Puck (media company)

Puck is an American digital media company founded in 2021. Puck 's coverage aims to cover the 'four centers of power' in the United States: Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Washington and Wall Street.

Etymology
The name of the company is a play on the name of the character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as a reference to the Puck Building in Manhattan.

Editorial tone and style
In a 2022 profile, The New Yorker described Puck 's editorial tone as being "deliberately clubby," with part of the appeal for readers being that "its writers move in the same elevated spaces as the people whom they cover." Bloomberg News described Puck as a company that "treats reporters like social media influencers".

History
Puck was founded by Joe Purzycki, Jon Kelly, Liz Gough, Julia Ioffe, and Max Tcheyan. The company launched its landing page in August 2021 and debuted in whole in September 2021. In 2021, the company received $7 million in funding from Standard Industries and TPG Growth. Purzycki stepped down as CEO of the company in May 2023. On January 5, 2024, Sarah Personette, the former head of ad sales at Twitter, was announced as the company's CEO.

Puck debuted a series of podcasts hosted by its writers in September 2021. In March 2022, the outlet debuted a podcast co-created by Bill Simmons' The Ringer, which is owned by Spotify.

In August 2023, editor-in-chief Jon Kelly told Axios that the company raised over $10 million in Series B funding. Puck launched its first-ever live conference events in October 2023, holding an event with former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain at the Top of the Hay in Washington, D.C. Events with Netflix's Bela Bajaria and Goldman Sachs' David M. Solomon are scheduled for later in 2023.

Notable stories and coverage
Following FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest, Bankman-Fried was interviewed by Puck during his house arrest. Puck has reported on Bankman-Fried's political aspirations prior to his arrest, reporting in September 2023 that he had intended to donate between $15 million to $30 million to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In August 2023, Puck reported on a falling out between Canadian singer Justin Bieber and his longtime manager Scooter Braun. While both parties denied rumors that Bieber was searching for new management, Puck stood by its report. Outlets including Variety and Billboard went on to report on tensions between Bieber and Braun.

Readership and staff
As of November 2022, Puck had 25 staff members and 200,000 email subscribers, with 20,000 readers paying $12.99 (or $100 annually) for all-access reporting. The New York Times reported in 2022 the company had a valuation of approximately $70 million following its latest funding round. Puck journalists are given equity in the company and receive bonuses based on the number of subscribers their articles produce.