Several former employees blamed poor financial management, while high overhead from YouTube, legal troubles, overly aggressive expansion, and a shrinking advertising market were also described as contributing factors.

[15] Viacom purchased a stake of Defy Media in 2014, in exchange for ownership of GameTrailers, Addicting Games, and Shockwave.

In March 2018, Defy Media laid off 8% of its headcount, exiting its programmatic advertising and video licensing and syndication businesses.

Joe Bereta, creative director of Smosh, left his position and was replaced by a former comedy partner, Luke Barats.

[19] In July, Defy sold The Escapist to Enthusiast Gaming, and Screen Junkies to Fandom.

The bank ultimately rejected those offers, and on November 6, 2018, Defy Media announced that it was shutting down operations effective immediately and laying off all employees at its Beverly Hills production office.

[21] Defy Media's former head of audience development, Matthew "MatPat" Patrick, stated that the company stole 1.7 million dollars from him and other YouTubers.

He claimed that the company was a Ponzi scheme and was using YouTube creators' money in order to look more attractive to outside investors.

[22] Defy Media owned and operated online brands including Smosh,[23] Shut Up!

[37] Original animated series featured on the channel included Zombies vs. Ninjas, Pubertina, Krogzilla, Oishi High School Battle, Smosh Babies, and Paper Cuts.

On October 6, 2017, Andy Signore, the creator of The Screen Junkies Show, Honest Trailers, Movie Fights and TV Fights was suspended by Defy Media after accusations of sexual assault and sexual harassment made by female fans and coworkers became public.

Two days later, Screen Junkies announced on their Twitter page that Signore's employment was terminated effective immediately as "there is no justification for this egregious and intolerable behavior.

[45] Clevver Media was founded in 2006 by Michael Palmer and Jorge Maldonado and acquired by Alloy Digital in June 2012.

[46] The millennial target platform operates six entertainment and celebrity-focused YouTube channels, including ClevverTV, ClevverMusic, ClevverNews, ClevverMovies, ClevverStyle, and ClevverTeVe.

[49] Hosts and producers have included Deidre Behar, Tatiana Carrier, Lily Marston, Erin Robinson, Katie Krause, Miriam Isa, Dana Ward, Misty Kingma, Drew Dorsey, and Sinead De Vries among others.

[50] The website also included channels Crushable, The Gloss, The Grindstone, Mommyish, and Blisstree, and was also part of the Clevver Network.

[51] Smosh was founded in 2005 by Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla and acquired by Alloy Digital in July 2011.

[54] With shows like Every [Blank] Ever, The Big What If, and its sketches, Smosh was called the Saturday Night Live of YouTube by Time in 2006.

Hecox and Padilla teamed up with various online gamers to play games, provide reviews and updates, and share commentary.