NEAR TRUTHS: RIP TIDE

The Atlantic saga continues to stir much chatter as it becomes clear that the label has been a paper tiger for some time, with huge financial losses. Key among these was the $400m deal for 300, which is now widely recognized as a fiasco. (Askers are asking who inside the company was aware of the pending RICO charges against 300 acts Young Thug and Gunna.) Meanwhile, Atlantic essentially failed to develop new stars over the last five years, until Charli xcx broke—with assists from the rise of Kamala Harris, the “BRAT summer” meme and a Billie Eilish duet—during the lame-duck administration.

Fired CEO Julie Greenwald had, we're told, intimidated the board into making her rich when she was still hot, and subsequently acted as though she were untouchable. She is spending her final weeks at the company, insiders say, stirring up all manner of shit—including threatening staff over their supposed loyalty to her and talking smack about everybody, especially board members. Why is she still there, exactly? Those insiders suggest that once that chapter finally ends, she can go into business with her best friend, Lyor Cohen. (Though he didn’t do her any favors when he was politicking to replace Max Lousada and threw her under the bus.) Now word has it they’re trying to raise money and have appealed to Geoffrey Ogunlesi and his dad, billionaire Nigerian investment banker Adebayo Ogunlesi, for funding, implying that they’ll be able to sign Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran to their newco once the stars are out of their Atlantic deals. Adebayo the elder previously invested in 300, while Geoffrey, the heir to the family fortune and now head of entertainment/management firm The Ogunlesi Group, served as an A&R exec and/or consultant at the label for nearly a decade.

Julie and Lyor could be successful in their next venture(s), to be sure, but don’t get in their way or they’ll run you over with a cement truck and throw your body in the East River.