Axios has its first-ever layoffs, citing “shifting reader attention and behavior” and AI
On Tuesday, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei told staff (in an email that used Axios’ “smart brevity” format) the company is laying off 50 people, or about 10% of its employees. These are the first layoffs in the 7-year history of the company, which until now seemed to have dodged the icebergs that had torn holes into many of its competitors; it was so successful, in fact, that Cox Enterprises bought Axios for $525 million in 2022. Its founders — VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz — stayed on to continue running the company.
In his memo, VandeHei mentioned that reader attention is “scattering across social, podcasts, individual creators and influencers, partisan websites and more,” and that this coupled with AI models’ ability to summarize news makes now “the most difficult moment for media in our lifetime.” In April, VandeHei had told The New York Times he was concerned the rise of AI would “eviscerate the weak, the ordinary, the unprepared in media,” and that Axios’ strategy would shift toward live events, membership programs, and premium newsletters.
Axios’ Detroit and Tampa Bay reporters both posted about being laid off, as did a national news editor. The visuals team was hit particularly hard, according to Axios’ managing editor of data visuals.
NEW: Axios is laying off 50 people across the company. CEO @JimVandeHei just sent out this note — which says the layoffs are because of “changes in the media business” pic.twitter.com/lLVemNFh0N
— Katie Robertson (@katie_robertson) August 6, 2024
There’s just something so unsettling that they used the Axios “smart brevity” bulletpoint format to fire their staffers.
WHY IT MATTERS: You will no longer have a job. https://t.co/oVWTUhUFVE
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 6, 2024
Axios laying off people in smart brevity style and doing it as a news dump right before the vice presidential announcement is heartless stuff.
— Scott Nover (@ScottNover) August 6, 2024
Everything else aside here—notable that VandeHei essentially cites AI as a threat to Axios’ business model https://t.co/zJbmTYLzVI
— Damon Beres (@dlberes) August 6, 2024
it’s a sad day for those of us at Axios that are losing beloved colleagues — i promise our internal email format is not the most gutting thing about this news and saying so is not very nice to those laid off!
— Ashley Gold (@ashleyrgold) August 6, 2024
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.