Much has changed since Gurbaksh Chahal hit publish on a scorching blog post on July 12. Then, he was promising an unceasing legal war against RadiumOne, the company he founded and led until his ouster in the spring in the wake of pleading guilty to domestic violence charges. At the time, Chahal said he was owed an apology from RadiumOne’s board and would expose what he called “greed, deception and betrayal” in his ouster.
That post was deleted, and now Chahal and RadiumOne are playing begrudgingly nice, with a joint statement that agrees to let bygones be bygones. Chahal did not quite get the apology he was demanding in his July 12 blog post, but he did get some recognition to the difficulties that resulted from pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault charges, being publicly and roundly excoriated, and ultimately fired by a board that previously supported his plea. From the statement:
The Board had always intended Gurbaksh to lead the company, and recognizes the enormous contributions he has made to RadiumOne. The Board knows that many people, including Gurbaksh and his family, have suffered tremendously. The Board did not intend to hurt Gurbaksh or his family by its decision, and recognizes that Gurbaksh’s termination made an already difficult situation for Gurbaksh and his family worse.
Chahal for his part “accepts” the statement, according to the release.
In an interview, which at the insistence of Chahal’s PR rep could not address anything beyond Gravity4, Chahal described his ad tech system as a way to cutting through the chaos of the Lumascape. It is a pitch that many ad tech companies make, of course, and the system he describes will — a way for marketers and agencies to more easily buy programmatically — will put it, inevitably, in competition with RadiumOne.
One aspect of Gravity4 that’s raised eyebrows: How was Chahal able to, in three months, build an all-in-one digital marketing platform and attract 50 full-time employees in three months with plans to open offices in New York and Chicago by the end of the year?
“One way is you know a lot of people in the industry,” he said. “There’s a lot of people I’ve wanted to work with over the last 15 years.”
Chahal declined to name any of the early employees or names of clients. As for building a brand in the wake of the domestic-violence charges, Chahal’s PR rep cut off the question and would not allow him to answer on the record.
-
Dentsu’s new Web3 readiness tool shines light on the tech’s potential to complement AI
Dentsu's Innovation Initiative is launching a web3 readiness index next month — at a time when the industry is obsessed with AI. Could the two technologies actually make a good pair?
-
Digiday+ Research deep dive: Publishers large and small put their resources into first-party data
Eighty-two percent of publishers overall say they're already using first-party data to prepare for the end of the third-party cookie, and nearly half are requiring users to register and integrating first-party data segments into DSPs – indicating that first-party data is the clear path forward for publishers heading into the post-cookie world.
-
Media Briefing: Why publishers hope chatbots will be the latest retention tool
Publishers hope the chatbots they are developing will be the latest retention tool to keep readers onsite and to get them to consume more content.
-
SponsoredHow enterprise-grade CDPs are enhancing data processes and improving customer experiences
Produced in partnership with Marketecture The following article highlights an interview between Martin Kihn, Salesforce’s senior vice president of Marketing Cloud, and Ari Paparo, founder and CEO of Marketecture Media. Register to watch more of the discussion and learn how brands are making the most of enterprise-grade CDP technologies. As brands expand across channels and […]
-
How programmatic advertising will evolve this year on the heels of audio growth and privacy changes
Comscore’s programmatic division Proximic released a State of Programmatic study highlighting the growth of audio and podcasting, other digital advertising channels and challenges around third-party data.
-
Why podcasters are selling subscriptions through third-party vendors
Many podcasters are turning to third party platforms like Supporting Cast and Supercast to launch or grow their subscription businesses beyond Spotify or Apple.
