The BuzzFeed layoffs weren’t

[Shishirgano9]

BuzzFeed is certainly not alone in struggling in this digital advertising environment. Digital media companies Vox Media , Vice , Mashable , and Refinery 29 have all laid off significant numbers of employees in the past year , while Mic laid off its entire editorial team , before its fiery sale to Bustle Digital Group (also now owner of the suddenly staffless Gawker 2.0 ).

The only ones announced on Wednesday, January 24. Verizon denmark mobile database Media Group , which owns Yahoo , AOL , HuffPost , and other brands, is laying off about 800 people . (Oh, and don’t forget the past layoffs at the following media outlets . Gannett , The Dallas Morning News , and many other smaller outlets that don’t even make industry news anymore.) These events are depressing on their own, but together they’re disastrous — especially since the New York Times’ Mike Isaac wrote in his 2019 prediction for Nieman Lab .

“The truth is that big media companies like Disney (who are focused on fighting Netflix) and NBCUniversal (who don’t know what they’re focused on) aren’t buying. Four years ago, if you were a BuzzFeed or a Vox, you just wanted to see NBC as your exit route. Now, that story isn’t as appealing. Worse, if the most promising startups get passed on, what happens to the smaller ones? Like Mic, Refinery29, Mashable, all of which will have to make tough decisions (and some already have, as we’ve seen).”