G/O Media's leadership, introduced after the purchase from Univision, has been subject to frequent criticism by employees. Soon after, the entirety of
Deadspins staff
resigned in protest, leaving the site inactive. In November 2021,
Gawker reported of approximately 75% of staff at Jezebel resigning over the course of 2021. The resignations were reportedly related to a "
hostile work environment" created by G/O's management and the new deputy editorial director Lea Goldman. In January 2022, another article detailed similar staff decline at
The Root, with 15 out of 16 full-time employees having left throughout 2021, since
Vanessa De Luca started as editor-in-chief, while at
The A.V. Club, seven senior staff members left the site after management required them to move from Chicago to Los Angeles. According to the
Chicago Tribune, the departing staffers cited a lack of salary increase to account for higher
cost of living due to the transfer. The company also saw multiple disputes with the employee unions. In January 2020, the GMG Union, which represents the staff of six G/O Media sites, announced a vote of no confidence in CEO Jim Spanfeller, citing, among other issues, a lack of willingness to negotiate for "functional
editorial independence protections". On February 4, 2021, the
Writers Guild of America, East, filed a complaint with the
National Labor Relations Board alleging that G/O Media told employees it had fired Alex Cranz for labor activism. On March 1, 2022, GMG Union members went on strike after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract. The strike was resolved on March 6 with a new contract that included some of the members' terms. On June 29, 2023, G/O Media implemented a "modest test" of
AI-generated content on its websites, in a move similar to
BuzzFeed and
CNET. This sparked backlash from GMG Union members, who cited AI's track record of false statements and plagiarism from its training data, with basic errors in the generated content also attracting attention. In January 2024, a strike involving members of the Onion Union, which represents workers at other G/O Media sites, was narrowly averted following an agreement. ==Acquisitions==