CNN
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Deadspin, the irreverent sports activities and information website greatest identified for its commentary and evaluation, laid off all of its workers on Monday after the outlet was offered to a startup agency.
In a memo to staffers, Jim Spanfeller — the chief govt of G/O Media, Deadspin’s mum or dad firm previous to the sale — wrote that it had been approached by the European agency Lineup Publishing, a newly fashioned digital media firm, trying so as to add Deadspin to its rising media holdings.
After some consideration, G/O Media’s board determined to simply accept Lineup Publishing’s provide, Spanfeller wrote, including that G/O Media wasn’t actively procuring Deadspin on the time.
“The rationale behind the choice to promote included a wide range of vital elements that embody the customer’s editorial plans for the model, robust competitors within the sports activities journalism sector, and a valuation that mirrored a large premium from our authentic buy value for the positioning,” Spanfeller wrote.
“Deadspin’s new house owners have made the choice to not carry over any of the positioning’s current workers and as a substitute construct a brand new crew extra in keeping with their editorial imaginative and prescient for the model,” Spanfeller continued.
A G/O Media spokesperson confirmed that 11 Deadspin staffers had been impacted by the transfer on Monday. The phrases of the sale weren’t disclosed.
Although Spanfeller mentioned Lineup Publishing had praised Deadspin’s “distinctive voice,” he mentioned that the outlet’s new house owners supposed to “take a special content material method concerning the positioning’s total sports activities protection.” This “sadly” included parting methods with workers members who had been notified early Monday, he wrote.
In an all-hands December assembly, Spanfeller famous G/O Media had been actively reviewing its portfolio and operations to prioritize assets.
Final yr, G/O Media additionally offered Jezebel to Paste Journal after briefly shutting down the publication and shedding its total workers. That deal, too, was described as “extremely quick.” Whereas the outlet’s web site resumed publication shortly thereafter, it returned with a slimmer workers.
The slashing of Deadspin’s workers is the most recent in what to date has been a tumultuous yr for the information media.
Within the first three months of 2024 alone, The Messenger has shut down, BuzzFeed reduce 16% of its remaining workers, and Vice Media laid off tons of of workers because it ceased to publish on its web site. TIME additionally laid off 15% of its unionized editorial workers and The Los Angeles Times reduce over 20% of its newsroom workers. In the meantime, at Condé Nast, staffers walked off the job, protesting layoffs, and staffers at The New York Daily News and Forbes staged a walkout.
The hemorrhaging in newsrooms across the nation comes as shops wrestle to take care of an eroding promoting enterprise, plummeting social media referral visitors and the looming menace of synthetic intelligence.