This morning, The Atlantic laid off 68 employees, 17% of staff. Statement from owner David Bradley said the company faced "abrupt and dramatic losses in our advertising and live events businesses" despite gaining 90,000 new subscribers since March 
The Atlantic owner David Bradley's memo to staff is about five pages (first 4 below): "I want to tell our departing colleagues how deeply sorry I am. If we saw any prospect that your jobs would return in a reset Atlantic, we would have found another way forward."
The final page David Bradley's memo includes an apology to remaining staffers on no upcoming raises and this inspiring bit: "Through a sine curve of ups and downs, we've grown four-fold in staffing, twenty-fold in readership, so far this century. This story marches on."
The Atlantic has produced arguably some of the best journalism during the pandemic and that contributed to a surge in subscriptions. See this Nieman Lab story: niemanlab.org/2020/04/for-it…
But the company wasn't immune to the collapse of ad revenue and events businesses
But the company wasn't immune to the collapse of ad revenue and events businesses
Laying off 68 staffers with David Bradley saying, "If we saw any prospect that your jobs would return in a reset Atlantic, we would have found another way forward."
So strikingly sad compared to the 2018 goal for massive growth, hiring 100 staffers axios.com/the-atlantic-t…
So strikingly sad compared to the 2018 goal for massive growth, hiring 100 staffers axios.com/the-atlantic-t…
The statement above should be attributed to "The Atlantic" generally. David Bradley's memo is here:
The Atlantic's layoffs is another example of how billionaire owners are treating their media businesses. TIME owner Marc Benioff (worth $7.3B per Forbes) said he promised to protect the magazine's jobs during the pandemic. Laurene Powell Jobs (net worth $19.6B*) owns The Atlantic
Here's my writeup on The Atlantic news: "The layoffs, which amount to 68 staffers, run across departments including events, sales and editorial. The editorial department had 22 layoffs, half due to the company closing its video department." cnn.com/2020/05/21/med…
Wow this quote: "If you are a reporter and you are in danger, we have your back. You are not alone. You will not be forgotten." :(
The Atlantic isn't Emerson Collective's only media investment. In 2018, Laurene Powell Jobs acquired Pop-Up Magazine Productions. Per a statement from its union, Pop-Up laid off 5 employees (more than 10% of its staff) earlier this month
