Brand Publishing Briefing: May 8

Penn fired a Barstool Sports host for saying a racial slur during a live stream, as tensions rise  between the sports media company’s personalities and Penn’s corporate image. Shopify cut 20% of its staff, including a significant number of content and editorial staff, as it tries to refocus on e-commerce. Google’s helpful content update hasn’t made much of an impact on downstream traffic to brand publishers’ content. Penn fires Barstool host Penn Entertainment’s purchase of Barstool Sports is showing signs of growing pains. Barstool host Ben Mintz was fired by Penn for saying a racial slur as part of a song lyric during a livestream last week. Barstool president Dave Portnoy announced the news on Twitter – and this is key – added that Penn made the decisio