Can Puck’s CEO reinvent the news business for the influencer age?

Can Puck’s CEO reinvent the news business for the influencer age?

From Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge

April 13, 2026 · 1h 15m

About this episode

The episode features an interview with Sarah Personette, CEO of Puck, discussing the intersection of the influencer economy and traditional journalism.

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. Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links: Puck buys Air Mail in deal valued at $16M | The Wrap The man yelling ‘iceberg’ on the Hollywood Titanic | New York Times Sarah Personette joins news startup Puck as CEO | Variety Are we past peak newsletter? | New York Times Two new newsletters bet they’ve got Hollywood covered | LA Times Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! 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…

People in this episode

Guest: Sarah Personette

Topics covered

  • media
  • influencer economy
  • journalism
  • news business

Keywords

  • Puck
  • newsletters
  • subscription model
  • reporters
  • equity

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Decoder, Titanic, Puck

Places: Hollywood

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