Time Magazine laid off an uncertain number of staffers across departments on Tuesday, a move CEO Jessica Sibley called a “necessary step we must take in order to drive our business forward and improve our financial position.”
In an internal memo to staff, obtained by Semafor’s Max Tani, Sibley announced the cuts.
“We have made the difficult decision to eliminate roles today across several departments including editorial, tech, sales, and TIME Studios,” Sibley wrote to staff. “We are immensely grateful for the contributions of these talented team members during their tenure at TIME.”
According to the memo, those who have been impacted by job cuts have already been notified by their managers and Time’s HR team.
Sibley stressed that Time’s next chapter will be focused on generating profitability saying, “We must continue increasing our revenue while managing operating costs efficiently.”
While the company has been “diligently reducing” expenses, “There is still more work to be done,” Sibley wrote.
“This decision was not made lightly and we have worked to manage expenses in other areas of our business aggressively to minimize the impact of this decision on our employees,” the Time CEO said. “All of these actions have moved us considerably closer to being a profitable company, an achievement we must reach to realize TIME’s full potential.”
Sibley continued that the layoffs were not an easy decision. “It is the necessary step we must take in order to drive our business forward and improve our financial position as an organization,” she wrote.
The NewsGuild of New York and the Time Union responded by denouncing the layoffs for both “unionized and non-unionized workers,” at Time.
“We are disappointed that, just two months after announcing a ‘year of growth in advertising revenue, events and strategic partnerships,’ TIME failed to prioritize the workers who produce its quality journalism,” photo editor and unit chair of the TIME Union Kara Milstein said. “We fully expect TIME executives to follow the terms and conditions agreed to in our contract. We’re reviewing all our options and will fight to ensure that our members’ contractual rights are honored.”
“Guild members at TIME play an essential role in the success of the company,” president of The NewsGuild of New York Susan DeCarava said. “TIME and other corporate media owners continue to undermine quality editorial work by treating their own workforces as disposable. Audiences can read the difference between a media company that invests in journalists and one that invests in executive compensation and outside consultants. We all—readers and workers alike—deserve better.”
Health and science reporter Haley Weiss confirmed on social media that she was impacted by the layoffs on Tuesday.
According to Weiss, she was laid off “along with 12 other journalists.”
I started at Time Magazine exactly one year ago today, and this morning I was laid off along with 12 other journalists.
— Haley Weiss (@haleysweiss) January 23, 2024
Myself & other young journalists losing their jobs today just want a chance to put down roots. We have SO many ideas to share with those who invest in us.
Culture writer Laura Zornosa also posted to the platform saying that she was impacted by the latest layoffs.
Logged onto Twitter to say this and saw that all of my old friends at the LA Times were going through this too — just got laid off from Time, along with a dozen other union members. My heart breaks for this industry and all of the good people in it ♥️
— Laura Zornosa (@laurnosa) January 23, 2024
According to a statement posted to X by the Time Union, “15% of our unit members,” have been impacted by the cuts, “with additional layoffs in edit and business.”
“We demand management uphold all terms and conditions laid out in our contract and we will fight back on these layoffs in any way we can,” the statement continued.
The Time Union said they have been requesting company finance information from management for months, however, the requests were refused.
“We won’t stop pushing until we get honest answers,” the union wrote.
