Oprah Winfrey shutting down Harpo Studios in Chicago after 26 years
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.
Subscribe to 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.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 4, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - reflections in the pond, riding shotgun, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 high-caliber cartoons about Kristi Noem shooting her puppy
Cartoons Artists take on the rainbow bridge, a farm upstate, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is the world running low on blood?
Podcast Scientists believe universal donor blood is within reach – plus, the row over an immersive D-Day simulation, and an Ozempic faux pas
By The Week Staff Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published