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October 2001
- Tivo, the developer the device that allows you to record
television shows, is laying off 40 employees.
Source: CNET 10-31-01
- MTV Networks is cutting 450 jobs, about 9% of its workforce.
Source: Financial
Times, CNET 10-29-01
- Magazine publisher Conde Nast is laying off 9 of 16
employees in its database operations.
Source: AdAge.com 10-29-01
- Primedia is continuing its cost reductions
with a new hiring and salary freeze. In addition,
travel expenses are being reduced by 50%.
Source: The Write News 10-26-01
- Cox Interactive Media is closing its
Miami and
Los Angeles city portals
and laying off 70 employees -- about 15% of its workforce.
Source: Newsbytes 10-26-01
- Bertelsmann owned
Napster is terminating 16 employees as it completes its
move towards a fee-based music subscription service.
88 employees remain at Napster.
Source: Newsbytes 10-26-01
- Sony Pictures is closing its Network TV production division.
About 50 to 70 employees will be let go.
Source: L.A. Times 10-26-01
- Telegraph.co.uk has cut 17 positions, leaving 70
employees running the news website.
Source: MediaGuardian 10-26-01
- Year's Most Ungrateful Author
Jonathan Franzen, the author who has been joshingly
christened "J-Franz" by Publishers Weekly for his recent peccadillos, has been nominated for the National Book Award. Certainly, if there were a National Publicity Nightmare Award or the Award for the
Year's Most Ungrateful Author, Franzen would be a shoo-in.
Franzen now has the dubious honor of being the
first author to be uninvited from an appearance on
The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah selected his book, The Corrections,
as an Oprah Book Pick and invited him to appear on the
show, but she has since rescinded the offer after hearing
about Franzen's numerous unflattering remarks to interviewers. His comments were
critical of Oprah, her
show and her fans. In one interview, the author referred to some of Oprah's prior book picks as "schmaltzy, [and] one-dimensional." Franzen further indicated that he felt that the Oprah Book Club Selection logo sticker appearing on his book was in effect a corporate hijacking of his
work. (Most authors would sell their souls for that little sticker, by the way.)
Franzen was also worried that the Oprah
Selection would turn off his male readers. Later, Franzen
tried to apologize for his rude comments, but the damage
has been done. Oprah's readers have taken offense at
Franzen's comments and his implication that his work is
too important and/or too literary for them to understand, and many
have stated that they intend to return the book, unread.
Source: New York
Times, Publishers Weekly,
CNN,
Chicago Sun-Times 10-24-01
- ABC.com has laid off
more employees -- possibly 85% of its workforce.
Disney is looking to run the website with a
considerably smaller staff.
Source: CNET 10-23-01
- U.S. News & World Report has laid off 13 people and
announced salary cuts of up to 10% for most of its employees.
Source: The New York Times 10-23-01
- The Runner, a high-profile reality TV show produced
by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, has been canceled by ABC.
Source: The New York Times 10-22-01
- NewMonday.com, an online job and career site from Dutch
publisher VNU, is being shut down. About 140 employees work
for the job site -- some of them will be transfered to other
VNU operations.
Source: Newsbytes 10-22-01
- Time Inc. has fired its entire mailroom staff, which
includes 36 employees.
The staff will be replaced with Archer Managerial Services,
a company with provides outsourcing service.
Source: New York Post 10-19-01
- Crain Communications, publisher of the industry trade
journal Automotive News, ceased publication of its monthly
publication, Automotive News International, effective with
the October issue.
Source: The Write News 10-19-01
- Alltrue.com, a reality comedy site with streaming video,
has shut down. 10-19-01
- AOL Time Warner is planning more layoffs because
of the poor advertising climate.
Source: Newsbytes 10-18-01
- Lingua Franca, a magazine about academic life with
a circulation of 15,000, is ceasing publication.
Source: The New York Times 10-18-01
- NetRadio is
shutting down and firing nearly all of its employees.
The Internet radio company was forced to close down after it ran
into debt was unable to obtain additional funding.
NetRadio's website says,
"In the words of Kenny Rogers, you’ve got to know when to
hold ‘em, and know when to fold ‘em. Sadly, the time has come
for folding at NetRadio." Source: Newsbytes 10-18-01
- The Orange County Register is letting 102 employees
go -- about 5% of the total workforce.
