We are very serious about investing for growth – in 2022 alone we will be investing over $80 million in content across our brands. Today’s step is not a cost savings exercise and it is not about capturing synergies or any other acquisition jargon, it is about embracing the inevitable digital future for the affected brands. Brand leaders have already notified those impacted, and we are taking great care to help ensure a smooth transition for these employees. I can’t thank these employees enough for getting these brands to the strong place they are at today. Transitions like this are very difficult, impacting colleagues and friends, some of whom have been with the company for decades. The decision to evolve these brands to digital-only means that some jobs – roughly 200 roles primarily supporting our print operations – will be eliminated. These brands are among our most successful, important, and fastest growing digital properties – the online audience for Parents, InStyle, and EatingWell are each up over 40% year-over-year – and all of these brands have a bright future. As such, we are going to move to a digital-only future for these brands, which will help us to unlock their full potential. It is not news to anyone that there has been a pronounced shift in readership and advertising from print to digital, and as a result, for a few important brands, print is no longer serving the brand’s core purpose. We have said from the beginning, buying Meredith was about buying brands, not magazines or websites. This is an important step in the evolution of Dotdash Meredith, and I want to be clear with everyone about what we are doing and what is ahead. They couldn’t be more wrong - print remains core to Dotdash Meredith,” Vogel added, highlighting the brands that will continue to have print editions.Įffective today, we will no longer be printing monthly magazines for EatingWell, Entertainment Weekly, Health, InStyle, Parents, and People en Español. “Naysayers will interpret this as another nail in print’s coffin. At the time Vogel noted that “DotDash is a digital company, and we have a very different prism on how we view publishing.” “None of the journalism that makes Neil Vogel proud would be possible without our and our coworkers’ dedicated labor.”ĭotDash, which is owned by Barry Diller’s IAC, acquired Meredith Corp.’s magazine business last year in a $2.7 billion deal. “Dotdash Meredith has the resources to keep these people employed or pay them a fair severance,” they added, noting that IAC recorded hundreds of millions in profit in 2021. Meredith Union further noted that it is unclear “there was any good reason” for the layoffs at all. “The company conducted the layoffs in a rushed and disrespectful fashion unbefitting of the long and dedicated service the workers provided to the publication,” the statement read, in-part. In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Meredith Union commented on the nine members of its staff who were laid off. IAC's Dotdash Acquires People Magazine Publisher Meredith Corp.
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