Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jul 29
Steven Bartlett Loses 4 Key Podcast Staffers as Diary of a CEO Pushes Beyond the UK
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jul 29

Steven Bartlett Loses 4 Key Podcast Staffers as Diary of a CEO Pushes Beyond the UK

2 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jul 29

Summary

  • Four core "Diary of a CEO" staffers have left in five months, including Jack Sylvester, who called himself the show's cofounder, and executive producer Jem Erith.
  • The exits come as Steven Bartlett expands the 9-year-old podcast into a broader media business and shifts its center of gravity to the US, where he has moved to Los Angeles and opened a studio.
  • FlightStory said the departures were planned over nearly a year and supported by Bartlett; the staffers also said on social media that leaving was their own decision and that they had no fixed next step.
  • The departures surprised some former employees because the four were seen as part of the inner circle behind the show's twice-weekly production and growth on YouTube, where it has more than 18 million subscribers.
  • Bartlett is scaling well beyond the flagship show, having raised an eight-figure round for a company with about 150 employees and roughly $47 million in revenue last year.

Insights

Why did the core team behind a $47 million podcast empire walk away during its massive US expansion?
Can the Diary of a CEO survive the loss of its founding inner circle as it battles Joe Rogan?