Business Insider laid off around 21% of its staff on Thursday, according to a memo sent by CEO Barbara Peng.
“We are reducing the size of our organization, a move that will impact about 21% of our colleagues and touch every department,” she wrote. “We’re also proposing changes that impact our U.K. team, but the process is a bit different there; separate communication will follow.”
Going forward, Business Insider will be launching events coverage, “fully embracing AI” and reducing their reliance on “traffic-sensitive businesses.”
“Eighteen months ago we announced our new strategy: We went back to Business Insider and focused on delivering best-in-class business, tech and innovation journalism to a smart, specific audience,” Peng continued. “We’ve made great progress — we’ve sharpened our standards and are shifting towards more reporting that is authoritative and matters deeply to the people who read it. We’ve doubled the amount of original reporting we publish and have substantially increased engagement in the past months.”
The news comes after BI let go of about 8% of its staff in January of 2024. It also comes two weeks after they hired a Newsroom AI Lead.
“More broadly though, the media industry is at a crossroads. Business models are under pressure, distribution is unstable and competition for attention is fiercer than ever. At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for companies who harness AI first,” Peng added in her memo. “Our strategy is strong, but we don’t have the luxury of time. The pace of change combined with the opportunity ahead demands bold, focused action — and it’s our chance to lead the pack.”
In response, the Insider Union and the NewsGuild of New York shared a joint statement with TheWrap condemning BI management as well as parent company Axel Springer.
“This is far from anything new. This is the third round of layoffs in as many years and it is unacceptable that union members and other talented co-workers are again paying the price for the strategic failures of Business Insider’s leadership,” they wrote. “Axel Springer is a multi-billion dollar firm whose digital outlets and media businesses generate the majority of its revenue. The layoffs of our talented co-workers and union members are another example of Axel Springer’s brazen pivot away from journalism toward greed.”
“Shockingly, in the same email announcing the layoffs, management also says it’s ‘going all-in on AI,’ patting themselves on the back about AI use in our newsroom,” the statement further noted. “To say this was tone-deaf to include in an email on layoffs would be an understatement.”
TheWrap has reached out to Business Insider for further comment. The news was first reported by Axios.
