SpinMedia laid off a substantial number of its staff on Wednesday as it undergoes restructuring, a spokeswoman for the company told TheWrap.
Editorial director A.J. Daulerio was laid off on Wednesday, he confirmed to TheWrap, after only four months with the company. The former Gawker editor-in-chief was hired by SpinMedia to run its entertainment properties.
According to the New York Post, at least 29 of Daulerio’s former co-workers will join him as SpinMedia lays off about 15 percent of its workforce — though SpinMedia denied to TheWrap that those numbers were accurate and said all layoffs happened on Wednesday, with no additional cuts expected.
Also read: Gawker Brings Defamer, and A.J. Daulerio, Back to Cover Hollywood
“While we are always looking for growth, we recognize that we need to do so efficiently in order to truly scale our company,” SpinMedia said in a statement about Wednesday’s round of cuts, which included AbsolutePunk senior editor Drew Beringer and writer Sara Scoggins.
Several of SpinMedia’s smaller sites will leave its umbrella to become “partnerships” rather than owner-operated, SpinMedia CEO Dale Strang told the Post, in an effort to cut costs and make the company profitable by the beginning of the new year.
Though the Post claimed that larger, better-trafficked sites such as Vibe, Spin, CeleBuzz, Idolator, TheFrisky, BuzzNet and The Superficial will stay with SpinMedia, a spokeswoman for the company told TheWrap that “discussions are ongoing” about which sites will become partnerships and which will not.
In February, the troubled company laid off 50 staffers.