Yesterday, we were treated to an impromptu Inside SHiT during the This Week in Tech pre-show, which occurred when #Soup started blabbing about how much money TWiT makes. CeHO had to come in to correct everything as usual.
Please give timestamps to interesting events and we’ll copy them up to the article here as a list. Examples:
- 1:49 – $7 million in gross sales.
- 3:11 – Talk about worthless net worth.
- 5:09 – 5 figures, more on bandwidth, expenses…
- 7:20 – Different bank accounts / puddles
- 11:11 – Leo does not care.
- 16:45 – Chad is doing great. He came to thank us. Some people shouldn’t be employees. Oh my god Chad is so happy. He is so thrilled. He’s so excited with what he’s doing. We love Chad. He’s living his dream. He said you know what, you work really really really hard when you’re doing this yourself. We’re going to visit him when we go to LA. That was a tough one. His loyalty was divided. Chad should be saying it himself. He says it to us. That’s all that matters.
- 19:25 – We torture our employees a bit, but it’s kinda fun, right? He he he he.
We’re (#OneAss “royal we”) usually in our live chat if you want to come complain about wasting 21 minutes of your life that you can never get back.
1:51 – $7 million in gross sales.
3:18 – Talk about worthless net worth.
5:23 – 5 figures, more on bandwidth, expenses…
5:54 – Lisa gives raises to undeserving people.
7:43 – Different bank account to evade something…
11:16 – Leo does not care.
13:11 – Charging for insurance but paying them less.
White Obama» Quote comment
Mrs Laporte said all show this year made money, why did Amber Mac, chad, and Sarah all have shows cancelled if profitable?
the retention rate of employees is very low, who is left other than Jason and Brian?
funny Leo, did not want to talk money, but will show the Audis segways, diamond jewelry, endless phones, grand vacations etc.
Two kids in college…state colleges not exactly that expensive considering he sent both to private schools.
Unbelievable» Quote comment
Both Abby and Henry have went or go to out of state colleges.
specie8470» Quote comment
His daughter is at Dominican, I think. A pricey private school in San Rafael. His son goes to CU, a state school, but also must be paying out of state tuition. Therefore…. Pricey
BranMan77» Quote comment
ps what ever happened to Dane Golden, he went from President to former employee, when Lisa started,
Unbelievable» Quote comment
I’ve worked with people like this CEO, you can work her out like a tic-tac-toe board. She cleaned house, and it took a while, but her prime directive is having things her way.
H» Quote comment
I don’t know where Dane is now, but in the TWiT Cottage era, Leo bought out Dane’s share of the business, and that was the end of Dane, unfortunately.
If I were to assume, Dane is probably on some island smoking a cigar, and laughing hysterically at TWiT now.
Sith Lord» Quote comment
“I’m not a trophy wife you guys!”
No, you’re a tranny.
Jimmy Jam» Quote comment
Lisa is just a golddigging slut.
specie8470» Quote comment
I still think she’s an Ape. Maybe even the Great Ape.
Ken Sintek» Quote comment
Sir Jam,
Please provide some backup for your assertion that the C_E_Outstanding! is tranny. It seems to me the preponderance of the evidence just points to Lisa just having low estrogen and looking manly in some of her social media post. Since when is not being very photogenic (or having a chemical imbalance) a crime? And it certainly doesn’t impact all the good things she has brought to TWiT. I’m pretty certain when that new store is up and running even the TD trolls will be wearing their TWiT colors!
#TWiT_tastic
Fake Molly» Quote comment
And I personally think it’s nice that Leo and his low testosterone and Lisa and her low estrogen can support each other. To me it’s just more proof they belong together!
Fake Molly» Quote comment
I wonder what happened to talk Molly?
DTO» Quote comment
nom nom nom nom, food….nom nom nom nom.
Joe» Quote comment
$7 to 10 million? I find that hard to believe
Joeblow» Quote comment
They’re both lying sacks, there is no way they pull that in. Shut up about politics, Beck pulls in 80 and has over 300 employees.
