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<ul class="summary-list"><li>A string of federal lawsuits out of Manhattan accuse <keyword id="20236265" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="combs" source="keywords">Combs</keyword> of sexual attacks dating back to 1995.</li><li>One alleges Combs orally raped a worker for rival brand <keyword id="23786412" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ecko" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Ecko" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Ecko">Ecko</keyword> at the <keyword id="20749648" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Macys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Macy's" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Macy's">Macy's</keyword> flagship store in 2008.</li></ul>Macy's covered up a violent 2008 sexual attack by Sean "Diddy" Combs at its flagship <keyword id="23786411" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Herald-Square" source="keywords">Herald Square</keyword>, Manhattan store to protect a "multi-million-dollar" deal with Combs' clothing brand, <keyword id="23786413" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sean-John" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Sean John" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Sean John">Sean John</keyword>, a new lawsuit alleges. The worldwide department store chain was named as a defendant in one of at least <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-combs-diddy-new-allegations-lawsuits-2024-10">six federal lawsuits</a>, all alleging sexual assaults, filed against the hip-hop entrepreneur in Manhattan Monday. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25204963-combs-lawsuit-macys-attack-complaint-20241014">The 19-page lawsuit</a> is one of two filed Monday that names an outside company as a defendant beyond <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-combs-diddy-business-income-dried-up-ciroc-music-deleon-2024-10">the companies belonging to Combs</a>. It was filed on behalf of a "John Doe" who now lives in Ohio. The plaintiff alleges that he was orally raped by Combs while working in the stockroom of the flagship store. The plaintiff said he worked for Ecko, a rival clothing company to Combs' Sean John brand that was also carried by Macy's. On the day of the attack, Combs entered into the stockroom with three armed bodyguards, the lawsuit says. One or more of the guards struck him — he may have been pistol-whipped, he alleges — causing him to fall to his hands and knees, the lawsuit said. The plaintiff says in the lawsuit that one or more of the bodyguards threatened to kill him. The plaintiff said Combs demanded he perform oral sex on him, calling him by the name of the company he worked for, "Ecko." Combs proceeded to orally rape the plaintiff in what was described as a two-minute attack, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that after the assault, Combs grabbed armfuls of Sean John merchandise from the stockroom, went out onto the retail floor, and "began passing out merchandise to an adoring crowd, as if nothing had happened." The lawsuit accuses Macy's of quickly covering up the incident. <div type="image" title="Sean Combs, Cassie Ventura, and Terry Lundgren stand in front of a Macy's backdrop." height="2191" width="3000" msid="114232336" hostid="261"></div>The plaintiff reported it the same day to company security, but there was no follow-up, and he was soon barred from the store, the lawsuit alleges. "Approximately three weeks later, <keyword id="23786414" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Terry-Lundgren" source="keywords">Terry Lundgren</keyword>, CEO of Macy's, pressured Ecko executives to fire plaintiff because Macy's had just signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Sean John Clothing," the suit says. The plaintiff was eventually fired and told by Ecko that he could no longer live in his company-paid apartment in the city, the lawsuit says. Ecko was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The company did not immediately return requests for comment from Business Insider after normal business hours on Monday. The plaintiff "believes that the report of the assault was destroyed or otherwise purged from Macy's records, and no action was ever taken as a result of the report." He still "fears for his life," the lawsuit says. Macy's and Lundgren did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations. Attorneys for Combs released a statement Monday, again denying that the artist ever committed sexual assault. They called the lawsuits filed Monday an attempt to "garner publicity." "Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process," the lawyers said. "In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone—adult or minor, man or woman." The lawsuits against Combs were filed in Manhattan by the Texas-based <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.txattorneys.com/">Buzbee Law Firm</a>, co-counsel <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://avalaw.com/">AVA Law Group</a>, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.curislaw.com/">Curis Law.</a> The Sean John brand, founded in 1998, appears now to be defunct. Its Instagram page is blank, and its website is broken. At one point, it had expanded to include clothing, furniture, fragrance, and footwear, and by 2010, the brand reported retail sales of over $525 million. Starting in 2011, the company's lucrative sportswear line — which it said made up about half of its sales — was exclusively sold at Macy's. Five of the retailer's locations included Sean John shops, where the company's goods were marketed and sold in prime locations, and Combs appeared in commercials for the store. For years, it was among the department chain's top-selling men's brands, <a target="_blank" class="c-link" href="https://wwd.com/menswear-news/mens-retail-business/sean-combs-puffy-global-brands-sean-john-10714373/">WWD reported</a>. "I have always admired Sean's sense of fashion, as well as his business acumen. He has a keen insight into the needs of a style-conscious, contemporary man," Lundgren <a target="_blank" class="c-link" href="https://www.macysinc.com/newsroom/news/news-details/2010/Sean-John-Sportswear-to-be-Sold-Exclusively-at-Macys-05-05-2010/default.aspx">said</a> of Combs when the exclusivity deal was announced in 2010 — two years after the alleged <a target="_blank" href="http://assault.In">assault.</a> "He was the first person to believe in me," the hip-hop star said of Lundgren, returning the compliment in a 2012 <a target="_blank" class="c-link" href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424052748704723404578199501748850748">Barron's article</a>. "He was like a godfather," Combs said. In 2016, Combs sold a majority stake in the brand for $70 million, but under new management, the brand floundered and eventually filed for bankruptcy. In 2021, Combs purchased the business back for $7.55 million. Sean John continued to be sold at Macy's until last fall, though a spokesperson did not comment on whether the line was pulled due to the mounting accusations against Combs. Combs remains in jail awaiting a sex-trafficking trial scheduled for May 5. Correction: October 21, 2024 — Due to an error during editing, an earlier version of this story misstated Sean Jean's revenue. The brand, as a whole, reported over $525 million in retail sales in 2010, not specifically at Macy's.

