Reuters will lay off some of its editorial staff, the wire service said Wednesday.
A spokeswoman cast the cutbacks, which follow a series of shakeups at the company, as a strategic move.
“To simplify and strengthen the Reuters news operation, we are making changes that will result in a slightly smaller editorial staff,” said spokeswoman Barb Burg. “One that is more strategically positioned and better equipped to help Reuters report and deliver the news that matters most to our customers and society as a whole.”
Also read: Reuters Shakeup: Top Editor Departs, ‘Next’ Canceled
Burg did not specify how many Reuters employees will be affected by the cuts, but New York Observer, which was the first to report the news, said it would be “about five percent across the board in editorial.”
Last month, Reuters canceled its troubled “Next” project in a shift away from becoming a news destination in and of itself and back to its core wire service mission. Reuters CEO Andrew Rashbass said then that Next was “a long way from achieving either commercial viability or strategic success.”
“The project as a whole has struggled to meet delivery deadlines and stay within its budget,” Rashbass wrote in a memo. “Also, it does not capitalize on our strengths. In fact, I believe the existing suite of Reuters.com sites is a better starting point for where we need to go.”
Also read: Dan Colarusso Will Replace Jim Roberts at Reuters Digital
At the same time, Reuters Digital executive editor Jim Roberts announced his resignation after just seven months with the outlet. He was replaced by Dan Colarusso a week later.
Reuters has also lost a few staffers voluntarily over the last few days. Reuters Digital’s former executive editor Jim Impoco, now editor-in-chief of IBT Media’s version of Newsweek, has been staffing up the revived publication with Reuters poaches, including Kira Bindrim, former Reuters.com homepage editor, and Alex Leo, former Reuters.com product head.