• Fellowships
  • Reports
  • Lab
  • Storyboard
    • Nieman Foundation at Harvard
    HOME
    About
    Subscribe
    Archives
              
    Foundation
    Reports
    Storyboard
    LATEST STORY
    Local journalists try new methods to reach, serve, and build trust with audiences
    Business Models Mobile & Apps Audience & Social Aggregation & Discovery Reporting & Production
    ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE
    Aug. 6, 2024, 1:39 p.m.
    Business Models
    Axios has its first-ever layoffs, citing “shifting reader attention and behavior” and AI
    LINK: x.com  ➚   |   Posted by: Neel Dhanesha   |   August 6, 2024

    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.

    Show tags
     
    What’s the best way to follow how the news is changing?
    Our daily email, with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.
    Prefer a once-a-week email? »
    The latest from Nieman Lab
    Local journalists try new methods to reach, serve, and build trust with audiences
    Sophie Culpepper
    We know why journalists leave the profession. A new study looks at why they stay
    Gregory P. Perreault
    The Puente News Collaborative expands to report on the entire U.S.–Mexico border
    Hanaa' Tameez
    An AI chatbot helped Americans who believe in conspiracy theories “exit the rabbit hole”
    Laura Hazard Owen
    Documentary filmmakers publish new AI ethics guidelines. Are news broadcasters next?
    Andrew Deck
    Join the 60,000 who get the freshest future-of-journalism news in our daily email.
    Local journalists try new methods to reach, serve, and build trust with audiences
    “If you’re not reaching the people that you want to reach, then what’s the point of doing the work?”
    We know why journalists leave the profession. A new study looks at why they stay
    “The day-to-day work of news, journalists reminded us, was the opportunity to learn for a living.”
    The Puente News Collaborative expands to report on the entire U.S.–Mexico border
    “If you look beyond the wall, you really see these two vibrant communities that are involved in each other’s lives and the integration between them.”
    Help advance the Nieman Foundation’s mission “to promote and elevate the standards of journalism” by making a donation.

    To promote and elevate the standards of journalism

    Covering thought leadership in journalism

    Pushing to the future of journalism

    Exploring the art and craft of story
    © 2024 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College  /  Some rights reserved
    Harvard Trademark Privacy Digital Accessibility
    Walter Lippmann House    One Francis Ave.    Cambridge, MA 02138    617 495 2237