People Inc. laid off 226 employees on Thursday across various departments, accounting for 6% of the company’s total staff, TheWrap has learned.
CEO Neil Vogel called the layoffs “a difficult but necessary step” as their media properties instead invest in new skills in order “to take advantage of new opportunities.” The executive also noted they currently have 40 roles open in his memo to staff.
The update also comes three months after Dotdash Meredith rebranded to its current name, calling upon its most popular magazine, People.
Read People Inc. CEO Neil Vogel’s full letter to staff, below:
Today we are making staffing reductions that impact 226 people, 6% of our employees, across various departments. HR and business leaders have notified those impacted and scheduled one-on-one meetings to provide support during this transition. We are grateful for these employees who have made important contributions to our business.
Today’s actions are a difficult but necessary step as we continue to evolve our business and prioritize investments that will help us continue to thrive in today’s media environment. While days like these are tough, we are confident in People Inc.’s future and focused on our plans.
We are aggressively investing in new ways to connect directly with our users, and directly with our advertisers and partners, including a number of high profile projects that we have launched or are in the pipeline. This requires many new skills to take advantage of new opportunities. Over the last year, we’ve hired 320 people to help us drive growth in new areas and we currently have over 40 open roles that will infuse new expertise and capabilities across our brands and teams.
We are as optimistic as ever, and we will continue to share our plans, including at our upcoming All-Hands after 3rd quarter earnings are released.
