Mode Media, One of the largest media company, valued over $1 Billion shuts down, without any notice, in a single day. All the people working there lost their job in a single day, and now all the publishers left out without any hope to get paid, ever.
They were valued over $1 Billion. They raised over $200 Million and had a reach over 400 million monthly users worldwide.
Reports pointing the blame to the management, especially to their Founder and long-time CEO Samir Arora, because of his lavish lifestyle. And the report also claims he brought two house in Hamptons and in LA, using company money.
The report also saying, Hubert Burda Media, the German firm that poured $45 million into Mode Media last year, is the main driving force in this shutdown. Though they are not major steak holder but the powerful one, and convinced the board for the immediate shutdown.
Here at A. R. Communications (ARCom), our parent company, we had a partnership with them. Though their payment terms are very long, so, we had about 4 and half months due to be paid when they suddenly shut down. Their publisher reporting site is not opening from that day, the ad-serving stopped. We have no way of seeing the report, and the way present media company work, this sudden shutdown is very bad for business and even for user experience. We removed all their codes from our site, but still have pending backfill, which is sometimes creating errors.
Now Mode Media asked for an ABC — an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors. And from our experience, I know those legal processed consider publisher at the end. So, we will end up losing several thousand dollars, like many other publishers. This is not the first time I have seen this to happen in this industry, this is sad and wrong.
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# AdWeek
