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  4. Leaked memo reveals a sports media startup just laid off 22 people without severance or healthcare into the teeth of the coronavirus pandemic - unless they signed an NDA

Leaked memo reveals a sports media startup just laid off 22 people without severance or healthcare into the teeth of the coronavirus pandemic - unless they signed an NDA

Allana Akhtar   

Leaked memo reveals a sports media startup just laid off 22 people without severance or healthcare into the teeth of the coronavirus pandemic - unless they signed an NDA
overtime sports dan porter CEO
  • Digital sports media startup Overtime laid off at least 22 employees on March 25, according to a memo seen by Business Insider.
  • Overtime has raised $35.3 million in seven rounds of funding to date. Company investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and NBA players Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
  • According to internal documents seen by Business Insider, Overtime only agreed to give laid-off employees one month of health insurance if they agreed to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The company that strove to be the "ESPN for Generation Z" just laid off nearly two dozen workers without severance pay in the thick of the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

Overtime, a digital sports media startup covering high school athletics, laid off at least 22 employees on March 25 over email, according to a source familiar with the situation.

An internal document seen by Business Insider reveals that the company offered one month of health insurance only to employees that signed a nondisclosure agreement about the layoff. Employees did not receive additional payment as part of any severance package.

Overtime CEO Dan Porter said the economic recession caused by the novel coronavirus had led to less revenue, and that the company had lost money due to the cancelled McDonald's All American game for high school basketball players.

Overtime has raised $35.3 million in seven rounds of funding, including a $23 million in a Series B funding round in February 2019, according to Crunchbase.

Overtime's investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and Sapphire Ventures, as well as NBA players Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.

Porter told Business Insider in 2017 he planned to turn Overtime into the a sports media juggernaut like ESPN, but one that catered to a young, tech-savvy audience. "We will launch a full-fledged news website," he told Business Insider's Nathan McAlone at the time. Overtime currently has 25 programs with original content it produces and distributes on its own.

Overtime declined to comment on the layoffs.



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