Away co-founder Steph Korey, the one who stepped down as CEO following reports of her role in creating a toxic culture, is back at the helm of the luggage startup, The New York Times reports.
The original plan was for Lululemon COO Stuart Haselden to take over today and, in a way, he will. Though, Haselden will now be co-CEO along with Korey. In an interview with the NYT, Korey said the board changed its mind after realizing it wasn’t the right move.
This all comes after The Verge’s explosive investigation into Away’s toxic workplace. Since then, the company has hired a lawyer, Elizabeth M. Locke, though has not filed a lawsuit. If Locke’s name sounds familiar, it may be because she’s the one who successfully sued Rolling Stone for defamation regarding an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia.
“Steph Korey responding to our reporting by saying her behavior and comments were ‘wrong, plain and simple’ and then choosing to step down as CEO speaks for itself,” The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel said in a statement to the NYT.
Following The Verge’s story, which described a workplace where Korey was known for berating employees via Slack, Korey tweeted last month that she was “making things right” at the company.
“I’m not proud of my behavior in those moments, and I’m sincerely sorry for what I said and how I said it,” she tweeted. “It was wrong, plain and simple.”
She added that she had also been working with an executive coach since those incidents the report highlighted. According to The Wall Street Journal, Away had been looking for Korey’s replacement since the spring.
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In a Slack note sent to employees today, Korey said what happened in December created a lot of confusion, and more questions than answers. She added that it “unleashed a social media mob — not just on me, but also on many of you.”
At this point, Away’s plan is to consider legal action against The Verge and try to improve lines of communication within the company.