Macy's accused in lawsuit of covering up 2008 sexual attack by Sean 'Diddy' Combs in Herald Square flagship store

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">Marc EckoMarc Ecko</div></div>Forty-one-year-old fashion designer, philanthropist, and serial entrepreneur Marc Ecko has done a bit of it all. Now we can add "author" to his already extensive resume.
Ecko's book Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out goes on sale today. The book shares Ecko's own lessons on how to turn a scrappy startup into a billion-dollar behemoth. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unlabel-Selling-You-Without-Out/dp/1451685300">It's available on Amazon right here</a>.
Outside of his eponymous Marc Ecko Industries, Ecko is also the mind behind Complex Media, a lifestyle site which started as a print magazine in 2002. Complex is recently in the news again <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/complex-media-raises-25-million-from-iconix-brand-group-2013-9">upon recently raising a $25 million investment</a>.
Ecko was kind enough to catch up with us via email to get us up to speed on what's going on lately.
BUSINESS INSIDER: What's keeping you busy, personally, professionally, whatever else?
MARC ECKO: So much. Book launch. Complex. And what I'm really excited about will be ready for announcement soon. I count my blessings for the amazing people I get to work with and the businesses I have been able to build.
BI: What's the current state of the union for Complex Media?
ME: Godzilla is out of the cage, and he wants to be fed. We are fulfilling our revenge fantasy on old media. I am not joking. I am f---ing serious. And the cynics should be careful in misjudging us because we were largely built by outsiders. That is what has defined us and will continue to be the thing others can only emulate.
BI: What does the recent $25 million investment do for the company? Can you share any plans on how it'll be spent?
ME: It will be spent wisely. LOL. In all seriousness, we intend to deploy it in a way that strengthens all of our stakeholders - who have managed to grow this by essentially creating fireworks out of the sparks of two nickels being rubbed together. That same ruthless intent to create something from nothing - which got us here, will be the fuel to feed this next chapter. This time the sparks will be bigger, and the fire will burn stronger. More technology. More innovation. More video. More e-commerce. More delight and delivery of surpassing expectations - for our end user, and for our partners.
BI: Is there a common mistake you see people repeatedly make in business and wonder why they keep making it?
ME: Yes. I've made them all. I am an expert on mistakes. We tend to make the same mistakes over and over in life (and business) - they just show up packaged slightly different on the outside. The numbers may not lie but people's feelings about them ultimately run the show. The greatest tragedy from mistakes is not in making them. You are supposed to. It is in not learning from them. The inability to learn is steeped in hubris. Hubris, and tolerating it - allowing it to disguise itself as passion or knowhow - is toxic.
BI: What about a good obvious strategy you've seen and wondered why more people aren't using it?
ME: Sleep &amp; stay hydrated. This "I never sleep" thing is bulls--- and bad for you. Simple. Sleep. For real. Get a nice cushy bed &amp; pillow. It's the only place you are allowed to really be comfortable. So make it good.
BI: What kinds of stories from your life can readers of UNLABEL expect?
ME: The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Jokes aside, my life is not really what is interesting. But the things I have learned from it, and my ability to share turn it into pragmatic lessons on branding, authenticity, and marketing are what makes the book strong. Hopefully all these stubborn gray hairs have a purpose after all. Maybe someone can learn something from it.
BI: What field is still ripe for building new businesses?
ME: Fashion. Next wave is coming. Be prepared. So many inefficiencies in that industry. From the design process to the manufacturing. Lots of change coming. Lots.
BI: Is it better to improve an existing product or create something brand new? Maybe more of a different-strokes-for-different-folks thing?
ME: It is a different strokes thing. There is no better way, there is just your way. At 41, I think it is better to focus and refine. But never at the expense of re-imagining your entire model. Never so stuck, or nostalgic.

