Sarah Personette is the CEO of Puck, a media company that's been around for about five years. Puck hires big star reporters who write newsletters as part of a subscription bundle. Those newsletters are often must-reads in their industries, and those reporters get equity in Puck and a share of the company's revenue.
It's a place where the financial incentives of the influencer economy crash right into the rigors of traditional journalism — and as regular Decoder listeners know, I have a lot of questions about how those two things work (or don't) in the modern media landscape. 

Links: 
<ul>
 <li>
Puck buys Air Mail in deal valued at $16M | <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/puck-acquires-air-mail-graydon-carter-steps-down/">The Wrap</a>
</li>
 <li>
The man yelling ‘iceberg’ on the Hollywood Titanic | <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/business/matthew-belloni-puck-hollywood.html">New York Times</a>
</li>
 <li>
Sarah Personette joins news startup Puck as CEO | <a href="https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/sarah-personette-puck-ceo-1235862467/">Variety</a>
</li>
 <li>
Are we past peak newsletter? | <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/business/media/newsletters-bubble.html">New York Times</a>
</li>
 <li>
Two new newsletters bet they’ve got Hollywood covered | <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-08-02/two-new-hollywood-newsletters-are-betting-theyve-got-the-town-covered">LA Times</a>
</li>
</ul>
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane. 
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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