Media Layoffs

With new BuzzFeed and ESPN layoffs, it's another dark day in media

IMAGE: CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR BUZZFEED

BY RACHEL KRAUS

The grim reaper has come to take what's his from the media industry.

On Wednesday, BuzzFeed and ESPN both announced layoffs, with each company's CEO issues a statement.

In the U.S., BuzzFeed's layoffs will mostly affect employees in their business and advertising departments, while in the UK, some content teams will lose employees. The shift in the business and sales teams, possibly affected by BuzzFeed missing their revenue targets by more than 20 percent this year, also includes new roles for BuzzFeed president Greg Coleman, who will focus on the advertising side.

BuzzFeed media and politics reporter Steven Perlberg first shared the news of the shake-up on Twitter.

Meanwhile over in Connecticut, 150 behind-the-scenes employees are being terminated from ESPN. These layoffs follow the firing of 100-plus on-air personalities in April. The move today was announced in a memo from ESPN President John Skipper.

Today we are informing approximately 150 people at ESPN that their jobs are being eliminated.

We appreciate their contributions, and will assist them as much as possible in this difficult moment with severance, a 2017 bonus, the continuation of health benefits and outplacement services. They will also appreciate your support.

The majority of the jobs eliminated are in studio production, digital content, and technology and they generally reflect decisions to do less in certain instances and re-direct resources.

We will continue to invest in ways which will best position us to serve the modern sports fan and support the success of our business.

John

So what do these layoffs mean for the media industry? That revenue streams are increasingly hard to come by, even for some of the most widely consumed organizations.

Previously, BuzzFeed called the lost jobs due to shrinking profits a "bloodbath." In this case, BuzzFeed's bet on their digital advertising services apparently didn't pan out as they'd hoped, so they're having to change course. And ESPN continues to lose viewers as cord cutters and OTT streaming services eat away at subscriptions.

The only spot of good news for, um, news? Apparently, millennials are starting to pay for access to traditional outlets, like newspapers, again. So, there's that. Happy Wednesday!