Chris Balfe, a longtime friend of Glenn Beck and now-former CEO of TheBlaze, Beck’s steadily growing media company, is launching a new startup venture.
Balfe left TheBlaze in early December, replaced by Betsy Morgan, who at the time was TheBlaze’s president.
“First day in new office,” Balfe wrote in a post Monday on his Facebook page. “Cheers to stealth startup mode and to new beginnings!” Included in the post was a photo of Balfe, standing in what appeared to be a white-painted office conference room, accompanied by a female friend. It indicated that the office is in New York City.
Asked about his new project, Balfe declined to elaborate. “Well, that’s why we call it stealth!” he said.
In business development, “stealth mode” refers to a period of time when a newly created company maintains a level of secrecy for the purpose of launching publicly as effectively as possible at a designated time.
Balfe’s departure from TheBlaze seemed cordial, with Beck writing in a company memo that Balfe “has been my friend and the CEO of Mercury Radio Arts [TheBlaze’s parent company] for 12 years.”
A day after he left TheBlaze, Balfe posted another note on his Facebook about his transition. “Hard as it may be to believe, the next chapter will be even bigger, better and more fun than this one.”
Balfe’s history with Beck is extensive. The two were together from Beck’s rise from national radio star to Fox News ratings sensation, then to TheBlaze TV’s growth from an online news channel to its distribution on Dish satellite.
