Joe Purzycki, who co-founded the digital media site Puck News and served as CEO, is stepping down, Axios reported Monday, citing an internal memo.
In the note to staff, editor-in-chief Jon Kelly thanked Purzycki and hailed him as “incredibly gifted at operationalizing start-ups during the incredibly fraught zero-to-one stage.” He added that the company is seeking a new chief executive to lead Puck through its “next phase of execution.”
Purzycki co-founded Puck with Kelly and Max Tcheyan in September 2021, aiming to cover what it called the “four centers of power”: Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Washington and Wall Street. It raised $7 million in Series A funding and will begin pursuing another round, Axios reported.
Purzycki “will remain as an advisor to the company in the coming weeks as we transition,” Kelly’s memo said. His duties will be absorbed by Tcheyan and CFO Liz Gough.
Observed one veteran digital media executive, noting that the company is less than a year old: “This is bad. And they just launched a new property with Lauren Sherman…. When the captain resigns and you’ve just left the dock – not a good sign.”
Puck’s paid subscriber base was reported to be around 30,000 this year, and Kelly said that “advertising revenue from the first half of 2023 is already up 200 percent from the same period last year.” He added that Puck’ is seeking a second funding round with “the full support of our founding investors.”
