For the second time in five months, Wired.com, the Internet arm of Wired magazine, has trimmed its staff.
(Credit:
Wired.com)
According to a Twitter post from Evan Hansen, the Web site's editor in chief, the company laid off 3 out of 25 full-time staffers or 12 percent of its workforce.
"Reports of Wired.com 'gutting' greatly exaggerated," Hansen wrote on Twitter, presumably referring to published reports about Wired.com's layoffs. "We cut three staff, five contractors, (and) still have 45 people working for us overall."
Among those who lost their jobs was Eliot Van Buskirk, a much respected digital music reporter who authored the blog ListeningPost for the Web site for over three years, according to multiple people within the company. Van Buskirk was a part-time contractor for Wired and is a former CNET employee. Leander Kahney, Wired.com's managing editor, also lost his job, but he requested that he be let go, the sources said.
In November, Wired.com laid off 10 percent of its staff. Wired magazine was once a must-read for the cybergroovy but has since had to contend, like all print publishers, with more competition from online sources of technology stories.
Wired.com, the Internet arm of stalwart tech pub Wired magazine, has cut its staff by 10 percent and an unknown number of employees outside of editorial also were laid off, according to sources close to the company.
Wired.com has laid off three of its 28 employees, but the publication's staff writers were unaffected.
(Credit: Wired.com)Out of 28 editorial positions, 3 employees were laid off, according to the sources. In an interview with CNET News, Evan Hansen, Wired.com's editor in chief, said the company downsized to prepare for the economic downturn.
"Revenues are expected to be up year over year but not as much as we expected," Hansen said. "We're concerned about 2009 because visibility is murky. We're taking steps to make sure we're in good position."
Hansen declined to discuss who was let go, but sources familiar with the situation said none of the publication's staff writers was cut. This is only the latest reduction of editorial staffing for Wired.com's publisher, Conde Nast.
Last month, The New York Times reported that Conde Nast was preparing to reduce company-wide budgets by 5 percent. The plan called for reducing the number of issues for magazines such as Portfolio and Men's Vogue and folding some of Portfolio's divisions into Wired magazine. The Times story said that most of the job cuts would come at Portfolio and Men's Vogue.
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