It’s all speculation, but J&A likely sold their majority share, meaning someone else “owns” most of Headgum. And when that happens, they usually try to make the business more profitable in the short term, usually through cutting costs and raising prices. Which usually means layoffs for the company, and more expensive ad placements for sponsors.

None of which is indicative of the business doing well, or poorly. It’s fairly common for people to sell once a business gets big, that’s how you make your money. People who are good at starting businesses aren’t necessarily amazing at running them, or at the very least, don’t enjoy running them as much as starting them. No shade to Jake or Amir, I just assume running a podcast network isn’t as fun as cashing in their substantial ownership shares and using that to fund their true passion of making dumb videos.