The Athletic, the New York Times-owned sports news outlet, laid off nearly 4 percent of its newsroom on Monday.
The Athletic publisher David Parpich and editor-in-chief Steven Ginsberg announced a “major restructuring” of the newsroom in a memo to staff. They believe the publication will go from having one reporter per sports team to “leveraging both regional and national reporting expertise to find the most compelling stories for fans across teams in a given league.” “Tell us,” he said, transitioning to broader coverage.
Nearly 20 people will be laid off as part of the restructuring, and more than 20 reporters will be transferred to new assignments.
“Despite the changes announced today, the size of the newsroom this year will grow compared to last year, and overall investment in editorial groups will also increase in the years to come,” Parpich and Ginsberg said. wrote. “Once this process is complete, the team will have over 100 beats and his reporters.”
The Times acquired The Athletic for $550 million in January 2022. The Athletic, which had more than 1 million subscribers at the time, had an operating loss of about $55 million in 2021.
After being acquired by The Times, The Athletic has been profitable but still in the red. The Times reported that the sports site lost about $36 million from the time of its acquisition to the end of 2022. The Athletic operates separately from the Times’ newsroom and sports divisions.
