Forbes laid off about 5% of its employees on Friday, TheWrap has learned, in the latest round of job cuts to hit the media world.
The business magazine’s website said it has about 500 employees worldwide, which would mean around 25 people lost their jobs. Forbes also has a network of 2,100 writers, but a Forbes spokesperson said they are not full-time employees and will not be affected by the Friday cuts.
New CEO Sherry Phillips, in a memo obtained by AdWeek, said the reduction was due to the company not meeting internal financial goals.
“Unfortunately, as most of you know, we didn’t meet our financial goals in 2024,” Phillips said. “As a result, we are reprioritizing resources and reorganizing some areas to further increase efficiency and laser focus on the core strength of our brand.”
Phillips replaced Mike Federle as chief executive in December. She is entering her 29th year with Forbes, and was the company’s chief revenue officer before being promoted to CEO. Forbes has been publishing for 107 years and is well-known for its annual “30 under 30” lists, highlighting up-and-comers in a variety of fields.
The job cuts at Forbes add to a brutal start to 2025 for the media world. Vox recently had its third round of job cuts in just two months, and The Washington Post and the Huffington Post both let go of employees earlier this month as well.
The layoffs also come after an ugly 2024 in which nearly 15,000 media jobs were eliminated.
