IS THEWRAP.COM GETTING A BUM WRAP?

When Sharon Waxman landed Joe Adalian, the veteran TV editor at Variety, to cover television for her new website, TheWrap.com, last June, many industry observers took notice and regarded it as a big hire. Now, just ten months later, Adalian is leaving — heading for New York magazine’s lively — and fast-growing — entertainment site Vulture. Adalian’s departure quickly touched off speculation that Waxman’s site may be facing financial difficulty. Indiewire.com columnist Anne Thompson commented on Wednesday that Adalian’s decision comes at a time when TheWrap “has been seeking additional investment and potential partners. The move suggests that Adalian felt more secure (and presumably, well-paid) moving to a more established media entity.” Nikki Finke, who frequently snipes at Waxman, commented on her Deadline Hollywood site: “He’s the latest to leave that sinking ship TheWrap (aka TheCrap) which is having terrible money problems, and wholesale staff turnovers, and persistent inaccuracy woes, not to mention only miniscule [sic] web traffic.” But Adalian late Wednesday acted to quash such speculation, saying in a message to Thompson, “After a dozen years in the trade trenches, I’ve been wanting to get back to my roots by going to a more consumer-focused outlet. … Sharon’s been totally great to me.” Waxman herself expressed her sadness at losing Adalian. “We want to wish him well, and thank him for all his work in building TheWrap into what it has become in one short year,” she wrote.