In yet another sign of the times, Nick Denton of Gawker Media is cutting 19 of 133 editorial jobs. The worst hit is Valleywag, one of my daily sources of information. The 'wag will be losing associate editors Nicholas Carlson and Jackson West and reporter Melissa Gira Grant, which leaves only a couple of guys to run the ship.
Does this make sense? My thoughts - yes, it definitely does. Couple this with Denton's other move - to stop bonuses, but increase everyone's base salaries - and you realize that he might be an early mover, but one who is moving in the right direction.
Consumer spending will be down in the first half of next year - all indications are leading to this. Ad budgets, specially for less mainstream media forms and outlets, will be slashed. As such, positioning your company for such an outcome in advance is the right move.
Personally, I've been on the receiving end at Onetta, after 9/11. But thanks to their strategy of cutting workforce early, Onetta stayed in business longer than most other dot com companies during the 2000 - 2003 time (yes, it did finally go down, as a disadvantageous sale to Bookham, but the fact remains that people did have jobs longer, and some people did get some level of bonuses).
Hope the laid-off folks find better opportunities very soon.
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