Source: Editor&Publisher 10-18-01
- Colorado-based NetLibrary, an ebook retailer and
distributor, has run out of funds
and needs to find a buyer to stay in business.
Last week NetLibrary's 230 employees were asked to continue working
for $360 a week until a buyer could be found.
Only 90 workers agreed. At its peak the company employed
about 450 people.
Source: Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Planet eBook 10-17-01
- The Financial Times is planning to cut 150 jobs, or 15%
of its workforce, before the end of the year. The weak
advertising market was blamed.
Source: MediaGuardian 10-17-01
- MicroTimes, a publication of Haas Publishing Co., which is owned by Primedia, Inc.,
has ceased publication. The website has also shut down and the staff
was laid off. MicroTimes is published by
Haas Publishing, which is owned by Primedia, Inc.
Source: Press Acess 10-17-01
- Sony Pictures Entertainment is planning to cut back on
its television operations and possibly halt production of
new prime-time shows. Some 50 to 70 jobs could be cut as a result.
Source: L.A. Times 10-17-01
- IFilm.com, an entertainment portal, is
eliminating 10 jobs. Source: HollywoodReporter.com 10-16-01
- Brill's Content and Inside.com Close
Brill's Content
is ceasing publication and
Inside.com
will be sold to Primedia and become a portal displaying
Primedia content. 38 people will be let go.
Another Brill project, Contentville.com, was shut down
in September. Brill Media and Primedia are also ending their
short-lived joint venture.
Source: The Write News, Inside.com,
Financial Times, New York Times, New York Daily News,
CNET, Media Life Magazine, MediaWeek, AdAge.com 10-16-01
- Reuters is laying
off 500 employees because market
conditions have continued to worsen since September 11th.
Reuters laid off 1,300 employees earlier this year.
Source: MediaGuardian, Financial Times 10-16-01
- Urban lifestyle portal Volume.com is closing its doors
November 1st due to adverse market conditions.
Source: DotComScoop 10-16-01
- Java Report, a monthly publication focusing on Java technology,
will publish its last issue in October, while Journal of
Object-Oriented Programming subscribers will receive their final
issue in December. Current readers and advertisers of both
publications will be transitioned to Programmers Report
(a new publication) starting with the January/February 2002 issue.
Source: The Write News 10-15-01
- Ziff Davis Media Inc. announced that it is discontinuing
publication of Expedia Travels magazine after the November
2001 issue. Expedia Travels was a joint venture between
Ziff Davis and Expedia Inc., an online travel booking service.
The magazine first debuted on October 31, 2001.
Source: The Write News 10-12-01
- Playboy
Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), the publisher of Playboy
magazine, said that it is
eliminating approximately 90 positions, half of which
are in Playboy Online. 10-12-01
- Primedia is merging its Youth Entertainment Group,
which includes Teen Beat, Tiger Beat, 16 and Bop magazines,
into its Teen magazine group. Twenty employees will be cut
as a result and remaining
editorial staff will be moved from New York to
Los Angeles. Recently, Primedia cut sixty employees and
300 guides from its About.com unit. Primedia has recently
seen its shares plummet over 40% into the low $2 range.
Source: MediaWeek 10-12-01
- Osama and Bert
Bert, the muppet from Sesame Street, has been appearing
in Osama Bin Laden propaganda posters. Understandably,
Sesame Workshop is unhappy about Bert's
unauthorized cameo in the terrorist mastermind's posters.
Source: FoxNews 10-11-01
- Brill's Content and Inside.com could disappear in weeks because
of financial problems at Brill Media Holdings and Primedia.
Contentville.com was shut down last week.
Source: New York Daily News 10-11-01
- After reporting revenues down considerably from the year before
Yahoo is
considering additional layoffs.
Yahoo laid off 400 employees on April, 12.
Source: CNET 10-10-01
- Belo Corp., a media company and
publisher of the Dallas Morning News, is laying off
160 employees. Belo has over 8,000 employees.
Source: MediaWeek 10-10-01
- Oxygen Media, a women's media company,
has cut 80 of its 500 employees, 16% of its workforce.
Source: CNET 10-10-01
- Half.com, an online retailer of books, music, games and
other products, is being merged into Ebay.com, its parent
company. 18 Half.com employees will be let go in the process.
