Away co-CEO actions down as Silicon Valley elite discussion gets dripped

The co-CEO of travel luggage business Away, Steph Korey, is stepping down by the end of 2020, co-founder Jen Rubio and co-CEO Stuart Haselden informed workers Thursday. The statement follows a string of stories on Korey’s individual Instagram account that slammed the media, as reported by The Verge. Away verified that Korey will be turning over CEO responsibilities to Haselden later on this year however rejected that the relocation is an outcome of “any social media activity this week.” The choice had actually currently been made, Away stated. 

“Steph’s posts do not reflect or affect our current company priorities and the deep work we’re doing around diversity, equity and inclusion,” Haselden and Rubio informed Away personnel in a letter. “We hear you that these posts, coming from a co-CEO, distract from our focus as a company, and we are sorry that this has caused pain for some of our employees and placed unnecessary negativity and pressure on our community-facing teams. We especially recognize the added emotional burden on our Black, POC and LGBTQIA+ teammates.”

Korey had actually stepped down as CEO in 2015 following reports of problems about how she handled workers. But she returned as co-CEO in January, erasing the apology she had actually made in the previous month, according to The Verge.

Purported screenshots of her Instagram stories today revealed an assertion that numerous digital media outlets “have nearly non-existent editorial standards” which “misrepresentation *is* the business model of some outlets.” Korey didn’t react to a demand to validate the credibility of the screenshots and to comment. 

According to The Verge, workers disagreed with her speaking out on the subject of misstatement in the media instead of dealing with Pride or Black Lives Matter. “Why is this the moment she chose to be present and speak up?” they asked in a confidential letter to Rubio and Haselden. “It’s becoming very clear that it’s because Steph Korey values her own reputation over the wellbeing of the company and her employees.”

Away verified both the confidential letter from workers and the letter from Haselden and Rubio. When Korey returns from maternity leave in August, Haselden will end up being sole CEO of the business, the letter from Haselden and Rubio states. It likewise keeps in mind that Korey has actually given that altered her Twitter and Instagram profiles to state that her views are her own.

The Away news comes as Vice reported Thursday on a dripped audio file including Balaji Srinivasan and other VC elites talking about the media on invite-only audio app Clubhouse on Wednesday night. The released recording includes conversation of how tech reporters cover VCs. More particularly, it worries New York Times press reporter Taylor Lorenz, who previously in the week criticized Korey’s Instagram stories and remained in turn criticized by Srinivasan. The argument spilled onto Twitter on Wednesday night, drawing tech reporters and Silicon Valley figures into the general public spat. 

You can check out the complete story and hear the audio on Vice.

When requested remark, Srinivasan reacted with a link to this tweet, in which he described a “possibly illegal recording” of him and others “standing up for founders who are harassed by NYT journalists for clicks.” Choire Sicha, Styles editor at The Times, stated Lorenz is “an excellent reporter doing incredibly relevant reporting for this moment. She, and all reporters, should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment.”

Andreessen Horowitz and Clubhouse creators Paul Davison and Rohan Seth didn’t react to ask for remark.