Rich Antoniello | How Complex Became a Media Empire and Driver of Culture

Rich Antoniello is the founder and former CEO of Complex Networks, a media and entertainment company for youth culture that reports on popular and emerging trends in style, sneakers, food, music, sports, and pop culture. Complex was originally started as a bi-monthly magazine by fashion designer Marc Eckō. Rich joined forces with Marc several years in and helped transform the company into a multi-media conglomerate of brands which includes First We Feast, ComplexCon, Pigeons & Planes, and Sole Collector. The company was first acquired in 2016 through a joint venture by Verizon and Hearst, and went through a second acquisition in 2021 by Buzzfeed via a SPAC merger valued at around $300 million. Rich served as CEO of Complex for 18 years, starting in 2003 until stepping down last year following the Buzzfeed acquisition. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER & STAY UPDATED > http://bit.ly/tfh-newsletter FOLLOW TFH ON INSTAGRAM > http://www.instagram.com/thefounderhour FOLLOW TFH ON TWITTER > http://www.twitter.com/thefounderhour INTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR? EMAIL US > [email protected]

The Founder Hour · Rich Antoniello, Patrick Tanahan, Nerses Aposhian