CNN to Lay Off Dozens of Employees in Digital Unit

“Not every new project has paid off,” CNN spokesperson tells TheWrap

CNN

Even CNN can’t escape the growing pains of online media, with the cable-news giant planning to cut several dozen digital jobs, the company confirmed to TheWrap.

CNN said the cuts are part of a “restructuring,” with some of the employees being moved into new roles. The cuts are expected later this week.

“We’ve been transparent about our strategy. In order to innovate, grow and experiment, we’ve added more than 200 jobs in the past 18 months,” a CNN spokesperson told TheWrap. “Not every new project has paid off so we will stop some activities in order to reallocate those resources and enable future experimentation. Organizations that do not make big bets and continuously evolve are the ones that fail.”

The layoffs were first reported by Vanity Fair on Monday, which said “as many as 50 jobs” would be cut. CNN told TheWrap that there would be less than 50 pink slips. Altogether, CNN Digital has more than 600 employees.

Despite enjoying a “Trump bump” in the last two years, CNN has still had a difficult time calibrating its digital strategy. Just last month, CNN pulled the plug on Beme, its video-sharing app it paid $25 million for in late 2016.

Although CNN pulled in $370 million last year, the company still fell short of revenue projections, similar to BuzzFeed and Vice.

Comments