I find this theory interesting, but a big question I have about the initial story is "How long did the Verge investigation take?" Reading the article, it's not clear to me. Two or three months? Tracking down 14 former workers/interviews, fact checking, compiling research.

I don't think it is farfetched to consider that, if the Verge had been working on the article since (let's call it) early October, it may have been just inconvenient but brutal timing. It sounds like they were making plans to replace Korey since the Spring of this year. I could easily see the Away board aiming to delay the leadership change until after the holiday season (Q1 2020). Bad press like the Verge article or a CEO shakeup in the middle of a shorter-than-usual holiday shopping season sucks for a B2C retail company. Moving up the start date of the new CEO they've already vetted and recruited earlier this year seems to me like Away's only opportunity to save their shopping season.

Edit to add Tweet from Verge Staff:

> Away knew we were reporting on this for months

https://twitter.com/CaseyNewton/status/1204278032468307968