Candace Owens Relishes In Her Former Boss' Struggles: 'That's Not A Company. That's A Cult'
Pocharapon Neammanee
Updated
1
Right-wing podcaster Candace Owens is relishing in the reported financial downfall of her former employer, The Daily Wire, bashing the conservative media company and its co-founder Ben Shapiro.
“So, why is this happening? Well, because they’re unnecessarily awful to everyone,” Owens said on her show Wednesday. “I have never seen a person less capable of making friends, or at least not making enemies. You don’t need to be friends with everybody ... Ben Shapiro — it’s a bizarre talent he has.”
Like this article? Keep independent journalism alive. Support HuffPost.
Owens cited a Semafor article published this week that detailed some of her former employer’s recent financial hurdles.
The company, which once topped charts within conservative spaces with its “anti-woke” stances, has faced a series of staff changes in recent years, including multiple rounds of layoffs, and popular figures like Owens and Brett Cooper departing.
Documents reviewed by the outlet revealed a decline in ad revenue since 2022.
“I love that it’s all happening the year that I left,” said Owens, who was fired following multiple clashes with Shapiro over Israel. “And you can see their subscriptions as well; a complete collapse has happened.”
Semafor reported that Shapiro’s company hasn’t been able to increase the number of subscribers or retain paying members. Paid subscriptions made up about three-quarters of the company’s revenue and plummeted by a third in 2025 from the previous year.
Other financial problems are related to its fantasy scripted series, “The Pendragon Cycle,” according to the memo. The company reportedly spent $50 million to produce the series, but it ultimately did not resonate with audiences.
The data from Semafor was included in its report that The Daily Wire is now in talks to take at least $100 million from an investment firm that would value the company at $750 million and give it an ambitious initial public offering. Owens maintained that the article was “obviously intentionally placed” to attract investors.
Owens, who herself has come under fire for spreading conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s death and baselessly claiming France’s first lady Brigitte Macron is transgender, blamed The Daily Wire’s internal culture for many of its woes.
Shapiro “thinks that people disagreeing with him is a declaration of war,” she said. “This is how the company is run from top to bottom. They hate you if you don’t agree with them.”
She continued, “That’s not a company, that’s a cult, and a cult cannot survive.”
New fast-food meme stock surges 25% as retail traders pile in
Aditya Raghunath
0
Wendy's spent months trying to convince Wall Street its turnaround was real. Then Reddit took over.
Shares of the fast-food chain soared more than 42% intraday on June 24, 2026, briefly making Wendy's (WEN) the most talked-about ticker in retail trading circles.
The "Save Wendy's" campaign swept through WallStreetBets, and what started as an internet joke turned into a short squeeze.
But behind the fireworks, there is a real company with real problems. And investors piling in right now need to understand both sides of the trade.
Retail traders zeroed in on Wendy's stock
The setup was almost textbook.
Wendy's stock is down 70% from its all-time high and has underperformed the broader market by a wide margin over the past decade.
The stock is beaten down, the brand is widely recognized, and the jokes practically wrote themselves.
An Inc. report explained that for years, saying you were "behind the Wendy's" on Wall Street Bets was shorthand for losing everything in the market. That cultural shorthand gave retail traders a story they could rally around.
Stocktwits flagged Wendy's as its No. 1 trending ticker for most of the day the rally began, accounting for roughly 5% of all ticker views on the platform.
Messages using the WEN ticker jumped more than 560% in a single day.
One Reddit user reportedly disclosed a position worth around $350,000 under the headline "$WEN to the moon."
Market analytics firm ORTEX told Inc. that short interest in Wendy's sat at around 34% of its free float, or roughly 53 million shares.
About 80% of the stock available to borrow was already out on loan.Source: Inc.
"It is genuinely crowded on the short side," ORTEX Co-founder Peter Hillerberg told Inc. He added that at normal trading volumes, it would take short sellers five to six days just to buy back the shares they shorted.
