Digital media company Ozy Media suddenly announced Friday it would be shutting down.
On Monday, the company was the subject of an article in the New York Times that made the shocking claim that Ozy’s COO impersonated a Google executive during a meeting with Goldman Sachs aimed at raising $40 million. The executive on the call was trying to assure Goldman Sachs that Ozy’s content was performing well on YouTube.
After the call YouTube started an investigation and Google alerted the FBI.
The company later apologized to Goldman Sachs, saying that COO Samir Rao was going through a mental health crisis.
Ozy’s board released a statement announcing the shut down.
“At Ozy, we have been blessed with a remarkable team of dedicated staff. Many of them are world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we owe tremendous gratitude and who are wonderful colleagues. It is therefore with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozy’s doors,” the statement said.
Ozy Media was founded by former MSNBC anchor Carlos Watson and was backed by Laurene Power Jobs’ Emerson Collective and Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.
According to Axios, the company had 75 full-time employees.