Marc Ecko Tells Us What He's Doing With That $25 Million Investment He Just Won: 'It Will Be Spent Wisely. LOL.'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Linette Lopez, Business Insider</div></div></div>It's important to learn as much as you possibly can about the things you put into your body - especially the things you put in your body as much as scotch.
So in that spirit, when Marc Ecko invited Business Insider to a tasting of his favorite whiskeys to celebrate the launch of his new fashion line, <a href="http://www.marcecko.com/splash/">Marc Ecko Cut and Sew</a>, we were only too happy to accept.
Ecko served up a bunch of spirits, our favorites being an awesome Highland Park 18 Year - a single malt scotch of the highest quality.
'Single malt' is not a term that you can just throw around. Our whiskey guide for the evening, Heather Greene of the <a href="http://www.theflatironroom.com/whiskey-school/">Flatiron Room's Whiskey School</a> in NYC, explained that a single malt scotch must be made with 51% barley (the rest can be any grain you like). It must come from a single distillery and go through one single distillation.
The spirit is then aged in old Bourbon or Spanish sherry casks - these casks give the spirit its color.
Knowledge is power.

What It Actually Means When A Scotch Is 'Single Malt'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>If you text 646-759-0904, you won't be able to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-nerd-2015-4">request a Stanford student to do your homework</a>, get <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/text-magic-to-get-anything-you-want-delivered-2015-2">anything you want delivered to you</a>, or <a href="http://www.textethan.com/">text a guy named Ethan</a>.You will, however, be able to talk to a guy named Stefan, and he'll text you to let you know when his&#xa0;limited-run clothes go on sale, so you can be the first to buy it.Stefan's Head is a text message-based e-commerce brand. You text 646-759-0904 to opt into texts from Stefan."Stefan is a dealer of things," Stefan's Head co-founder&#xa0;Sathish Naadimuthu tells Business Insider. "And the only way to get them is if you're on his list."Once you text Stefan,&#xa0;he'll text you back and figure out if you're "right" for his exclusive list. Once you're on, he'll send you messages about anything, and will text you about new products every couple of weeks. When you get a text from Stefan, you have to click in to buy his goods quickly, because they're limited-run and they go fast.When you get a text from Stefan about a new product or piece of clothing up for sale, you're sent a link. Open the link, and here's what you see:<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>You enter your credit card information the first time you make a purchase. Stefan remembers your size, too, after you order once.We asked whether Stefan was a real person or a robot. How could one person handle all these texts? Stefan is "an actual guy we met at a ridiculous party in L.A., one we had no business attending," Naadimuthu tells us. "All we can say is that he's a prominent artist who wanted to be part of something fresh. It just so happened that he was into streetwear and fashion as much as we are." Even as the company grows, Naadimuthu says&#xa0;Stefan "will continue to be the guy behind the guys."Stefan designs the products, and everything is created in-house working with US-based manufacturers. In the future, Naadimuthu says the startup will "collaborate with cool brands, artists, designers and other creatives."We texted Stefan to check it out for ourselves. He's definitely real.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>NYC-based Stefan's Head was founded by Sathish Naadimuthu,&#xa0;Trey Sisson, and&#xa0;Michael Kushner.&#xa0;The three <a href="http://www.goodsofrecord.com/">previously started an ecommerce business</a>.&#xa0; Naadimuthu&#xa0;says the trio discovered that their customers were "surprisingly into communicating via text and gravitated towards limited-run products. That's how the concept for Stefan's Head began."Though it's an e-commerce company and not an on-demand delivery service like Magic - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/text-magic-to-get-anything-you-want-delivered-2015-2">a Y Combinator alum that promises to deliver you anything you want</a>&#xa0;(as long as what you want isn't illegal) - Stefan's Head has the same premise of operating within a text messaging layer without requiring an actual app. Magic specifically has gained traction with investors: just after it graduated from Y Combinator's accelerator program,&#xa0;<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/26/sources-magic-is-raising-12m-from-sequoia-at-a-40m-valuation/">it was reported that</a>&#xa0;Magic was&#xa0;raising $12 million from Sequoia Capital at a $40 million valuation.Stefan's Head <a href="http://www.producthunt.com/posts/stefan-s-head%20">made some noise when it launched on Product Hunt last week</a>, and people like designer Marc Ecko are tweeting out Stefan's number: <div><div></div></div>Stefan's Head, which launched just three weeks ago, is one of 12 companies currently going through Techstars NYC's accelerator program. On Friday, the company will present at Techstars' Demo Day."Most people are really pumped about the idea and text us exactly how they feel,"&#xa0;Naadimuthu says.&#xa0;"Some people think we're too risqué or weird. Either way, we'd rather be loved or hated than land somewhere in the middle." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/charge-iphone-faster-apple-battery-life-2015-2">How to supercharge your iPhone in only 5 minutes</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9hdGRuczob3nOr91AW6QS6gV7dw6BzKX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Texting this phone number will get you deals on limited-edition clothes from a guy named Stefan

