hmm more layoffs and firings in the fake news business. INTERDASTING
Buzzfeed layed off 15% of their staff
And Gannett is cutting their staff with huge layoffs.
BuzzFeed is planning to lay off about 15% of its workforce, according to people familiar with the situation, as the company seeks to reorient itself in a shifting digital-media landscape.
The cuts could affect around 250 jobs, the people said. The firm, among the most high-profile digital-native publishers, also is looking to realign its resources to invest more in promising areas of the business like content licensing and e-commerce, one of the people said.
One impetus for the changes is to get BuzzFeed on the path to profitability and in proper shape as it scouts out potential merger combinations with other digital media players, the people said.
Another driver of the cuts is to help the company avoid raising money again, one of the people said. BuzzFeed has raised about $500 million and was valued at about $1.7 billion following its last funding round in 2016.
Its investors include Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal—which has invested $400 million—Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Ventures and Hearst Ventures.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/buzzfeed-to-cut-15-of-its-workforce-11548286211
Layoffs have hit about 12 newsrooms owned by Gannett since yesterday, the same day Verizon Media announced up to 800 jobs — or 7% of its employees — will be cut across the company, which includes Yahoo, AOL and HuffPost.
Including the cuts announced at BuzzFeed yesterday, that’s over 1,000 media jobs lost in one day, according to Axios.
Both legacy and digital pure-play media companies are struggling to find a sustainable business model in a tough environment, competing for print and digital ad dollars, as well as eyeballs against platform giants Google and Facebook.
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/331022/layoffs-hit-verizon-media-gannett-cos-struggle.html