Deadspin, the popular sports commentary and news website, terminated all its employees on Monday following its acquisition by Lineup Publishing, a startup company.
In a memo to company staff on Monday, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller announced the sale of Deadspin, which was previously owned by Gawker Media and became part of the private-equity-backed G/O Media in 2019.
The sale was initiated after Lineup Publishing, a European digital media firm eager to expand its media portfolio, approached G/O Media. Despite not actively seeking buyers, the board decided to proceed with the sale due to various factors favoring the transaction.
Deadspin CEO Spanfeller stated, “The rationale behind the decision to sell included a variety of important factors that include the buyer’s editorial plans for the brand, tough competition in the sports journalism sector, and a valuation that reflected a sizable premium from our original purchase price for the site.”
He added, “Deadspin’s new owners have made the decision to not carry over any of the site’s existing staff and instead build a new team more in line with their editorial vision for the brand.”
“While the new owners plan to be reverential to Deadpin’s [sic] unique voice, they plan to take a different content approach regarding the site’s overall sports coverage. This unfortunately means that we will be parting ways with those impacted staff members, who were notified earlier today,” the CEO concluded.
This move affected 11 Deadspin employees, as confirmed by a G/O Media spokesperson, though the deal’s specifics remain undisclosed.
Last year, G/O Media also sold Jezebel to Paste Magazine following a brief shutdown of the publication and the termination of its entire staff. Described as “incredibly fast,” this deal mirrored the swift nature of the Deadspin sale.
Although Jezebel’s website resumed publication shortly afterward, it did so with a reduced staff.
The removal of Deadspin’s staff is the latest development in what has been a turbulent year for the news media industry thus far.
In the first quarter of 2024 alone, The Messenger ceased operations, BuzzFeed reduced 16% of its remaining workforce, and Vice Media terminated hundreds of employees while discontinuing its website publication.
TIME also laid off 15% of its unionized editorial staff, and The Los Angeles Times downsized its newsroom staff by over 20%.
This wave of layoffs reflects the challenges faced by news outlets nationwide, including declining advertising revenue, decreasing social media referral traffic, and the looming impact of artificial intelligence.