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Complex NetworksRich Antoniello, CEO, Complex Networks.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Sneaker culture-focused <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> company Complex Networks is an exception to the gloom and doom surrounding digital media.</li><li>CEO Rich Antoniello has avoided a lot of the playbook that's driven digital media in the past several years.</li><li>Complex has diversified its business and now gets half its revenue from non-advertising sources.</li><li>It's been profitable since 2010 and looks to be in the black again this year, with revenue projected to grow close to 20%.</li><li>This year it'll drive growth from video licensing, events, and commerce, and it's even exploring a membership program.</li></ul>It's a gloomy time for digital media, but not for Rich Antoniello.While headlines scream about other digital media companies trying to cut their way to profitability, hanging for-sale signs, and selling at fire-sale prices, Complex Networks, a 17-year-old, digital video-driven media company focused on sneakers and youth culture, looks like an anomaly.Complex has been profitable since 2010 and is on track to be in the black again this year, with revenue projected to grow close to 20%, according to Antoniello. Complex has diversified its revenue mix and now gets half its revenue from outside <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword>."We're an anomaly here," Antoniello told Business Insider.It did this by avoiding a lot of the playbook that's driven digital media in the past several years.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-media-companies-group-nine-media-and-refinery29-are-said-to-be-in-talks-to-merge-2019-3">Digital media companies Group Nine Media and Refinery29 are said to be in talks to merge</a><ul><li>It didn't take a ton of venture funding that can accelerate a media company's rise but also set unrealistic growth expectations. Complex Networks raised just $40 million in its first 12 years, in contrast with other digital media darlings like Vice Media, which raised $1.4 billion; and BuzzFeed, $500 million.</li><li>Without the growth pressure tied to VC funding, it didn't staff up like crazy or chase Facebook audience as other companies did, only to see that audience vanish when Facebook deprioritized publisher content in the news feed and ran their videos but didn't deliver meaningful revenue in return. Complex's social followers are divided roughly evenly between Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, according to Tubular Labs. Typical of a VC-backed digital media company, BuzzFeed gets two-thirds of its followers from Facebook, per Tubular.</li><li>It avoided going deep into hard news, which is expensive to do and scares off certain advertisers that don't want their ads to appear next to anything that sniffs of controversy.</li></ul>Instead, Complex focused on building high-quality, longform video series that would keep viewers coming back and whose regularity in subject matter made it well-suited to advertising integrations.<h2>Complex's video series helped drive other revenue streams</h2>Those shows beget other revenue sources. ComplexCon, an annual festival of street culture in Long Beach, California, attracted 65,000 people and <a href="https://digiday.com/marketing/complexcon-cultural-super-bowl-streetwear-culture/">contributed around 8%</a> of Complex Networks' revenue in 2018, across ticket sales that start at $55 each, $10 million worth of hoodies, skateboards and other merchandise sales specially designed by the artist Takashi Murikami, space rentals, and ad sponsorships. Its food vertical, First We Feast, spawned lines of hot sauce that did an estimated <a href="https://digiday.com/media/revenue-complex-networks-hot-ones/">$7 million in sales in 2018.</a>Complex sold in 2016 to a joint venture of Hearst and Verizon, which enabled it to get funding and keep operating independently. That led it to avoid integration into a larger company, a process that has <a href="http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/why-verizons-usd9-billion-bet-on-digital-content-failed.html">ended badly</a> for other acquired media outlets like Yahoo and AOL.It keeps costs down. Complex has only 300 employees, which, assuming annual revenue of $200 million, per three sources close to the situation, enables it to stay in the black. Its two biggest shows, "Sneaker Shopping," where stars like Wiz Khalifa buy shoes; and "Hot Ones," where celebrities like Scarlett Johansson eat wings with progressively hotter sauce, are hosted, respectively, by homegrown talent Joe La Puma and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hot-ones-sean-evans-youtube-interview-2017-11">Sean Evans.</a>Contrast that with a one-time digital media darling, VC-funded Vox Media. By the end of 2018, Vox Media was <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/vox-media-on-pace-to-miss-revenue-target-as-digital-advertising-disappoints-1537742167">about the same size in revenue as Complex Networks</a> but with about three times as many employees.<h2>Antoniello is the anti-digital media CEO</h2>At the center of Complex Networks is an unlikely digital media CEO. Raised in the blue-collar Canarsie section of Brooklyn, he keeps a low profile (except for Twitter, where his tweets are known for all-caps rants on everything that drives him crazy about the media business).While other media CEOs use PR to carefully cultivate their images and rarely talk publicly about their competition, Antoniello regularly takes profanity-laced shots at them, which doesn't endear him to everyone.<ul><li>On media companies' dependence on Facebook, he said: "I wasn't worried about getting to a billion Facebook views like Group Nine was because that did a lot for their business."