Mark Harry» Quote comment
I find it funny how Leo keeps saying ‘…and what’s left is what I get to keep’. Actually Mr. Laporte, you don’t get to keep it, it’s the corporations’s money. Yes, you can pay yourself a dividend at the end of the year (the maximum based entirely on TWiT’s profit for that fiscal year), but to assume it’s your money is not correct. You should be paying yourself a salary as an employee of TWiT, not just taking money out of TWiT’s accounts whenever you feel you’d like to go on another trip. I’m sure the IRS would be very interested if they learned you were, in fact, doing this but not claiming it as taxable income.
You need to keep money in the company’s accounts to cover any unexpected costs or to pay new talent (ok, sorry I couldn’t keep a straight face when I type that last bit).
Oh, and his off the cuff comment about not seeing his tax return yet? Seriously, it was due in mid-April in the US. You needed to sign it before submitting it to the IRS. How can you say honestly you haven’t seen your tax return yet? If you’re making as much money as you say you’re making, you’re most likely paying taxes which means you need to submit your return by the deadline.
Marcus» Quote comment
Right on
Jason» Quote comment
Most business file extensions, therefore no tax return until October and I believe he runs a LLC so he would be able to keep the money. LLC are just pass through organizations like an s-corp.
DTO» Quote comment
Leo has repeatedly thanked Kevin Rose for telling him to make TWiT a LLC.
Scott» Quote comment
If they need an extension to not need to file a return until October, then they either have an incompetent accountant, or they’re realizing they’ve screwed up royally somewhere and are frantically trying to cover up their mistakes before filing. I certainly don’t own a business as big as TWiT, but I’m able to track everything to the point I can provide a report to the tax authority at a moments notice. TWiT accounting should be able to do the same….if they knew what they were doing.
Marcus» Quote comment
Usually nit the accountants fault, more likely the CEO being disorganized and needing more time to get there stuff together.
DTO» Quote comment
Hi all
Here we go again. I watched or listened to the video and it shows by the way they talk where the money goes. Leo doesn’t give a rats ass about finances and it shows big time in this video. I can understand not wanting to deal with the bills but when you’re a business owner you have to be in the loop as to what you are earning and what is going out in expenses. Not caring or wanting to know how much money you have and make, when you are the big man behind the company is just irresponsible. One minute he wants to be transparent and the next he wants to hide his profits he is milking from his company. You can’t have it both ways. Also there were some side comments as to his gadget waste spending, which is probably where most of his money goes if it not for his mommy slut wife telling him to not buy things at times. Yeah he has massive bills that he pays out every month or year, ie his kids in collage, his mortgage and utilities, food, credit cards and his technology habit, but those are personal expenses and should be coming from his Radio Show pay, not lumped into TWIT pay and expenses. I love how he likes to separate them when he wants to and then add them together to prove a point or say he is footing TWIT’s bills or ventures. I thought TWIT is profitable. This man has no financial sense what so ever, he acts like a 16 year old kid with an allowance from Mommy / Wife.
As for this gold digging slut, she sounds sleazy and secretive in that latest video. It’s not that hard to pull up a spreadsheet on your phone or tablet and say here’s the numbers, but it just shows you she is just as lazy as Leo when it comes to being in charge of a company. She’ll probably padd the books for a nice show presentation if they ever do a ‘open the books’ state of TWIT. Also I noticed some interesting comments that I agree with relating to “if TWIT is making money why are they firing people / hosts and canceling shows when all were profitable.’ Goes to show you there’s a lie in there somewhere.
Again to anyone I recommend watching the video because it shows at times how they really feel about the state of TWIT. On a side note, the only shows I watch on TWIT are “This Week in Computer Hardware” “Security Now” and “Windows Weekly.” The last two are mainly in support of Steve and Paul but Leo makes it hard t watch sometimes because of stupid dumb ass comments and don’t give a shit attitude.
