People Inc. laying off 226 people
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People Inc., one of the largest media publishers in the U.S., is laying off 6% of its workforce, or 226 people, CEO Neil Vogel said in an employee memo obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: It's part of a broader effort to deprioritize parts of the business that aren't growing as quickly and focus on new areas, like social publishing, e-commerce and events.
What they're saying: "Today's actions are a difficult but necessary step as we continue to evolve our business and prioritize investments that will help us continue to thrive in today's media environment. While days like these are tough, we are confident in People Inc.'s future and focused on our plans," Vogel said in the staff memo, noting the cuts will impact various departments.
- "We are aggressively investing in new ways to connect directly with our users, and directly with our advertisers and partners, including a number of high profile projects that we have launched or are in the pipeline," he added.
- "This requires many new skills to take advantage of new opportunities. Over the last year, we've hired 320 people to help us drive growth in new areas and we currently have over 40 open roles that will infuse new expertise and capabilities across our brands and teams."
The big picture: People Inc., formerly Dotdash Meredith, routinely reevaluates its staffing and resources to address new growth opportunities.
- Thursday's job cuts announcement comes on the heels of layoffs earlier this year.
- People Inc. employs roughly 3,700 people across the country. It houses more than 40 digital and print lifestyle brands.
Zoom out: Media companies are under enormous pressure to streamline their businesses amid a more tempered ad market and new threats from AI.
- People Inc., then Dotdash Meredith, struck a major licensing deal with OpenAI last year.
