Scoop: Refinery29 lays off staff and CEO exits
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Cory Haik at Refinery29's Inaugural 29 Powerhouses Celebration NYFW24 on Sept. 7 in New York City. Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Refinery29
Refinery29 has quietly laid off staff and its CEO is out as the media company closes in on eight months under new ownership, Axios has learned from sources familiar with the situation.
Why it matters: Once one of the most promising female-focused digital media outlets, Refinery29 has continued to shrink.
Zoom in: Refinery29 CEO Cory Haik has exited the company, three sources tell Axios. Sundial Media Group has not named an interim CEO.
- The former Vice Media executive was named CEO when Sundial Media Group agreed to acquire Refinery29 from Vice Media in April. The reasons for her exit are unclear.
- The layoffs affected less than a dozen of Refinery29's 100-person workforce, amounting to about 10% of the company.
- Sundial Media Group declined to comment, and Haik did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
Flashback: With all the turbulence at Vice Media following its bankruptcy buyout, Refinery29's sale to Sundial Media Group was seen as a lifeline for the brand.
- Refinery29 was making $100 million in top-line revenue when Vice Media acquired the venture-backed startup in 2019. In 2023, Refinery29's revenue dropped to only $30 million, Axios previously reported.
The big picture: Refinery29 has been working to move its business away from programmatic advertising and toward events and branded services.
- Last month, it hosted the beauty trade show Beautycon. Unbothered, its vertical focused on Black audiences, celebrated its seventh anniversary last week.
- Sundial Media Group operates several Black- and women-focused brands including Essence, Afropunk, Girls United and the Global Black Economic Forum. The company has expressed interest in buying more publications, per the Wall Street Journal.
- The recent cuts at Refinery29 are part of a broader effort to realign the portfolio and position the company for growth, according to a source familiar.
The bottom line: The shrinking of Refinery29 is part of a larger collapse of digital media companies, including sites geared toward millennial women.
- Media companies have been forced to adapt to an increasingly competitive ad market, social platforms like Facebook shifting away from news distribution and the rise of individual creators like Alex Cooper.
