Mike "failed Jeopardy! host" Richards named CEO of The Daily Wire

Richards—whose tenure as Alex Trebek's replacement lasted for literally one day back in 2021—has just been promoted from being The Daily Wire's president to its CEO.

By William Hughes | May 20, 2026 | 7:49pm

Mike Richards during his tenure at Jeopardy!

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There’s an alternate universe somewhere where we never would have heard of former TV producer, and now recently inaugurated Daily Wire CEO, Mike Richards. It’s a universe where Richards would have continued being a (reportedly) somewhat obnoxious behind-the-scenes presence on beloved game shows like The Price Is Right, Let’s Make A Deal, and Wheel Of Fortune, a name scrolled past in the credits but never thought about by anybody who didn’t work with him directly. (Or listen to his podcast, which he pulled offline after listeners took umbrage with the ways he talked about women and minorities.) This is a reality where Richards did not take the opportunity, when asked to find a replacement for the late Alex Trebek as host of Jeopardy!, to hold a multi-month and extremely public audition, only to then finish it by saying “Hey, actually, it’s going to be me“—a move that got a high-focus microscope placed on his past, leading him to get fired from the gig (and his producing job on the series) after less than a week.

But we live in this universe, where Richards has just been named by Caleb Robinson, previous CEO for the heavily right-leaning gripe publicizer, as his replacement—cementing The Daily Wire‘s status as the dream locale for people hoping to camouflage regular old failure as somehow “failing up.” The news comes a year to the day after Richards joined The Daily Wire as its president, a hire the company announced back in 2025 with an extremely on-brand request to “the purple hairs” that they “Please ‘cancel’ more creative geniuses.” (It also coincided with the departure of former co-founder Jeremy Boreing from the position.) And while The Daily Wire hasn’t exactly had a banner year under Richards’ tenure as president and chief content officer—its other co-founder, Ben Shapiro, recently reported that the site had laid off 13 percent of its staff in 2026—Richards is apparently still getting the top job.

Which might explain the slightly defensive tone of Robinson’s farewell letter, which included the caveated claim that The Daily Wire is the largest and most impactful media company “for people who love this amazing country,” and asserted that its audience is in the millions. (“Yes, millions,” Robinson added, in no way undercutting his message of confidence.) In addition to its regular publishing and podcasting work, the last few years have seen The Daily Wire push more aggressively into making TV and film. It last released a movie, Matt Walsh’s prank-show-masquerading-as-philosophy documentary Am I Racist? in 2024; it’s currently making an action movie featuring former Marvel star Jonathan Majors.

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