Bustle Digital Group (BDG) will lay off 19 staffers in mainly editorial roles, including 10 employees from pop culture publication Mic, AdWeek reported Monday.
The publisher also plans to close down its tech outlet Input, which covers the intersection of tech and pop culture, according to AdWeek, with Input employees either being absorbed into another branch or laid off.
A rep for Bustle Digital Group did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told AdWeek, “BDG has a large portfolio of publications, and we always want to make sure our focus is on the many titles that are working. On rare occasions, we will make changes that push resources and focus toward those that are working best for us.”
Mic, which BDG acquired in November 2019 for $5 million, underwent a rebrand in 2021 under the director of Editor-in-Chief Shanté Cosme, seeking to expand its focus from political news and opinion essays aimed at left-leaning millennial readers. At the time, Cosme told The New York Times that as “one of the few Latina women running a newsroom” she wanted to get “identity coverage right.”
“When Mic was in its heyday, it really led the charge in telling those stories, but it also made a lot of the mistakes that media does when it covers race,” she said. “Sometimes it skewed toward outrage clicks or even race baiting. I would say a major difference is that our identity coverage now is much more balanced and nuanced.”
The downsizing is the latest in a recent wave of contractions at Bustle and digital media at large.