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It's Tuesday and if you have a hankering for jerky, Max the Meat Guy’s new company has the goods.
FAZE ON THE FRITZ
FaZe Clan is laying off 40% of its staff. Here’s what that means for the esports org:
For the second time this year, FaZe Clan’s financial woes are impacting its employees in a big way. CEO Lee Trink has announced a round of layoffs that will affect 40% of the esports organization’s workforce.
Trink broke the news to employees in a May 19th email that cited adverse economic conditions as a major cause of the cuts.
“This does not mean that we are abandoning the aspirations we have for FaZe—we are simply setting some of our larger goals aside so we can put our heads down and focus on what’s directly in front of us.”
Despite those assurances, FaZe Clan’s future contains few guarantees. The org has been on shaky ground since July 2022, when it debuted as a publicly-traded company and subsequently failed to raise $100 million from investors. This year, Snoop Dogg—who had signed on as a high-profile celebrity member—ended his relationship with the company. Those disappointments didn’t bode well for FaZe’s share value. The company initially traded at $13 per share; as of yesterday, that figure was down to 58 cents per share.
The fallout from those failures led to an initial round of layoffs in February, which affected 20% of FaZe’s staff.
Now, current and former members are sounding off about FaZe’s internal issues.
In a recent interview with Dexerto, former FaZe president Greg Selkoe noted that “there was a lot of fiefdoms and fighting” during his time at the esports org. Jakob ‘FaZe Teeqo’ Swaerden added to those criticisms by admonishing FaZe for prioritizing recent signings over longtime partners. Despite those criticisms, Nordan ‘FaZe Rain’ Shat recently revealed that FaZe is still recruiting fresh talent.
🔆 SPONSORED 🔆
What does it mean to fund your future with Spotter? Here are the top 3 ways creators leverage their new capital:
Spotter knows that top creators deserve top-notch support. That’s why their creator support network goes way beyond the $775 million they’ve invested in 1,500 channel partners. Since 2019, Spotter has combined their lucrative funding deals—which range between $100,000 and $50+ million—with invaluable performance insights, innovative optimization resources, and community-building initiatives.
Here’s how YouTube icon Samir Chaudry (of Colin & Samir) describes Spotter’s mission :
“Spotter has paid $775M to Creators through catalog licensing deals with the effort of accelerating the growth of the creator economy. But it’s not just acceleration through capital, it’s with knowledge.”
Spotter’s creator partners have already leveraged that combination of capital and knowledge to do some pretty amazing things, including…
Expanding their teams and investing in premium equipment 🎥
Developing their own unique brands and creator products on YouTube and beyond. 📈
Increasing production capabilities and creativity by investing in property for studio spaces. 🏡
The result: Spotter’s licensed video catalog now generates over 88 billion watch-time minutes every month—meaning their creator partners are absolutely thriving. Ready to start funding your future with Spotter?
HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰
Influencer marketing agency Ubiquitous Influence is hiring for a “TikTok Watching” position that pays $1,000 in exchange for ten hours of TikTok viewership. (Tubefilter)
TikTok has filed a lawsuit against Montana in response to the state’s recent ban on the app. (Gizmodo)
Meta is facing a €1.2 billion fine over alleged violations of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. (Ars Technica)
LinkedIn has announced the rollout of “verifications on job postings” in order to “give recruiters the opportunity to build trust with potential candidates.” (TechCrunch)
DATA • GLOBAL TOP 50 📈
If you’ve had a near-death experience, this creator wants to hear about it
Tevin Musara is climbing the worldwide ranks. The YouTuber—who describes himself as “Africa's most viewed content creator”—has captured the attention of over 3 million YouTube subscribers with his signature wide-eyed reaction videos.
Musara’s subject of choice: near-death experiences.
Many of the creator’s most popular videos revolve around what he calls “the luckiest people on Earth.” Those fortunate individuals have escaped from some of the most dangerous phenomena possible, including train collisions, malfunctioning elevators, and errant soda rockets. Masura (who is better known by his Shorts and TikTok handle, Superherointraining) beholds each of those narrow escapes with a suitably shocked expression.
Those high-suspense clips have earned Masura a massive cross-platform fanbase and a place at #10 in our Global Top 50 chart—and his popularity is still growing at a rapid rate.
Over the course of our last seven-day count, the creator scored a whopping 368.2 million weekly views.
That total isn’t quite as high as the number of views scored by Masura’s most popular video, which currently claims more than 380 million views.
And overall? The YouTuber has collected a lifetime count of nearly 2.5 billion views.
SEEKING STORYTELLERS
Ballen Management wants to sign “the most talented storytellers in the world.” Do you fit the bill?
MrBallen is branching into talent management. The true crime YouTuber and former Navy seal—whose real name is John Allen—has racked up 7.5 million subscribers and more than 1 billion views since launching his channel three years ago. Now, he’s leveraging those social media skills to advise other creators.
Allen has launched his own management arm, Ballen Management, under the umbrella of his content production company, Ballen Studios.
In a recent statement, former Night exec and current Ballen Studios CEO Nick Witters noted that the new arm “aims to work with the most talented storytellers in the world and provide infrastructure that will allow them to scale.”
Allen himself will serve in an advisory role to all creators signed to Ballen Management, a roster which so far includes Nick Crowley (who has 1.7 million subscribers watching his “mysteriously spooky” videos) and Nexpo (whose 2.8 million subscribers enjoy exploring “the internet’s dark side”). Ballen Management co-signed both creators with UTA and (according to the two companies) will continue to work in conjunction with the agency by “aggressively expanding” creators’ “digital content and storytelling across a range of verticals,” including TV, film, and audio.
Allen is in a prime position to advise those creators on brand-building.
In addition to his YouTube channel—and now Ballen Management—the social media vet runs a weekly true-crime podcast, has an exclusive first-look content deal with Amazon covering film, TV, books, video games, merch, and more, and in 2022 founded his own nonprofit to financially support victims.
WATCH THIS 📺
Crash Course viewers can now learn from TikTok’s favorite forager
One of YouTube’s top academic channels has a brand-new offering.
TikToker and “vegan food concocter” Alexis Nikole is the latest creator to host an episode on Crash Course, the educational hub founded by Vlogbrothers John and Hank Green. The forager’s topic of choice: botany, of course.
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.