Growth at All Costs... and Board Failures.

Boardroom Governance Newsletter #18 | Oct 4 2021

“It is therefore with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozy’s doors.” Statement by Ozy’s board on Oct 1, 2021.

Last week we witnessed the unraveling of a media company called Ozy after the NYT first published an article with serious allegations about the company including an impersonation of a YouTube executive in an investment call with Goldman Sachs. That article came out on a Sunday and by Friday the board announced the shutdown of the company.

Some board related questions of interest:

1. What did the board do, if anything, to check the growth of this company? Based on media accounts (particularly from NYT and Axios), this is the latest case of a company that sought growth at all costs and allegedly veered far beyond ethical boundaries into illegal territory, including securities and wire fraud. [On a side note, you can listen to my podcast conversation with Maureen Farrell where we discuss the role of the board in the WeWork case.]

2. In the original NYT…