Source: Newsbytes 10-10-01
- The Miami
edition of the New Times, an alternative
newspaper, has cut five editorial employees.
Source: Daily Business Review 10-10-01
- Dennis Publishing, publisher of Maxim and
Maxim Fashion magazines,
is putting the launch
of a new men's title on hold. The company cited
poor economic conditions as its reason for putting the
launch on hold.
Source: Media Guardian 10-8-01
- Silicon Alley
Reporter is ceasing publication.
The SiliconAlleyDaily.com,
however, will continue to publish.
Source: New York Times 10-8-01
- Wenner Media, the publisher of Rolling Stone, Men's
Journal and US Weekly, has
cut six additional employees. The company has cut 25% of its workforce
this year.
Source: MediaWeek 10-5-01
- Square Co., a Tokyo based video game company which
developed the animated
movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is leaving
the movie business after the film fell well short of
its box office goals.
Source: L.A. Times 10-5-01
- CMP Media, a publisher of b2b health and
technology magazines, has laid off a number of employees.
The number of cuts is rumored to be around 200, but CMP would
not confirm this number.
Source: Newsbytes 10-5-01
- Grand Adventures Tour & Travel Publishing Corporation
has closed and liquidated its UK subsidiary Lawson
Interline Travel Ltd. In the US, 45 employees have been
laid off while the closing of the UK operation cost over 46
employees their jobs.
The company has has also suspended the publication of
the print edition of Interline Adventures magazine, a
monthly magazine devoted to the travel interests
of airline employees. 10-5-01
- Mademoiselle,
the well-known women's magazine
with 850,000 subscribers,
is ceasing publication. Publisher Conde Nast blamed the decision
on the weak advertising environment. The November issue will
be Mademoiselle's last.
Source: The Write News,
USA
Today, L.A.
Times, New York
Times, AdAge 10-3-01
- The San Antonio Express-News is letting
40 noneditorial employees go.
Source: Editor&Publisher 10-3-01
- The Event, a free newspaper in Utah, is closing its
doors after 20 years of publishing.
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune 10-3-01
- Primedia is closing Primedia Ventures, its venture capital
unit. Four employees were laid off.
Source: New York Post 10-01-01
- The Freedom Forum, a foundation dedicated to
free speech and Newseum operator,
is closing five offices and laying of a significant number
of employees. The exact number of layoffs has not been
announced. The Freedom Forum employs 285 employees.
Source: The Washington Post 10-01-01
- Upside Magazine has been purchased by MCG Capital
and will continue to publish its print magazine. The
website will continue to provide some content, despite a previous
report that it would fold. Only 25 employees remain at
the magazine. Source: The Write News 10-01-01
- Trinity Mirror,
the UK's largest newspaper publisher with 260 newspapers,
is planning to layoff employees in its digital division.
As many as 1/3 of the jobs in the division could be lost.
Source: MediaGuardian 10-01-01
- InPittsburgh Weekly has been bought by its rival, the Pittsburgh City Paper
and shut down -- leaving only one alternative weekly in the city.
InPittsburgh had a staff of 30.
Source: Post-Gazette.com 10-01-01
- Bad News For Trade Magazines
The B2B magazine industry is suffering through
an advertising recession. B2B Ad spending fell
by nearly 16% in the first six months of 2001.
Source: Media Life Magazine 10-01-01
- Contentville Closes
Contentville, a website selling a wide variety of
content, has been shut down. 15 employees of
Contentville were let go.
A message on the website from founder Stephen Brill states,
"We are sorry to report that we have suspended operations
at Contentville, effective September 28. We appreciate your
business, but unfortunately we simply were unable to entice
enough people for us to see our way to a viable enterprise.
If you have any customer service inquiries you can call us
at 1-800-999-2668. All items previously ordered and paid for
will be shipped as scheduled. We truly appreciate all your
business and support." 10-01-01
- Excite@Home announced that it has agreed to sell essentially
all of its broadband Internet access business assets and related
services to AT&T for $307 million in cash. The company plans to
file for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in
San Francisco. The asset sale is subject to the emergence of
higher offers and closing conditions, including bankruptcy court
approval. The future of the Excite.com portal is unclear, but
it could be sold or shut down in the near future.
Source: New York Times, CBS News, Financial Times, CNET 10-01-01
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