Thanks Total Drama
Jason» Quote comment
BUT keep in mind that Jennifer technically owns half of twit. He has to give her half of the profits every year. The more personal expenses he can put on the company, the less he has to give her. Not that that’s legal, but you know he does it — that’s where all the new phones and computers come from. Lisa’s 5K iMac was probably charged to the company, too, so she can have a “work from home” computer. They can make all the justifications they want and you just know it’s so they don’t have share as much of the profits with Jennifer. I’d love to see TWiT audited. That would be a total meltdown.
JAS» Quote comment
And let us not forget the stupid $8000 lens. There is $4K right out of Jennifer’s pocket.
The Peacekeeper» Quote comment
Did you guys catch how Lisa thinks paying commissions is “losing money”? I would think a CEO would consider that an expense of doing business not a loss. I get now how Leo is always claiming he loses money , he losses money every time payroll is paid in his mind.
DTO» Quote comment
Paying your staff is not losing money but you’re right she has brain washed him into thinking cut everywhere you can and this way you can keep as much money as possible, even though it takes more than just him and Lisa to do the shows and publish them out.
On the note of publishing shows, why does it take her a day to do post production and publishing on TNSS when she wants the other editors to push out the podcasts in hours. She’s a hypocrite among other things.
Jason» Quote comment
The former Mrs. Laporte was a filter–it was incumbent on her to say “no, you can’t”–and Mr. Laporte divorced her. The current Mrs. Laporte is an enabler–it is incumbent on her to say “yes, you can”–and Mr. Laporte embraces her. When enablers lose sight of their function, they risk becoming exes.
Just sayin’ and best regards
freheel» Quote comment
How many millions does it cost to not constantly have communication issues with the cohosts on Windows Weekly and MacBreak Weekly week in and week out. No one would care if the failures weren’t like clockwork. Podcasts smaller by orders of magnitude don’t seem to have these issues in the final product. Oh, and they don’t leave the mic with their cohosts hanging out to dry to eat lunch either.
H» Quote comment
This video helped clarify things for me – the two sides of TWIT.
Leo started TWIT as one show, and gradually added more shows and grew the business. He didn’t have to do that, and it was probably a money-losing investment to start out (as business growth usually is). Was he investing money to make money? If so, he would have been aware of all of his finances and he would have cut under-performing shows. However, he didn’t do that. Though there were shows that came and went (I imagine for different reasons, some personal), he kept around some shows that didn’t help the profits – it is possible that most shows were that way. So, why did those shows continue for so long, or why did some of the show hosts continue for so long, and now many, if not most, are gone? This is the strongest evidence I have seen for Lisa’s negative influence on TWIT.
Leo, by his own admission, didn’t really concern himself (and still doesn’t) with the business aspects/finances of TWIT. He actually seemed to really want to create a podcasting (or “netcasting”) network. And, he grew the business and added a variety of different shows. He brought on some well-known people in the tech world and created a network that most of us were quite pleased with at some point, and TWIT thrived. If Leo was only obsessed with money or power, I don’t think it would have played out like that and many of the shows would not have lasted, and many of the hosts never would have worked for him that long, or at all. Back then, Leo seemed to be interested in making shows about anything he or his audience might be interested in. He was liked and respected, and he didn’t have any trouble finding people to work with, or to come on his shows. On the surface at least, his motivations seemed pure, and he had a devout audience of tech lovers willing to follow him and help him build his network. At some point, Lisa got control.
Regardless of her abilities – Leo calls her a genius, and most of the TD group call her a moron – she has managed to get control of TWIT. You can tell in this video that Leo doesn’t really care about the details of the money or business and lets her handle it. And, she is, at the very least, only interested in making money with TWIT (at the worst, she want to bleed it dry). She doesn’t care about the shows that Leo once created or allowed to continue. She is not concerned with the creative side of the business. She is only interested in the bottom line. And, she has either convinced Leo that this is the best path for TWIT, or he has given her the power to make it happen and is entrusting her to run the business how she sees fit (again, he did call her a genius). Regardless, the outcome is the same, and TWIT has deteriorated badly, and the losers are the show hosts and the viewers.
