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CollegeHumor laid off more than 100 staffers this week as its parent company IAC moved to sell the comedy website.
The cuts in New York and Los Angeles left the company with just five to 10 employees, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the sale. CollegeHumor’s chief creative officer, Sam Reich, said he will become the new majority owner of parent company CH Media now that it’s down to a skeleton crew.
“IAC, our parent company, has made the difficult decision to no longer finance us,” Reich said on Twitter, adding that some of the laid-off staffers are his “dear, dear friends.”
“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,” Reich continued.
IAC did not immediately disclose the price or other terms of the CollegeHumor sale, but said it will remain a minority shareholder in Reich’s company.
“The decision places CH Media with an owner who is beloved by fans, passionate about the business and sees a future we believe in,” IAC said in a statement.
The deal came about three weeks after Barry Diller’s media conglomerate spun off Match Group, which includes dating sites such as Tinder and OkCupid. IAC shares were trading up 1.5 percent at $262.95 as of 10:29 a.m. Thursday.
CollegeHumor was founded in 1999 and went on to grow a huge following on YouTube, where its channel currently has 13.6 million subscribers.
Reich indicated CH Media’s future would depend in part on Dropout, the comedy streaming service it launched in September 2018. The platform offers access to original web series and CollegeHumor content for $3.99 a month with an annual package.
“In these six months, I hope to be able to save Dropout, CollegeHumor, Drawfee, Dorkly, and many of our shows,” Reich said on Twitter. “Some will need to take on bold new creative directions in order to survive.”
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