</li><li>On the pivot to video: "Add up Vox, Vice, Group Nine, whatever. I think in total they have three or four shows together on Netflix, whereas we have six."</li><li>On owning youth culture: "Even when we were a magazine, the topics we covered and tone, we never f*cking changed. We let everyone come to us. We are the originators of that, and everyone else are vultures who couldn't come up with a goddamn original idea if your f*cking life depended on it."</li></ul><h2>Print influenced Antoniello's thinking </h2>Complex Networks' evolution into a modern media company started, of all things, with a glossy print magazine.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/complex-media-marc-ecko-rich-antoniello-2011-6">It was created in 2002</a> by the streetwear designer Marc Ecko, who saw the connection between culture and media. Antoniello, a former salesman for National Geographic Adventure, has been at the head of Complex since 2003. Antoniello said his experience selling print heavily influenced him."It all comes back to brand, being the creator of the conversation," he said. "Print experience informed that thinking 1,000%. Being a salesperson, of not just the audience, the pink sheets and Simmons data, but selling what it really means. That informed a lot of who I am today."By 2007, the magazine was profitable. But people were starting to get their news and information online through portals like Yahoo and AOL that rode the tech bubble. Venture capitalists poured money into media companies, putting pressure on everyone to scale an online audience fast. That led to ad networks like Glam Media, which rolled up women's blogs to become the seventh biggest online media property at one point.Complex also created a network to augment its own sites with independent ones around sneakers plus adjacent topics like music and food. But it has always maintained that it was more choosy than others about who it partnered with, to keep quality high. Later, Complex would buy sites, shifting the network to an owned-and-operated model.That brand-focused thinking also informed Complex Networks' first big push into video in 2013, when it raised $25 million from Iconix Brand Group, the owner of Rocawear, Ecko Unlimited, Umbro and other brands.Unusual for a text-rooted media company, Complex started making digital video in the form of longform series. The massive media industry "pivot to video" has since become ridiculed for its association with short, viral videos that did little for companies' businesses. Instead, Antoniello focused on making cable network-worthy, high-quality video series that could be adapted to many platforms and spawn other revenue lines."Everyone was in love with a three-second view," he said. "We ran the other way. We went hardcore."<h2>Complex Networks initially ignored YouTube</h2>The execution wasn't flawless. Now Antoniello gets credit for success on YouTube, but for months, he eschewed the platform, wanting to keep all the views on his own site."It's kind of my biggest mistake," he said. "I was like, 'We're so big we don't need YouTube.' Um, biggest mistake I ever made, hands down. YouTube, it already had done too good a job establishing themselves into the lower end of the 25-and-under, where if you wanted to be massively impactful on longer-form, premium video, you had to be on YouTube. Once we did YouTube, it was like throwing kerosene on it."The bet paid off."Very few people invested in YouTube early on the way Complex did," said Eddie Kim, CEO of Memo, a startup that sells metrics on article readership to brands. "By the time most folks realized the Facebook video bait-and-switch, it was already too late to build up a YouTube presence because the barriers only get higher and higher. Whether it's media or commerce, the challenge today is, do you truly own an audience. In media, it means you can create a branded video and hit your numbers without buying much traffic. Brand equity takes time to build. This creates a natural tension with the growth expectations tied to VC funding. Complex is a brand 20 years in the making." A big video accelerant came in 2016 when Complex Networks sold to Hearst and Verizon in a 50-50 deal valued at more than $250 million. The new owners saw in Complex a way to quickly increase their digital reach with millennial males. Verizon had just launched Go90, a free mobile video service where young people could watch video from providers like HuffPost, Vice, and AwesomenessTV, on their phones. Verizon paid Complex Networks roughly $150 million to produce shows that would appear on Go90, according to two sources close to the situation.For Complex Networks, the Go90 money enabled it to go from 12 to 33 video series but also move further upscale. It worked with "Friday Night Lights" director Peter Berg on a docu-series "QB1"; and <a href="https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/complex-peter-berg-qb1-original-series-1202391220/">made "Thanksgiving,"</a> created by Dan Powell and Bethany Hall and starring Chris Elliott and Amy Sedaris."We were making the bet of linear cable without having the linear cable distribution deals," Antoniello recalled. "And when they bought into that, and were willing to pay what they paid for the company, it created a tremendous opportunity for us because we can continue to run as an independent asset, because it was a 50-50 JV. So we didn't have the pressure of integrating into either large-scale company."Then, in June 2018, Verizon shut down Go90 after less than three years. The move was the demise of Awesomeness, whose fortunes were tied to Go90 and which sold to Viacom for $50 million after having an implied value of $650 million.Hearst and Verizon wouldn't comment for this story.