Condé Nast, the media conglomerate that owns and operates Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, along with a number of other properties, has plans to cut hundreds of jobs over the next few months.
The coming layoffs will affect some 270 employees, the New York Times first reported, citing a note to employees from Roger Lynch, the company’s chief executive.
In his note, which was obtained by The Hill, Lynch said the job reductions are necessary given recent digital advertising pressures, a decline in social media traffic across the industry and other factors.
“While we can’t control platform algorithms or how [artificial intelligence] may change search traffic,” Lynch wrote, according to the Times, “we believe our long-term success will be determined by growing the many areas that we can control, including subscriptions and e-commerce, where we directly own the relationship with our audience.”
In a subsequent interview with the Times, Lynch said the company has been closely watching engagement with video content as it prepares for the new financial year.
“The longer-form videos on YouTube are actually in decline year over year,” he said. “That is an audience shift, but it was also YouTube chasing what they were seeing happening on TikTok.”
Condé Nast is the latest in a string of major media companies that have announced planned layoffs in recent months, with more likely to come in the weeks ahead.
The Washington Post last month said it would offer buyouts across its newsroom as it aims to slash more than 200 jobs before year’s end.
Last winter, CNN, NPR and a handful of other major media outlets all cut jobs, citing a tough advertising market, changing audience habits and broader concerns about the state of the economy.
“There is no easy way to share this news and our focus will be on making this transition as easy as possible for our dedicated colleagues with enhanced severance packages and career service offerings,” Lynch said.
Updated at 11:35 a.m.