• by Ray Schultz , December 11, 2023

Ross Levinsohn, who seemed to have survived last week’s executive purge at Sports Illustrated, is out. 

The Arena Group, which owns Sports Illustrated, announced on Monday that the board terminated the employment of CEO Ross Levinsohn, and named Manoj Bhargava as interim CEO, both effective immediately. 

The company said it took actions to improve its operational efficiency and revenue.

Last week, The Arena Group confirmed that operations president and COO Andrew Kraft and president of media Rob Barrett were leaving as part of adjustments designed to increase efficiency. 

This followed a scandal over the publication of AI-generated articles by Sports Illustrated. 

The Arena Group had issued a statement saying, “The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce" that were "written and edited by humans.” The company did not confirm that the dismissals of Kraft and Barrett (and now Levinsohn) were related to the AI incident. 

Bhargava, the energy drink tycoon who acquired the firm earlier this year, held a 90-minute video meeting with staff, according to Front Office Sports. Bhargava reportedly told the staff, “The amount of useless stuff you guys do is staggering.”