Layoffs Hit Cond Nast and Vox Media

Publish date: 2024-09-13

UPDATED: New rounds of layoffs were underway Thursday at Condé Nast and Vox Media, the latest cutbacks in the publishing sector as companies look to tighten their belts.

The job cuts at Condé Nast come after the company said earlier this month that it will lay off upwards of 300 employees, representing 5% of total headcount, and take other cost-reduction measures. It’s not immediately clear which areas of the company are affected by the current round of layoffs. Sources insisted that there were no layoffs at Vanity Fair on Thursday — but those may be coming in the next few days. In a post on X, Puck media reporter Dylan Byers wrote that the company’s layoffs will affect staffers “at the New Yorker (which is rare), Vanity Fair (which is being hit particularly hard), and most other brands/titles.”

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Condé Nast reps declined to comment. The New York-based company’s stable of brands includes the New Yorker, Vogue, Wired, Glamour, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, Bon Appétit, Pitchfork, Allure, Architectural Digest, Epicurious, Self, Teen Vogue, and Them.

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In a Nov. 1 companywide memo, Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch said the layoffs would take place “over the next few months” and that the company will offer affected employees “enhanced severance packages and career service offerings.”

On Wednesday, the Condé Nast editorial union, affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York, posted on X that staffers from Vanity Fair, GQ and the New Yorker “lunched out today in NYC, LA, and other remote worker cities in protest of proposed layoffs at Condé Nast.”

Vox, whose properties include New York magazine, the Verge and Vox.com, is cutting about 4% of its workforce — its second round of layoffs this year, after reducing its headcount by 7% in January.

A spokesperson for Vox Media said the layoffs affect employees in a few groups, primarily in product, design, technology and analytics, Vox.com and animal-focused content brand The Dodo. “This reflects continued turmoil in advertising and the need to build even more loyal audience relationships given the increasing volatility of search and social platforms, among other factors,” the company rep said in a statement. “Vox Media has a culture of adapting in what has always been a dynamic industry to best serve our audiences in a financially sustainable way, and we will continue to do that.”

The Vox Media Union, affiliated with WGA East, said in a statement, that news of the layoffs “is especially devastating in the midst of the holiday season, and we are furious that management has short-sightedly opted to eliminate these essential roles.” The union said “some of our most vital reporters and video production team members, who are voices on key issues including climate change, policy and tech, have lost their jobs.” The Vox Media Union added, “Layoffs like these only deepen the instability and inequity that is rife within our industry, and make it harder for those of us who remain at Vox Media to do our jobs.”

Penske Media Corp., publisher of Variety, became Vox Media’s largest single shareholder earlier this year after PMC acquired a minority stake in the company. PMC invested $100 million in Vox Media for a 20% stake, the New York Times reported.

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