Vox Un-Populi: Flagship Liberal Media To Fire Hundreds

Vox Media is preparing for ‘company-wide layoffs’ in what could amount to hundreds of employees, after missing 2nd quarter forecasts by 40% – putting it on course to miss its full-year target by 25%, according to CNBC.

In addition to Vox.com, the 1,200 employee company owns New York Magazine, The Verge, SBNation and Eater. The company attained profitability in 2019, only to hit a brick wall in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has sparked a wholesale pullback in advertising budgets.

In April, Vox furloughed about 100 employees, or 9% of its staff.

Many of the furloughed workers who haven’t already taken buyouts will be laid off, according to a person familiar with the matter. These employees primarily work for parts of Vox that were especially hit hard by the Pandemic, such as SBNation, Curbed and the company’s events group. There may be some additional job cuts, the person said. –CNBC

Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff admitted in an all-hands meeting last week that the company was struggling, though podcast revenue was ‘bouncing back to pre-Covid levels,’ according to CNBC‘s sources.

Union leaders have asked the company for data by Wednesday justifying the layoffs.