*Well, at least this blog's going out in good company.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vice-media-laying-155-employees-1294736
(...)
The global spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic has completely upended the digital media business model, resulting in layoffs or furloughs at almost every prominent company in the industry. On Thursday, the global business publication Quartz laid off 80 employees, representing 40 percent of its staff, and on Wednesday, magazine giant Conde Nast laid off 100 staffers in the U.S.
VIce Media had been expected to make deep cuts.
Dubuc said in the memo that laid off employees will receive severance pay and will be able to keep their work-issued laptops. U.S.-based employees will also receive extended health benefits coverage through the end of 2020.
"Saying goodbye to you today is our loss entirely and as the leader of this company, I take personal responsibility," she wrote.
Dubuc also used the memo to lament the "great threat to journalism" posed by "Big Tech" companies.
"We grew our digital business faster than anyone at a time when we believed that as more pies were baked, we'd keep getting a slice," she wrote. "We work hard for that slice — we make great shows, write culture-driving stories and break news on issues no one else wants to touch. But we aren't seeing the return from the platforms benefiting and making money from our hard work. Now, after many years of this, the squeeze is becoming a chokehold. Platforms are not just taking a larger slice of the pie, but almost the whole pie. And while the crescendo has been building for some time, now it is more clear than ever ... 36,000+ lost jobs in journalism is enough to take your breath away."....
