- Group Black's CEO Montaque took a leave and several top executives have exited.
- Group Black was founded to channel ad dollars to Black-owned media after Black Lives Matter pledges.
- Companies have pulled back on DEI efforts but Group Black continues to announce partnerships.
Group Black, a company started in 2021 to provide a pipeline of ad dollars to Black-owned media, has seen one of its founders go on leave while several C-suite executives have exited in rapid succession.
Travis Montaque, cofounder and CEO, recently took a leave, three people familiar with the situation told Business Insider. Montaque continues to be listed as cofounder and CEO on the company's website, and a company spokesperson said Montaque remains CEO. Montaque hasn't responded to requests for comment.
The shift has raised questions among insiders about the future direction of the network, which has seen multiple top execs leave in recent months. They include Kerel Cooper, advertising president; Dan Bisgeier, CFO and chief investment officer; Delida Costin, chief legal officer; Mike Owen, chief business officer; Ryan Robertson, SVP of marketing; and Marchelle Wright, chief people officer.
Amid the exits, Ashley Banks, SVP of sales, was promoted July 3 to EVP of commercial, succeeding Cooper.
Montaque is the founder of Holler, a messaging technology and conversational media company, and a fixture of the ad industry conference circuit. He started Group Black with fellow entrepreneurs Richelieu Dennis and Bonin Bough with splashy headlines and a commitment from the ad-buying giant GroupM to spend $75 million of clients' dollars with Group Black's member companies. It also got commitments from other holding companies including IPG and Dentsu. All in all, Group Black said it planned to deploy $500 million in Black-owned media by the end of 2022.
Group Black was founded at a time when many advertisers pledged to increase their spending with Black- and minority-owned businesses and media companies following the 2020 murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans, but many Black-owned media properties don't have the audience scale required by big advertisers. Some brands have provided updates on their commitments since, but gains by Black-owned media companies have been uneven overall. Many companies have also since pulled back on their DEI commitments.
Group Black aimed to drive ad dollars to and buy stakes in media companies
In addition to the millions in funding commitments, Group Black attracted corporate America bigs to its board, such as Ursula Burns, the former CEO of Xerox and the first Black woman Fortune 500 CEO; and Seth Kaufman, former CEO of Moët Hennessy North America.
Group Black's idea was to help steer ad dollars to its member companies and use some of the ad dollars to buy stakes in media companies. It listed among its founding member companies Essence, which is part of Dennis' company, Sundial Media; podcast company Pod Digital Media; and lifestyle media company She Media. Various outlets also reported that Group Black sought to acquire stakes in media companies including Sports Illustrated publisher Arena Group and Vox Media.
Two people familiar with the situation said Group Black didn't collect as much money as it expected to receive from the holding companies and also delayed making some payments owed to publishers.
In 2023, Montaque addressed the issue in an op-ed, saying that agencies' practice of stretching out payments led to delayed payments to Group Black's publisher partners.
Group Black continues to do deals with companies, announcing last month that it would put together programming and develop original content for a new multicultural hub on NBCU's Peacock streaming service, "E!+, which is separate from NBCU's E! Network.
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