Jason Stein, CEO of Cycle Media–which includes the Laundry Service creative agency and Cycle, a digital media company responsible for the ESPN collaborations Buckets and Last Table–is leaving the company effective immediately. The companies will now be led by Jordan Fox (COO), Amy Hellickson (managing director), and chief marketing officer Mike Mikho, who have worked together at Laundry Service and Cycle for years. In a statement, the company said Stein’s departure is amicable, and that he and Casey Wasserman, who purchased the company in 2015, have been orchestrating this transition for a while.
Campaign initially reported that Stein’s departure coincides with the end of his contractual obligations following Wasserman’s $60 million acquisition of Laundry Service in 2015, but sources familiar with the contract say Stein’s earn-out finished in 2016 and has nothing to do with his exit. Stein’s wife, Laundry Service chief creative officer Alyson Warshaw, has also left the company.
Cycle Media was named to Fast Company‘s 2018 Most Innovative Companies in Marketing and Advertising list, and Laundry Service was named to AdAge‘s A-List as a top 10 agency in both 2017 and 2018.
News of the C-suite move comes at the same time that Adweek reported layoffs at the company numbering about 40 to 60 people. In a statement to Fast Company, a company representative said the layoffs are “part of the usual agency ebb and flow and are not related to a specific client or any other occurrence.”
This story has been updated with additional details about Stein’s contractual obligations following the acquisition of Laundry Service.
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