G/O Media Layoffs

"facw" (facw)
04/04/2020 at 05:43 • Filed to: None

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Link in case kinja: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Doesn’t say who was cut, but apparently the union cuts were at The Onion, so hopefully the Jalopnik regulars are safe.

It’s a little counter-intuitive that ad revenue should be dropping when everyone is stuck at home browsing the internet, but I guess ad budgets are tight (certainly my retail company has slashed ad spending).

In any event, tip for Great Hill Partners: If G/O Media needs to cut costs further, consider how much you need to be spending on executive leadership, especially the sort that hollows out one of your most valuable sites, losing millions of dollars of value.

DISCUSSION (22)

Jarrett - [BRZ Boi] > facw
04/04/2020 at 06:25

We had our first newspaper casualty in Ontario permanently close their doors on Thursday due to lack of advertising revenue. It’s a huge problem for media right now.

pip bip - choose Corrour > facw
04/04/2020 at 06:44

not great news

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > facw
04/04/2020 at 08:18

Damn, hopefully nobody at Jalopnik was cut....I see Kristen left not long ago, I wonder if that was d ue to cuts or her moving on?

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > facw
04/04/2020 at 08:21

Ad revenue is really low right now. Many advertisers don’t want to be on any site that mentions the virus, plus the entire travel industry has stopped advertising, think about how often you saw an ad for an airline or cruise on the site. Ads are the first thing cut in a bad economy.

PS9 > facw
04/04/2020 at 08:28

No need to buy ads for the stuff not being brought at the stores no one can go to.

The Ghost of Oppo > facw
04/04/2020 at 08:55

Speaking of falling ad revenue, I had the big brained thought the other day that this recession might kill off social media influencing. N ot entirely, and probably not the concept of people doing it, but the free stuff and sponsorship deals(both legit and pyramid schemes) will probably dry up for influencers . I’d also bet a lot of those trendy Random Noun & Other Random Noun merchandise brands will fold.

facw > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
04/04/2020 at 09:05

Sounded like she got a better offer, but the relative insecurity of G/O Media certainly could have played a part.

DipodomysDeserti > facw
04/04/2020 at 10:24

The economy is tanked, so there’s no use advertising to people. My brother paper fired their PR person as soon as the bar and restaurant closure were declared two weeks ago and cut his salary by 20%.

DipodomysDeserti > The Ghost of Oppo
04/04/2020 at 10:25

Silver linings.

VincentMalamute-Kim > The Ghost of Oppo
04/04/2020 at 11:51

We probably won’t hear about the FIRE movement much anymore either. Those young’uns presumably got some ‘the universe really is out to get you’ knocked into them.

BigBlock440 > VincentMalamute-Kim
04/04/2020 at 12:11

Makes perfect sense that a bad economy and high unemployment would make people want to rely on a job again....

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > facw
04/04/2020 at 12:36

It’s almost like G/O lost it’s entire sports reporting arm for a few months, and the lack of ad revenue from that is hurting them...........

VincentMalamute-Kim > BigBlock440
04/04/2020 at 12:36

Something some of those people are experiencing for the first time and didn’t realize could occur . And bad economy and high unemployment i s of course the worst time to be looking for a job.

fintail > facw
04/04/2020 at 12:38

Not trying to minimize anything as this is shit for all involved, but as we are effectively living in a new Onion story every day, maybe demand for the content is down?

Jim Spanfeller > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
04/04/2020 at 12:58

Wait, what?

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Jim Spanfeller
04/04/2020 at 15:02

Yeah, Kristen announced she was leaving Jalopnik recently, working elsewhere (though not sure where)

Stef Schrader > facw
04/07/2020 at 10:46

Yeah—Kristen found a new job before these cuts were a thing, and I don’t blame her. I’ve only been trying for nearly two years to find the same?

No one from Jalopnik was axed AFAIK.

Stef Schrader > The Ghost of Oppo
04/07/2020 at 13:49

E xcuse me, my bulletproof idea of Parsh & Cheese will definitely ride out this recession. It’s about parsh and cheese, two things that attract people with too much money and time on their hands.

The Ghost of Oppo > Stef Schrader
04/07/2020 at 13:51

As long as your logo has an X with P & C in the top and bottom and little symbols right and left, I don’t see how it could fail!

Stef Schrader > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
04/07/2020 at 13:54

...and axed its politics vertical the year of an election.

......and replaced the good writers on said sports vertical with scabs who aren’t good at writing.

.........and nuked the comment section on said sports vertical (not to mention hid view counts so no one can see how bad of a flop it is).

............and threw as many invasive ads as possible on the website to drive yet more readers away.

...............and created such a hostile work environment that it drove many, many talented people away.

..................and axed a lot of talented people all over, both on the business side as well as in editorial, only to either let the jobs go vacant or to replace those people with unqualified friends of the herb.

.....................aaaand axed the Special Projects Desk that was a huge asset which really polished and enabled serious deep-dive journalism here.

I could go on and on, but unless someone whips out some herbicide, even I don’t want to be back here on a full-time basis.

Stef Schrader > The Ghost of Oppo
04/07/2020 at 13:56

Of course! We’ll get right on installing ugly grey washed-out shiplap on things and printing a Fancy Man large-format quarterly of pretty photos alongside dull, self-serving twaddle.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > Stef Schrader
04/07/2020 at 14:43

Kinja'd!!!