Axios Cuts Roughly 50 Positions Amid Media Landscape ‘Change’: ‘Painful But Necessary’

News site Axios is cutting roughly 50 jobs amid volatility in the media landscape, Axios co-founder and chief executive Jim VandeHei said Tuesday.

Axios’ CEO cited the need to make “difficult changes” to adapt to climate change in a memo to staff.

“We are making some difficult changes to quickly adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape,” he said. “We’re eliminating about 50 positions to get ahead of the tectonic changes in media, technology and reader needs/habits. This is a painful but necessary move to tighten our strategic focus and shift investment to our key growth areas.”

VandeHei said affected employees will be notified of severance packages, adding that most of the pink-slipped employees will leave the company on Friday.

Axios employs approximately 500 people.

The executive, who started Axios with fellow former Politico reporters Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz in 2016, expressed sadness over the layoffs and took responsibility for the turmoil, saying, “The right way to handle this is directly and transparent”.

VandeHei, who sold Axios to Cox Enterprises in 2022 for $525 million, tried to soften the blow of the layoffs, adding:

“This is not a reflection on anyone’s work – it is due to changes in the media business. If you are understandably upset by the decision, please direct your frustration to me.”

An Axios representative declined to comment on which divisions were being cut.

The holidays come at a particularly volatile time for media companies, which are being squeezed by shrinking advertising and a slowdown in internet traffic due to changes to Facebook and Google’s search algorithm.

Digital media companies have been hit hard by the headwinds with Business Insider cutting 8% of its staff in January. Messenger, a news startup, shut down entirely in late January after less than a year in operation, leaving 300 employees out of a job and no layoffs.

Buzzfeed cut 16% of its workforce and sold sister brand Complex in February after Vice Media stopped publishing on Vice.com and cut hundreds of jobs, among other things.