Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishIt started with a Slack message at 8am. Then minutes later, it was like bomb went off.On Friday morning, chaos erupted at women’s media network Mamamia when News Corp gossip writer Annette Sharp published a story about the company’s chief operating officer Luca Lavigne.While relatively few staff were in the Woolloomooloo office that day (most do WFH on Fridays) the story spread like wildfire. Phones were blowing up as group chats for current and former staff alighted with fury.’$300k? WTAF.’Sharp had reported that Luca, the 27-year-old son of Mamamia co-founder Mia Freedman and her husband Jason Lavigne, the company’s executive chairman, was earning ‘a handsome $300k salary’. (We’ve heard that was actually his salary two years ago, so he may well be on even more than that now).Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Luca isn’t qualified for his job or that he’s not entitled to receive a $300,000 salary, only that reports of his pay have caused disquiet in the Mamamia newsroom. Mia Freedman’s son Luca (seen together) had his $300,000 salary leaked on Friday, leading to chaos at Mamamia whose primarily female workforce often complains of being underpaid. Daily Mail is not suggesting Luca isn’t qualified for his job or that he’s not entitled to receive a $300,000 salary, only that reports of his pay have caused disquiet in the Mamamia newsroom Luca, 27, is married to Mamamia executive editor Jessie Stephens. The couple share one childThe news came as a shock to employees of the company, who have grumbled for years about salaries so notoriously low that it’s usually the main reason why staff end up quitting.Mamamia likes to say it’s the media company that captures ‘what women are talking about’. Well, we know what the women who work at Mamamia are talking about – because they’ve been telling us.After the story was published, we hear some workers were so angry they immediately started texting colleagues within the media industry.Not just angry. Furious, in fact, by how much Luca was being paid compared to them.There has also been frank discussion of who at Mamamia leaked the story. ‘We’re literally dying to know who gave the story to Annette,’ a source says. ‘It must have been someone senior or who knows Mia personally.’Luca had joined Mamamia as a content producer in 2016. He had no prior media experience, having worked as a Merivale bartender for four months after graduating from Sydney Grammar School in 2015. However, it is not uncommon for junior positions to be awarded to people without industry experience and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest there was any nepotism at play.He rose up the ranks quickly – going from a rank-and-file writer to making podcasts to being promoted to business development manager in 2018. By 2021, he was made Head of Product and last year was appointed COO. After the story about Luca’s salary was published, we hear some workers were so angry they immediately started texting colleagues within the media industryWe do not suggest his career progression was the result of anything besides ability and hard work. We also note that in 2019 he attended Melbourne Business School for a year while also working for Mamamia, according to his LinkedIn profile.However, there has been unrest among staff who believe they work just as hard yet do not feel as though they are fairly compensated. Indeed, we hear the question of money is a particularly vexed one at Mamamia, where pay rises are said to be measly, even by Sydney media standards.An insider says, ‘Staff are only offered pay rises at their annual performance reviews but these pay rises are actually decided before these meetings – even though the whole purpose of these reviews is for staff to make their case for a pay increase.’Money is almost always the reason why people end up quitting Mamamia, which typically offers only small pay rises of between ‘zero and five thousand dollars’ annually. Discussions about pay rises outside of annual reviews are always refused.While many employees are said to have an almost cult-like devotion to Freedman, this often wears off when the reality of their meagre monthly pay packet hits them.’So many talented and committed staff resign when they are refused pay rises. I wouldn’t be surprise if a bunch of people quit after seeing the salary Luca is on,’ a source says.Notwithstanding his pay – which puts the young COO in the top one per cent of Australian earners – some Mamamia staffers noted Luca became increasingly distant from colleagues as he was continually promoted.Before he became Head of Product, a source described him as ‘one of the team’ who would join in on Friday drinks. But after rising to an executive level, he reportedly became more aloof, which rubbed people the wrong way.In the background of his professional rise, he met and fell in love with Jessie Stephens, who was also eagerly climbing up the Mamamia ladder alongside her twin sister Clare and is now the website’s executive editor. Disquiet at Mamamia became a talking point last month when Inside Mail reported that Clare Stephens (left, with twin sister Jessie, right) was leaving to become a freelance journalistTheir relationship was apparently accepted by the staff and was not a source of office gossip, despite Jessie being eight years Luca’s senior.The couple married in 2023 when Jessie was pregnant with their first child.Disquiet at Mamamia became a talking point last month when Inside Mail reported that Clare Stephens was leaving to become a freelance journalist.A powerful figure in the newsroom, Clare was central to the Mamamia brand as one half of ‘The Twins’. She is now flying solo and is about to release a book called The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done, which is set at a media company.Swirling rumours she quit Mamamia over money – and her brother-in-law’s eye-watering salary in particular – are not true, according to staff we spoke to.Daily Mail Australia contacted Mamamia’s Chief-of-Staff and People and Culture Manager for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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