Almost everyone at CollegeHumor is fired as new owner asks the internet for help – The Verge, The Verge

As of today, the venerable comedy concern CollegeHumor Media is mostly dead. In the words of Sam Reich, its chief commercial officer, IAC “has made the difficult decision to no longer finance us,” he wrote in aTwitter threadthis afternoon. “Today, 728 brilliant people lost their jobs, some of whom are my dear, dear friends. ”That means the cuts hit every vertical: CollegeHumor, Dorkly, Drawfee, and Dropout – only five to 10 People are left, according toBloomberg.

The news, however, wasn’t all bad: IAC agreed to let Reich become the humor company’s majority owner. “Of course, I can’t’t keep it going like you’re used to,” Reichwrote further down in the thread. “While we were on the way to becoming profitable, we were nonetheless losing money – and I myself have no money to be able to lose.”

It’s a strange and sad ending for the 20 – year-old humor site, which was acquired by IAC in 2020 and launched the careers of a thousand internet stars. (RememberJake and Amir?) Reich’s plan, as he tweeted on Wednesday, is to double down on Dropout, the company’s subscription-based streaming service.

“In these six months, I hope to be able to save Dropout, CollegeHumor, Drawfee, Dorkly, and many of our shows,” Reichwrote. “Some will need to take on bold new creative directions in order to survive. You may not agree with all of them. And this won’t be the last time I ask for your support. ”