That kind of slow exit, combined with a sharp upward move, creates enormous pressure quickly.
According to Inc., short sellers were down roughly $105 million on paper during the move. "The shorts are now genuinely offside," Hillerberg told the publication.
For added context, CNBC reported that retail data firm Vanda Research flagged Wendy's as the most extreme case of abnormal retail buying during the rally, with net purchases exceeding seven times recent norms.
This is not, however, a GameStop-scale setup. Hillerberg noted that GameStop's short interest exceeded 100% of its free float during the 2021 frenzy. Wendy's 34% is meaningful but nowhere near that extreme.
Wendy's is the latest meme stock trending on Reddit.NurPhoto/Getty Images
What Wendy's balance sheet says
Wendy's ended Q1 with total assets of $4.9 billion, fiscal.ai noted.
Total liabilities, however, stood at approximately $4.8 billion. That leaves total shareholders' equity of only about $115 million, an extremely thin cushion, given the size of the business.
Long-term debt stood at roughly $2.7 billion, and the net leverage ratio was 4.9 times adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) as of the first quarter, fiscal.ai confirmed.
Management acknowledged the company expects to remain near the top end of its 3.5x to 5x leverage target range throughout 2026.
Free cash flow was $222 million on an LTM basis, down significantly from $260 million in fiscal year 2024.
Cash from operating activities also declined, coming in at $318 million LTM, down from $355 million in fiscal year 2024.
On the income side, Wendy's reported a net income of $148 million on an LTM basis, which also trended lower than prior years.
The company generated $344 million in operating cash flow as recently as fiscal year 2025, but that number is compressing.Source: fiscal.ai
Put simply, Wendy's generates real cash but carries substantial debt, which is shrinking margins and leaving a balance sheet that leaves very little room for error.
Can Wendy's stock stage a comeback?
On its Q1 earnings call, Wendy's reported that U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 7.8% in the quarter.
Interim CEO Ken Cook framed it as "early innings," the company shared in a press release. The fast-food chain is executing a strategy called Project Fresh, which includes menu upgrades, new marketing partnerships, operational improvements, and system optimization, including the closure or restructuring of underperforming franchise locations.
"We're also excited to announce today a new franchise agreement with an experienced restaurant operator to build up to 1,000 restaurants across China over the next 10 years and look forward to bringing Wendy's to more fans around the globe," Cook stated in the press release.
Company-operated restaurants that fully adopted the new operational playbook outperformed the broader U.S. system by 310 basis points in Q1. But franchisees, who run the vast majority of the system, are still catching up.
On the leadership front, CNBC reported that the rally began the same day Wendy's confirmed the appointment of Steve Cirulis, a former Potbelly executive, as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer.
The company also recently named another former Potbelly executive, Robert "Bob" Wright, as president and CEO.
Wendy's has new leadership, a fresh strategy, and a beloved brand driven by fresh beef and a loyal following, on its side. But the financial structure underneath the story is also tight, and the turnaround is far from complete.
Retail traders found a great setup. Whether that setup outlasts the weekend is a different question.
The ‘acrimonious’ truth behind Will Ferrell’s fallout with Anchorman director Adam McKay
Jacob Stolworthy
0
Anchorman and Step Brothers are two of the most celebrated comedy films of the century. But for Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay, things are far from laughter and smiles.
Shortly after Anchorman became a global hit in 2004, the pair launched production company, named Gary Sanchez, and released Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and Step Brothers (2008).
But in 2019, they parted ways and closed down the company – a move that McKay has revealed was acrimonious and led to the pair falling out.
Will Ferrell fell out with 'Anchorman' director Adam McKay in 2019 (Getty Images)
"We always got along great, we were tremendous creative partners," McKay said of Ferrell. "The only thing that caused acrimony between us was when we decided to end our production company, Gary Sanchez. And I know it was reported one way or the other, but that was really it.
"It's a shame because we had a great creative partnership," he told Business Insider.