<h2>Post-Go90, Complex had to reset its goals</h2>The Go90 demise has reset Complex's goals.Complex Networks shrunk its staff from around 400 in 2017 to 300 by the end of 2018, mainly by cutting people who worked for now-defunct RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV, two digital media properties that Hearst and Verizon created for millennials and which had been absorbed by Complex.Complex Networks has to return profits to its owners instead of having full freedom to reinvest it. And while Verizon is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/verizon-revealed-its-plans-for-yahoo-finance-in-a-meeting-with-ad-industry-insiders-and-they-include-testing-a-55-a-month-subscription-service/articleshow/68696556.cms">increasing its video output at Yahoo Finance</a>, questions swirl around Verizon's commitment to media now that it's closed Go90 and written down its media arm that contains AOL and Yahoo. Complex, though, is in a different boat from that arm given that it operates independently.But Antoniello is seeing the payoff of his earlier bet on high-quality series and says he likes his independence. Complex was able to keep the shows it created for Go90, and he's licensed 16 of those 33 shows to Netflix and Hulu, and he's not done doing deals. "There is no question, Verizon is not as interested in media as it was theoretically. We were disappointed. Obviously we would have loved to have continued to be a strategic partner," he said. "It would have been a tremendous play for us long term to have this funding resource and audience discovery platform for younger consumers from a mobile perspective. We had to be beholden to ourselves faster than we had originally planned. Trying to replace a great deal of capital is hard because we're going to have to do it from multiple outlets."Earlier, Complex insisted on licensing rather than selling outright its video series to distributors as Vox Media and BuzzFeed have done. It also insisted on limiting distributors' exclusive windows to short time periods like five days rather than the more typical 12 months. Licensing is harder to do with a behemoth like Netflix, which increasingly wants to own the shows it airs, but this approach has enabled Complex to keep generating income from those shows with other distributors.Antoniello said distributors initially pushed back, but he argued his shows had big followings of young men that are hard for advertisers to reach, and that using social media to promote shows would help maximize the viewership before audiences get bored and move on to the next thing."How many series are going to last that are young person-oriented?" Antoniello asked. "They run out of steam. So you have smaller windows in general to take advantage of these things. So we had a lot of discussions on distribution with all these premium platforms. But we have the discipline to say no."Complex Networks isn't insulated from the reality all media companies face, as most of the digital ad dollars are going to Google and Facebook and there's pressure to stay current with young audiences."There is a gluttony of digital choices for advertisers looking to target Gen Z," said Doug Rozen, chief media officer at the agency 360i. "Publishers like Complex and others need to be aggressive to stand out - to a buyer and to a user."Antoniello likes his chances, though. This year, Complex sees revenue growing almost 20%, Antoniello said, with three knowledgeable sources saying revenue will be at least $200 million, with at least $30 million in profits.The growth this year is coming from video licensing; a second ComplexCon, in Chicago in July; and a membership program it's aiming to launch by the end of the year that would give superfans benefits tied to various Complex brands, like early access to ComplexCon, exclusive merchandise, and a first look at Complex's video shows."It's a great time to be an anomaly of anomalies - a fast-growing, differentiated brand business in media that is profitable," he said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sommelier-best-wines-costco-target-trader-joes-bjs-ranking-2019-3">A sommelier compared 11 wines from Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, and BJ's - and the winner was clear</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

'We're an anomaly': Complex Networks ignored the digital media playbook and now it's on track to make at least $200 million this year, profitably

<div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><keyword id="1877692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Complex-Media">Complex Media</keyword>Complex Media CEO Rich Antoniello</div></div></div>Complex Media, the style and entertainment network for men which owns Complex magazine, is more than a decade old.
During that time, it has grown into a profitable web business with nearly 90 million monthly readers and 931 million monthly pageviews across its network of 100+ publishers.
When traditional investors hear numbers like that, it's not difficult to start <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> conversations with them. But Complex Media just raised $25 million, and the money didn't come from a venture capital firm, a hedge fund or a bank.
Complex Media CEO Rich Antoniello says he only had top-level conversations with venture capitalists. Instead, Iconix Brand Group, the owner of Rocawear, Ecko Unlimited, Umbro and other brands, stepped up to the plate and offered to pay the entire amount Antoniello was seeking in full.
"There was no trepidation," Antoniello said of the deal. "[Iconix] was very smart, aggressive, and did its due diligence."
Iconix CEO Neil Cole, brother of designer Kenneth Cole, spearheaded the investment. He says his team had been looking to invest in a media property for years. It passed on brands like Playboy and Maxim, but the deal with Complex moved quickly. 
