Would not surprise me if some kind of sale is in the works. I don’t see how they survive as an independent.

You’re right: there has been an amazing number of people leaving CNET in all areas. And most of the departures are from outside the IT area. There have been a huge number of executive level people exiting and a great number of mid-level management positions from all over.

Whatever you think of Ted, it’s a mistake to lay this at his feet. Most of the people who have left CNET had little to do with either IT or Ted. And if Ted messed up the IT culture, CNET has had a year and a half to fix that problem … why haven’t they? Because CNET leadership doesn’t think there is a problem to fix. I think they are wrong: there is a problem but it goes much deeper than Ted and IT.

Why is there such an exodus from the entire organization? I think it has far more to do with poor corporate performance and the stock options issues which clearly shook the trust people had in the individual leaders. A lack of a meaningful direction and the relentless “spin” put on everything has left people feeling adrift.

I personally left a year after Ted left. When Ted left, CNET made the decision that they didn’t need a CIO / CTO because the other executive leadership felt they were very technically savvy. I felt my profession was mildly disrespected at that time and as I worked through the year, the “mild” turned to “greatly”. I’ve had a number of jobs and worked in a number of different organizational structures but none of them were as frustrating as my last year at CNET.

If CNET manages the influx of new people properly, doesn’t scar them the way the old guard was scarred, then the new blood could reinvigorate the organization.

YES. Although one could argue that many of them didn’t get the opportunity to use their brains to start with.