The not-so-great Gatsby
Friday, August 10th, 2007Gatsby publishing, the company behind the now defunct US magazine The New York Dog and equally defunct Irish gossip site Blogorrah is in some serious financial trouble; although the exact reasons for this are still up for debate.
Dig & Scratch today posted a long report detailing accusations made by alleged former employees directed at Gatsby owner John Ryan. In the post he is accused of having no business acumen, of owing staff huge sums in back-pay and of putting his own fashion needs above the company and its staff’s survival.
Ryan, on the other hand, says that the business collapsed because advertisers weren’t paying up and he wasn’t prepared for the job that issue created, due to his more modest routes in Irish publishing.
One thing to keep in mind is that Dig & Scratch certainly wouldn’t be too cut up at the news of its rival’s downfall; indeed it seems as though it has gone out of its way to bring today’s news to certain sections of the Irish blogosphere. As such everything it says on the matter must be read with skeptical eyes.
But while the exact reasons for the magazine’s collapse remain uncertain one thing can be stated with no doubt - Gatsby is in serious trouble and its prospects of survival are not looking too good at the moment.
All the financial trouble at The New York Dog certainly puts the silence on Blogorrah into perspective, doesn’t it?
(73man, who doesn’t know his right from his left, was ahead of the pack with this story and has even elicited a response from someone claiming to be John Ryan… and someone who doesn’t seem to like John Ryan very much.)
Blogs elsewhere
August 10th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
(73man, who doesn’t know his right from his left,
haha
August 11th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I’m one of those alleged former staffers at Gatsby Publishing, The New York Dog and the Hollywood Dog magazines. Believe it or not, John does owe staff in excess of $50,000. That doesn’t count the vendors, writers, printers, advertiser, subscribers, photographers etc that he also owes. Amazing that even though John has done something very similar before, some people want to jump on John’s “poor pitiful me pity party” and rant and rave about how talented this con artist “used to be”. The man peferred to pay his own rent, buy new office furniture, computers, carpeting, lamps, etc rather than pay his staff!
For Heaven’s sake, There are many more than two disgruntled x-staffers. By the way, if you would like to post the email John actually sent out to staff on 2 different occassions, just let me know, I’ll send it to you! It was that very email that prompted me to resign on May 17, 2007 and then he got mad with me because I did and refused to work any longer for FREE. How many of you would work for FREE while being owed over $15,000 in back wages? Just because he “charming” tells you how much he “loves” you! Peeleeezzzeee! If John is so truly distraught over the whole mess, then why doesn’t he sell the assests of the company, brand new IMac, furniture, lamps, fictures and equipment and pay the staff from those proceeds instead of ducking into a hole somewhere and avoiding facing up to his liabilities to his staff?
In the meantime, if you paid for advertising with a credit card or if you paid for a subscription with a credit card, the only way you will probably get you money back is to contact you credit card company and file for a refund of the money.
You can also check out the New York Better Business Bureau site. I see that a complaint has been filed against Gatsby there. I’m sure that once others see this, you’ll havelots of comments to post from former staffers who he also has shafted.
August 11th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Hi Janice - after I wrote this blog post it became clear to me that the staff referenced in the piece were real (although for obvious reasons I’m not in a position to state your claims as fact, nor John Ryan’s).
I wrote a piece up on this for an Irish paper that should be out tomorrow - I had hoped to speak to you myself but didn’t get your contact details until after my deadline but I did use some of the quotes from comments on Dig&Scratch etc.
August 11th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
That’s fine Adam. No problem…
Thank you for covering it clearly for us. Perhaps John will see the error of his ways and fork over some of the money he’s been hoarding and pay us!
August 12th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
[…] The fall of Bloggorah/Gatsby? because of that dog magazine in NY? […]
August 14th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
The Irish/American Blog connection? Whats the real news behind the news, Adam?
August 14th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
ehmmm…
Irish businessman and publisher gets accused by former staff of being the reason for his company’s troubles.
I thought that would be clear enough…
August 15th, 2007 at 2:18 am
Don’t tell me you didn’t know that Blogorrah was owned by Gatsby Publishing and was produced right out of New York….
The real news is right there for everyone to see. While John make several comments about how other staffers would have a radically different idea about him from myself and Simone, apparently he was wrong!The rest of them have plenty to say so stay tuned for the update on all that story soon!
August 15th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Telepathy!! is that how this thing works? Funny your post dosen’t mention any, “Irish businessman and publisher gets accused by former staff of being the reason for his company’s troubles.” Clear enough!
August 15th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Telepathy!! is that how this thing works? Funny your post dosen’t mention any, “Irish businessman and publisher gets accused by former staff of being the reason for his company’s troubles.” Clear enough!
You’ll notice the article makes Gatsby’s Irish-focused operations quite clear, it is about John Ryan, a well-known Irish businessman and even references his experience as an Irish publisher.
It also to refers to the accusations laid against him by former staff.
Taken from the post (with added emphasis):
Gatsby publishing, the company behind the… defunct Irish gossip site Blogorrah
Dig & Scratch today posted a long report detailing accusations made by alleged former employees directed at Gatsby owner John Ryan.
Ryan [says]… he wasn’t prepared for the job that issue created, due to his more modest routes in Irish publishing.
(In my rush to publish I said ‘routes’ instead of ‘roots’, my mistake.)
I’m not sure how much clearer I could have made it, to be honest.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Thge ignorance is all mine. Telepathy akin to, Devine Intervention, isn’t the catch all it could be. Thanks for your timely responce pointing out the error of my ways, Re: Link, (Dig & Scratch today posted a long report)