Media giant Dotdash Meredith to lay off 53 people
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Credit: Dotdash Meredith
Dotdash Meredith, one of the largest print and digital publishers in the U.S., is laying off 53 people, or roughly 1.5% of its staff, its CEO Neil Vogel told employees in a note Thursday obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The cuts, which will mostly impact employees working on its print business, are part of an ongoing effort to prioritize the company's investments in digital products.
Catch up quick: Dotdash Meredith's parent company IAC acquired roughly two dozen Meredith brands and magazines in 2021 as part of a $2.7 billion deal.
- Dotdash has pushed to digitize and modernize Meredith's magazine brands by investing in new business efforts, like e-commerce and licensing.
- Part of that transformation has seen the company prioritizing Meredith's strongest brands, such as People, Better Homes & Gardens, Food & Wine, and Southern Living.
- In 2022, the company cut the print editions of six Meredith titles and eliminated 200 jobs primarily supporting print operations.
Zoom in: In a note to staff, Vogel said the cuts will occur mostly in print and across multiple offices.
- He assured employees that the layoffs were not about cutting print titles, but were part of a bigger effort to evolve its existing print products.
- "While we are incredibly proud of our print products and our subscriber bases are stable (or in some cases even growing), the print advertising business remains challenged. Today's actions are directly in response to this," he said.
- "We are not closing any print magazines, nor do we anticipate doing so, and we will continue to invest in our print assets," Vogel said.
The big picture: The marriage of Dotdash, a digital house of brands, and Meredith, a print behemoth, came at a trying time for the industry.
- The ad market began to dramatically soften in 2022, following pandemic-era volatility and it still faces challenges today.
- Dotdash Meredith has invested significantly in growing new business lines to offset a broader advertising market slowdown, including live events, licensing, and e-commerce.
- Those investments have started to pay off. The company produced its best quarter of revenue growth since the 2021 merger last quarter. Its digital revenue has experienced double-digit growth for the past three quarters.
The bottom line: The cuts reflect Dotdash Meredith's longstanding goal of modernizing its print titles for a digital future. In his note, Vogel said, "We are as optimistic as ever in the future of Dotdash Meredith."