McKay claimed that Ferrell's heart wasn't in the company, as he favoured acting, stating: "I think both of us underestimated the complications that go with not just having a company, but a very successful company. We had it for a long time and did a lot of cool projects.
"Ferrell said it publicly: he was never someone who wanted to produce, so he was always half in and half out, but then he would love it and be proud of the company, but by the end, he wanted to move on. It had become too much extra work; it was never his passion."
According to a 2021 interview with Ferrell, the reason for the split was due to McKay's desire to produce a larger number of films than the actor had time to focus on.
Will Ferrell as 'Anchorman' character Ron Burgundy (Getty Images)
"Adam was like, 'I want to do this, and this, and this,' he wanted growth and a sphere of influence, and I was just like, 'I don't know, that sounds like a lot that I have to keep track of,'" he told The Hollywood Reporter.
But McKay took responsibility for the fallout, claiming that Ferrell stopped talking to him when he cast his Step Brothers co-star John C Reilly in the HBO series Winning Time – in a role originally designed for his Anchorman lead.
"I should have called him and I didn't," McKay told Vanity Fair, also in 2021. "And Reilly did, of course, because Reilly, he's a stand-up guy…I f***ed up on how I handled that. It's the old thing of 'keep your side of the street clean'. I should have just done everything by the book."
Adam McKay and Will Ferrell's producing partnership lasted 13 years (Getty Images)
At that time, he hadn't spoken to Ferrell since 2019, but it's unknown whether they've communicated since. The Independent has contacted Ferrell for comment.
McKay went on to direct Oscar-nominated films The Big Short (2015), Vice (2018) and Don't Look Up (2021), and also produced Emmy-winning HBO drama Succession alongside Ferrell.
Fired ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley signs with powerhouse talent agency CAA: report
Ariel Zilber
0
Fired ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley signs with powerhouse talent agency CAA: report
Scott Pelley is reportedly preparing for the post-CBS phase of his career — signing with powerhouse talent agency CAA just weeks after his dramatic firing from "60 Minutes."
CAA will represent Pelley "in all areas" as the longtime correspondent explores opportunities following his 37-year run at CBS News, according to the New York Times.
The agency also represents "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl. CAA confirmed the Times report when reached by The Post.
Former "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley has signed with CAA as he begins the next chapter of his career following his departure from CBS News. CAA/Instagram
The move comes as another central figure in the network's recent upheaval, former "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, is also plotting his next chapter.
Breaker Media recently reported that Owens is shopping a memoir about his decades-long career at CBS News through CAA literary agent Sloan Harris, raising the prospect of dueling insider accounts from two of the biggest names caught up in the network's civil war.
Bilton responded the following day, accusing Pelley of having "hijacked" his first staff meeting and informing him that his employment was being terminated "for cause."
Since leaving CBS News, Pelley has repeatedly accused management of undermining the show's editorial independence.
In a farewell statement posted after his dismissal, Pelley alleged that CBS News executives had attempted to inject "falsehoods and bias" into reporting and argued that Paramount's new ownership was weakening "60 Minutes" while "apparently" seeking "to curry favor with the Trump administration."
Pelley was photographed near his home in Old Greenwich, Conn., days after his firing from CBS News sparked a public battle over the future of "60 Minutes." New York Post
Scott Pelley spent nearly four decades at CBS News and was one of the defining faces of "60 Minutes" before his firing earlier this month. 60 Minutes / YouTube
Owens voiced similar concerns.
In the memoir proposal, Owens describes Paramount's settlement of President Trump's lawsuit over a "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris as "perhaps the worst legal strategy ever employed by the worst-run media company in the history of America."
Owens, who resigned last year after saying corporate interference had made it impossible for him to preserve the editorial independence of "60 Minutes," also reportedly accuses Paramount of creating an internal "spy ring" that routinely circulated scripts and story plans to senior executives.
The Post has sought comment from Pelley, CAA, CBS News and Paramount.
