After nearly three decades, Oprah Winfrey is saying goodbye to the Windy City and will close her Chicago-based Harpo Studios by the end of the year.
Chicago has "been everything for me," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I've spent more hours in this building than I have any other building on Earth.... We were here when there was nothing but hoes and rats on the street, and now it's one of the hottest neighborhoods [in Chicago]. The time has come to downsize this part of the business and to move forward. It will be sad to say goodbye, but I look ahead with such a knowing that what the future holds is even more than I can see."
Winfrey is transitioning the company's productions to OWN headquarters in Los Angeles, and she broke the news to the Chicago team in person on Tuesday. For the past five years, the media mogul has been going back and forth between Hollywood and Chicago, and she decided that the whole team had to be under one roof. About 200 employees are impacted by the closure; they will remain employed through December.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for October 26Cartoons Sunday’s editorial cartoons include Young Republicans group chat, Louvre robbery, and more
-
Why Britain is struggling to stop the ransomware cyberattacksThe Explainer New business models have greatly lowered barriers to entry for criminal hackers
-
Greene’s rebellion: a Maga hardliner turns against TrumpIn the Spotlight The Georgia congresswoman’s independent streak has ‘not gone unnoticed’ by the president
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
