Camillo, seem quietly mortified by this. They take great measures to keep our journalism sound.”
The WaPo’s spokesperson responded with a statement, telling Status, "This is how products get built and developed in the digital age: ideation, research, design and prototyping, development, and then Beta. Only if they prove to be successful for the customer do they then get launched. As stated clearly on Your Personal Podcast, it is currently in Beta.”
Status Scoop | Olivia Nuzzi recorded an episode of “The Adam Friedland Show” on Friday, which is set to be released sometime next week, I’m told.
Status Scoop | Mediaite’s list of the Most Influential in News Media lands Monday at 11 a.m., and among those included are Kaitlan Collins, Megyn Kelly, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and Suzanne Scott. There will also be some newer faces acknowledged, including Lara Trump, MeidasTouch, Kane (Citizen Free Press), Charlamagne tha God, Scott Jennings, and more.
Trump and his family have suggested plans for a presidential library in Miami, possibly considering a suggestion to have a “fake news wing,” even as much of the funds amassed for the project have been from lawsuit settlements with media companies including ABC and CBS. [WaPo]
👀 MS NOW’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” has seen viewership gains in the 25-54 age demographic, up 25% in the last week and overtaking Fox News’ “Hannity” in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic for the past five Mondays, according to Nielsen.
“We come to this place for mergers,” Jane Fonda began in a Groundlings-produced spoof of the Nicole Kidman AMC ad, before decrying the prospect of a Warner Bros. acquisition. [Deadline]
“Saturday Night Live’s” cold-open mocked Trump and Karoline Leavitt’s relationship as they took questions from reporters on Air Force One. [YouTube]
Colin Jost took on the possible Netflix-Warners merger, joking that Trump is explicitly asking for bribes and saying, “In response, Netflix is offering Trump one night with the Demon Hunters.” [YouTube]
The episode also spoofed Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series with iconic Christmas characters in one-on-one conversations. [YouTube]
A still image from "Zootopia 2." (Courtesy of Disney)
Best of times, worst of times: Disney delivered highs and lows at the box office, as “Zootopia 2” returned to the No. 1 spot with $26 million for the weekend and became the year’s top global release with over $1.1 billion, while James L. Brooks’ “Ella McCay” opened to a dismal $2 million on 2,500 screens.
“Zootopia” joins another Disney title, “Lilo & Stitch,” as the only billion-dollar earners of 2025.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” suffered a steep if predictable second-weekend 70% decline after its better-than-expected debut, to just under $20 million.
Disney had all three billion-plus U.S. releases in 2024 with “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Moana 2.” The studio could match that hat trick with James Cameron’s second “Avatar” sequel landing Friday.
The latest episode of Power Lines just dropped.
In this week’s episode: We discuss Donald Trump’s outrageous demand that CNN be sold as part of any Warner Bros. Discovery deal, Bari Weiss’ interview of Erika Kirk and Tucker Carlson’s brutal criticism of the CBS News chief, POLITICO’s softball Trump interview, Tim Pool’s business struggles, Golden Globes nominations, and more.
You can watch on YouTube—or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy the program, subscribe so you never miss an episode!
