CEO’s podcast sparks tensions atop The Atlantic
Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson was talking about the media business on Vox’s Channels podcast last month when host Peter Kafka asked him: How was the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, feeling about the growing success of Thompson’s personal podcast?
“We make a lot of money on the stuff I do,” he said. “Jeff likes when we make money.”
Thompson’s response ricocheted around The Atlantic’s newsroom. Thompson’s podcast, The Most Interesting Thing in AI, has emerged as a source of tension between the magazine’s business and editorial teams. Journalists have complained that the lucrative and high-profile show is not subject to The Atlantic’s editorial rules, input, or oversight — yet a casual listener could easily take it for an Atlantic editorial product.
Thompson’s show is made by the magazine’s business side, and — like any number of contemporary podcasts — features interviews with technologists and business leaders, interspersed with sponsored content. When the podcast launched in 2024, the newsroom raised no objections; The Atlantic has featured a robust paid content arm for years through its creative marketing studio and custom events business.
But as the show’s profile has risen in recent months, the podcast has caused increasing consternation internally. Thompson, despite his commercial role, is a well-known former tech reporter and former editor-in-chief of Wired. Last year, when he published a well-received memoir of his family and time as an elite long-distance runner, The Atlantic ran an excerpt. On Most Interesting Thing, he has booked and interviewed top-tier guests, including OpenAI founder Sam Altman — leading staff to complain that the CEO’s bookings are, intentionally or not, undercutting the newsroom’s own efforts.
According to four people familiar with the situation, the podcast has been a particular source of friction between Thompson and Goldberg. Goldberg, who also has a close relationship with Atlantic owner Laurene Powell Jobs, does not report to the CEO and instead reports directly to the Atlantic’s board of directors. (Goldberg had formally reported to Thompson’s predecessor, Bob Cohn.)
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