"It took just a couple of days...It took the lawyers a little longer than Rich and I to get there though," Cole said.
Cole had worked with Complex on marketing campaigns prior to the investment. Additionally, Mark Ecko is on Complex Media's board of directors. Cole is now a Complex Media board member too.
It used to be unusual for advertisers to invest in media companies. Recently, that has changed. Sponsored content - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/business/media/mountain-dew-to-introduce-a-sponsored-web-site.html">even sponsored websites</a> - are the new normal. Brands like American Express and AOL have venture capital arms to invest in startups. Magazine publishers like Conde Nast and Hearst invest too. Now, Iconix is in the mix. But that doesn't mean Cole's brands will get preferential treatment.
When asked if writing a check will get Iconix endless, free advertising on Complex Media, Cole replied: "Absolutely not! I was told there is a Chinese Wall, where we will be treated like any other advertiser." 
He says the investment will yield strategic benefits for both Complex Media and Iconix, but not monetary. "We think there are so many assets we can leverage, but unfortunately we don't own 100% of Complex," Cole said.
For Antoniello, choosing Iconix as an investor "killed three birds with one stone." Antoniello said the funding will fuel growth, and Complex Media's e-commerce efforts will benefit from Iconix' expertise. Cole also understands how to build brands through conversational marketing. And conversational marketing is where Complex Media has excelled.
This year, Mountain Dew ran a multi-million-dollar campaign with Complex Media. The deal let Antoniello's team operate and create all content for Mountain Dew's site, <a href="http://green-label.com/">Green-Label.com.</a> Another soft drink company is spending multiple millions with Complex to have its website run as well.
In 2013, branded content will make up 22% of Complex Media's overall revenue, up from 10% last year. Antoniello said Complex Media is successful in the space because other publishers shouldn't be playing in the sandbox. 
"The people we work with are long term focused; they are truly always on from a conversational perspective," said Antoniello. 
"One of the reasons we are allowed in is because [our young, male demographic] consumes at a higher rate than anyone else out there. We're creating content around subcultures, not content that's generic and ubiquitous," he said. 
When asked what Complex Media does differently, Antonielllo replied: "I can't give a play book to other people. A lot of people shouldn't be creating content. If your site is just sports stats, or news, that's not very special for an advertiser."

Complex Media Raises $25 Million From Rocawear Group, Not Venture Capitalists

<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image">Fits.me</div></div>Online shopping can't be beat in terms of convenience, but it can be tough to judge actual clothing sizes from a computer screen. In fact, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304773104579270260683155216">according to The Wall Street Journal</a>, up to one-third of online purchases are eventually returned by consumers because of a poor fit or lack of understanding of what the item will actually look like. 
The Fits.me <a href="http://fits.me/solutions/the-fits-me-virtual-fitting-room/">Virtual Fitting Room</a> aims to solve that problem. The Estonian start-up has built a robotic mannequin that can alter its shape according to specific measurements provided by users.
<a href="http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/qq_robofitroom/">According to Wired</a>, roboticists at the University of Tartu in Estonia developed the mannequin with the help of Human Solutions, a German research firm specializing in body dimensions. They installed 50 actuators that can move in and out depending on the shape they are meant to form. The actuators were then covered in Pedilin, a material that mimics human skin and is used to create prosthetic legs. 
Now, retailers like Hugo Boss, Superdry, Thomas Pink, and Ecko Unltd. have gotten involved. The process begins with a shipment of samples to the Fits.me studio in Tartu, Estonia, where staffers adjust the robot in thousands of different combinations of measurements in hip width, chest diameter, sleeve length, and waist size. The photos they take of each combination are then entered in a database so that theoretically, shoppers can see the items they're considering on a model that's just their size. 
The program even provides tips about areas where the garment may be too short or too tight on a shopper. Here's an example of what a man shopping online with Henri Lloyd might see when using the Virtual Fitting Room: <div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image">Fits.me</div></div>
The hope is that having this information will help shoppers to pick out a garment that fits them just right. 
But the technology in Fits.me could have even wider implications: <a href="http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/qq_robofitroom/">According to Wired</a><a href="http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/qq_robofitroom/"></a>, the company is planning to sell the information they've collected on shoppers, which will help retailers to better target design and sales. 
However, virtual shopping remains a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/17/fits-me-closes-7-2m-series-a-to-aggressively-expand-its-virtual-fitting-room-tech-in-europe-start-prepping-for-u-s-push/">competitive industry,</a> with companies like Virtusize, True Fit, Metail, and Clothes Horse exploring similar technology. Fits.me also has <a href="http://fits.me/solutions/fit-advisor/">Fit Advisor</a>, a lower-end version of the service that simply compares a person's measurements to clothing rather than providing the full virtual fit. 
