Three more editors leave CBR, continuing exodus pattern
Three news editors have departed the site, according to social media posts
The editorial exodus from Valnet’s CBR.com continues, with three editors leaving the site in the past few days. According to social media posts, news editor Brandon Schreur, weekend comics news editor Sean Gribbin, and remote news editor Narayan Liu have all left CBR.
None of the three explicitly gave reasons for their departure, although inferences could be taken both from Schreur’s reference to “V*****”, or Gribbin’s reference to having written 1,200 articles in his two years at the site working weekends. (It is, however, always possible that the new departures are entirely unrelated to the recent layoffs of the company's lead editorial staffers.)
It’s perhaps notable that all three thanked Stephen Gerding in their farewell announcements; Gerding was one of three members of CBR’s core editorial staff laid off at the end of May as part of what parent company Valnet terms as “major structural changes related to turning the corner on both culture and performance” at the site.
Subsequent reporting uncovered a situation where Valnet’s desire to push its staff to over-perform while refusing to listen to complaints or concerns from those same workers, with one former employee going so far as to state, “Anyone who attempted to push back or ask for more was either pushed out or outright let go.”
As of writing, it is unclear if CBR intends to replace the departed staffers. Its current “About” page lists only four editors, with the roles of lead comics editor, lead anime editor, lead gaming editor, and lead TCG editor all being filled by one person. The site maintains open jobs listings for writers in multiple categories on both Indeed.com and LinkedIn.com.