Unfortunately, I believe it is possible for TWIT to continue in its current direction and still exist, and possibly even thrive. If the revenue stays the same , or even decreases, but the expenses are continually decreasing, it is possible for them to make more money. And, making more money is what Lisa is interested in. As long as they have enough viewers/downloads to support the ad revenue platform, this is likely to continue. And, Leo is going to defend his wife, and his choice to allow her to manage his business no matter what we say. Consequently, we are left to mourn, criticize or complain about the death of the TWIT we once enjoyed.
SLY» Quote comment
One thing that Leo used to know, but that Lisa has apparently made him forget, is that the smaller shows DO help the bottom line, even if they “lose money.”
The niche shows, like FLOSS Weekly or The Social Hour or Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour, may not have audiences large enough to sustain an ad model, but they target specific audiences and those smaller audiences become aware of TWiT, check out the other programming offerings, and eventually start watching the money-maker shows.
They should view these smaller shows as targeted advertisements for the larger shows. If you can draw in a niche audience and make them aware of your brand and more general offerings through a niche show, you’ll acquire additional viewers. Plus, it’s not like these smaller shows are super expensive to make — DKSH was Dr. Kiki and a TD for an hour a week. Now, I know Lisa has these obscene numbers — “OMG it costs $10 million per half hour to run a show!” But that’s total BS. They’d be airing reruns. They said in this video that most of the staff are salaried workers, meaning it’s just a matter of adjusting the schedule to make sure someone is there — it’s not like they’d have to pay them more. The only additional cost is electricity. Which, I mean, come on…
Honestly, I don’t know why Lisa doesn’t see this. People call into the TTG every few weeks and say that they heard about Leo through a smaller podcast and checked out the whole network.
And LEO USED TO KNOW THIS! He built the whole business on this model! He’s said this many, many times.
smh
JAS» Quote comment
Good points that make sense to us or anyone interested in growing the business, but I don’t think Lisa is interested in growing the business. I think she is only interested in making money in the short term with a cutting expenses approach.
SLY» Quote comment
Well said!
Esch» Quote comment
Always seems so strange that Lisa has to drop all these first year accounting terms into every business discussion, like she’s trying to prove she’s a “CEO”. Gross sales, liquidity, net worth, blah, blah, blah. She’s a bookkeper + office manager + sales person. I’d love to see how she actually manages/motivate/leads the team out there, or how she’d handle being dropped into any sort of leadership role in, say, a San Francisco tech start-up.
Not Impressed» Quote comment
The lesson on net vs. gross income was so enlightening. It’s not Leo alone wbo confuses the two.
Fake Mollie» Quote comment
So true. She never says anything past accounting 101 which I took 20 years ago. And she is so dumb she thinks Leo doesn’t understand that stuff. She is like a dog Leo pretends is running house. Do the fans believe the giggling girl runs the place?
Mike» Quote comment
Hey Not Impressed,
I ran a gross sales analysis on the net worth of your post and found there to be absolutely no liquidity.
Fake Molly» Quote comment
Because the Giz Wiz is a Facebook friend, the CEHO was recommended to friend. Her profile is disturbing, including the infamous picture of her and her kid in a hot tub. Under education there’s only a high school listed. Not that’s anything wrong with that, but just proves how ill-equipped she is for the job.
Holden» Quote comment
Hey buddy check your facts before you run your mouth! Lisa is highly educated, she attended University of Phoenix.
Jimmy Jam» Quote comment
Leo and Lisa are always trying to do this dance where they want to give the impression the network is making SOOOO much money ($7mm+++, of course), but then in the same breath it’s SOOOO expensive to run the network that they’re hardly getting by. The act got old five or so years ago.
EyeRoller» Quote comment
Yeah, they want you to be impressed and pity them all at the same time.
Esch» Quote comment
Did anyone catch the quickie about the rent being too high and five figures or some such thing. They are out in the middle of Podunk, California. Why are they renting in the first place?
This says to me they are thinking short term and will bail out at the drop of a hat. Renters mentality.
Also, is anyone actually interested in Screen Savers? Leo thinks it is fabulous.
The Peacekeeper» Quote comment