Still, Fits.me's virtual mannequin seems a great deal less creepy than the <a href="http://metail.com/">computer-generated avatars</a> that other companies are using, and you don't have to provide an actual photo of yourself. 
Check out how the Virtual Fitting Room mannequin moves.

This Robotic Mannequin Can Match Your Exact Measurements And Improve Online Shopping

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>After spending 90 days under the mentorship of TechStars, 11 startups pitched their ideas to an enthusiastic crowd of investors and members of the tech community at<a href="http://www.techstars.com/12-companies-for-winter-2015-session-in-nyc/"> NYC Winter 2015 Demo Day</a> on Friday morning.For many of these companies, Demo Day is the first time to show their product to a captive audience that includes press and potential investors. The mood at Friday's Demo Day was especially upbeat given New York-based craft marketplace <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/etsy-ipo-april-16-2015-4">Etsy's IPO</a> just a day earlier. Every presentation from Techstars' demo day was good - but these startups really stood out.<h3><a href="https://pilotfiber.com/">Pilot</a></h3>CEO: Joseph Fasone<a href="http://www.twitter.com/susanxzheng"> </a>Going through traditional ISPs to get your internet - Comcast or Time Warner Cable, for example - typically sucks. That's why Joseph Fasone, who spent four years as WeWork's director of technology, came up with something that brings better internet to small businesses in urban cities. Pilot provides fiber optic internet that's 400 times faster than the FCC's definition of broadband, and 10 times faster than Google Fiber, Fasone says.Companies like NYU, <a href="http://www.producthunt.com/posts/pilot">Greycroft Partners</a>, Planet Fitness, and BaubleBar are already using Pilot's super-fast internet. Fasone says Pilot's already doing $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue, and that it's seeing 30% month-over-month growth. And that's just in Manhattan, where Pilot currently and exclusively operates. Pilot plans to expand its services to Chicago next. <h3 dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.irisvr.com/">IrisVR</a></h3>CEO: Shane ScrantonInstead of using virtual reality for its gaming use-case, IrisVR is an enterprise virtual reality company that wants to change how architects and designers build things. Right now, if you work in engineering or architecture you can use tools like SketchUp or Rhino, but these are two-dimensional and not immersive - you don't really feel like you're in the room. You can use IrisVR to do a virtual walkthrough of a building without being confined to looking at and imaging the design through a computer screen. IrisVR's software, which you use with an Oculus Rift or any other VR headset, is already being used by 1200 beta customers, including Gensler, Mortensen, and Ikea.<h3><a href="http://spoonuniversity.com/">Spoon University</a></h3>CEO: Mackenzie BarthSpoon University has built a massive food network for millennials. The startup began as a college publication about food at Northwestern University, but soon, students from other schools approached Spoon University's founders to ask if they would open chapters at their schools. Spoon University's growth has been entirely organic - students at more than 100 college campuses have approached the startup in the past year. Spoon University's network of 3,000 college student contributors are publishing stories, pictures, and videos that attract 2.5 million monthly unique visitors.<h3><a href="http://stefanshead.com/">Stefan's Head</a></h3>CEO: Sathish NaadimuthuStefan's Head is a text message-based e-commerce brand. You text 646-759-0904 to opt into texts from Stefan, a guy who sends you texts once a week about the limited-edition products he designs and sells. It works because it's exclusive and it's meant to feel like a friend is tipping you off to a cool new product. More than 2,000 people have signed up since Stefan's Head's launch a month ago, and they've found out about the company through word of mouth, influencers (<a href="https://twitter.com/marcecko/status/585917138252214273">Mark Ecko tweeted about the company</a>), YouTube, and Twitter.Currently, Stefan's Head offers merchandise in the form of t-shirts, hats, crewnecks, and button-downs, catering to guys. Eventually, Naadimuthu says, Stefan's head will expand to give women some options too.<h3><a href="https://www.datacamp.com/">DataCamp</a> </h3>CEO: Jonathan Cornelissen Companies need people who can turn data into insightful analysis, but they're having a really hard time finding people who can do that, Jonathan Cornelissen says. And that's where his company DataCamp comes in.Offering dynamic, online courses to teach people data science, DataCamp works by giving users personalized feedback to help them understand what they're learning, and to help them get the right answers. DataCamp says that people complete its courses at 3x the rate of competitors. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Accenture use DataCamp's services, and 100,000 people are using it to learn data science.Check out the<a href="http://www.techstars.com/12-companies-for-winter-2015-session-in-nyc/"> full list of participants in Techstars' NYC Winter 2015 Demo Day.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-lightsaber-sound-george-lucas-2015-4">This is how the iconic lightsaber sounds are created for 'Star Wars'</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="p5eXNndDrXuXnuyrFtNDBLJFpR0mrRaf" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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