Revolt announced on Tuesday (June 4) that its employees will become the company’s largest group of shareholders.
The announcement follows a report in March that Sean “Diddy” Combs, who founded the company in 2013, sold his shares to an anonymous buyer. Combs is facing multiple sexual abuse lawsuits, with two more complaints filed against him in May; he has denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement on Tuesday, Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels said “we succeed because we have a dedicated team who has been committed to advancing our purpose, our community, and our culture every single day.”
“Without question, they deserve participation in our growth,” he added, “and I could not be more honored to continue on this journey with them, leveraging our collective strength, pushing boundaries, and achieving new heights together.”
Speaking to The New York Times, Samuels also noted that “One-hundred percent of Sean Combs’s shares have been redeemed and retired” and “we have completely separated and dissociated from each other.”
Combs stepped down as the chairman of the Revolt board in November, not long after he was accused of sexual and physical abuse by his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who performs as Cassie. (The suit was settled a day later.) Earlier this year, Combs’ Miami and Los Angeles homes were raided by federal agents, part of what Homeland Security described as “an ongoing investigation.”
Samuels told The Hollywood Reporter that Revolt has been unaffected by the allegations against its founder. “Since [his departure], there’s been no interaction or anything in terms of leading or driving the brand,” he said in March. “We lost no clients, we lost no employees, we didn’t lose a dollar. Q4 was the largest quarter in the history of Revolt, and 2023 was the best advertising year we’ve had in the history of Revolt. In all ways it was record-breaking, even in the middle of a crisis.”
It’s become more common for new media companies to offer employees a stake in their success. Publications like Defector, Hell Gate, and 404 Media are worker-owned. The start-up Puck also offers employees “a small ownership stake in the company,” according to The New York Times.
