Toby Bateman, who was announced last week as a new CEO for the $100 million Hodinkee ecommerce and media firm, will telecommute with New York from his home in London.
Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer, who is taking a new role of executive chairman after investors pumped $40 million into the business, told WatchPro in an interview to be published next month that adapting to this year’s pandemic has convinced him and his investors that Mr Bateman does not need to be in the office full time.
“A year ago, I am not sure we would have even considered a CEO telecommuting from London to New York, but covid has changed everything. We have employees in Virginia, California and all over the place,” Mr Clymer describes.
Asked whether a CEO in London could lead to international expansion for Hodinkee, Mr Clymer replied: “Not at all. We do look at the European market, but I can tell you that it is not in our short term plans.”
A $40 million fund raise was not needed to cover losses, but the money and new leadership team will allow the company to accelerate growth. “We are really talking about more of the same,” Mr Clymer says when asked how the money will be put to work.
“I fundamentally believe that content is everything, so we will go out and hire new editors, new photographers, new videographers. We want to produce the very best content. We have a track record of that. Content is my background and Jack Forster’s background. We feel really good about the future of our content development. It might surprise some folks, but we believe the future is all about content,” he concludes.
