Jim Bankoff: Last News

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Vox Media announced that NowThis, the social media-focused news division it picked up through the 2021 acquisition of Group Nine Media, will become an independent entity through a deal with the Accelerate Change media network. Vox Media will retain a minority ownership stake in the newly independent NowThis and will continue to sell, produce and execute advertiser campaigns for NowThis. Washington, D.C.-based Accelerate Change will make a “substantial investment” in NowThis to support its continued growth and operations. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. According to Vox Media, NowThis will use the funding from Accelerate Change to expand its coverage and invest in staff and creator development. The 75-employee NowThis team will continued to be led by editor in chief Samara Mackereth and head of production and operations Jessica Borovay and “the staff in its entirety will join them in this transition,” according to Vox Media.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Writers Guild of America East council sent a letter to Vox Media brass Monday to demand the company allow employees at its publications The Dodo and Thrillist to merge into the Vox Media Union. The Dodo and Thrillist parent company Group Nine was purchased by Vox Media in December 2021.

Penske Media Corporation, Deadline’s parent company, has made a strategic investment in Vox Media and is now its largest shareholder.

Vox Media, parent company of brands including Vox, New York, Recode, Now This and other digitial titles, announced that it was cutting about 7% of its workforce.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorVox Media, the media company whose brands include New York Magazine, The Verge, Vulture, Thrillist and Popsugar, is laying off 39 employees in a new cost-cutting move the CEO says is in response to “economic uncertainty.”The cuts, representing less than 2% of Vox Media’s roughly 2,000 workforce, come seven months after it merged with Group Nine Media, a digital media roll-up venture whose backers included Discovery Communications.The latest Vox Media cuts include layoffs in sales and recruiting departments, as well as on certain editorial teams, including at Thrillist, the lifestyle brand that became part of the company through the Group Nine deal.“I’m writing this morning to share the difficult news that today we will be informing colleagues, comprising under 2% of the company, that they no longer have roles at Vox Media,” Vox Media chief Jim Bankoff wrote in a memo obtained by Variety.

The WGA East and Vox Media have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, averting a threatened strike. The new contract covers writers, editors, reporters, producers, podcasters and other staffers who work for Vox, The Verge, Eater, Polygon, SB Nation, Recode and Seeker.

EXCLUSIVE: Gearing up for a potential strike on Monday, more than 300 Vox Media employees have signed an angry letter to their boss, CEO Jim Bankoff. They were pandemic-shaming him for asking for cost-of-living and 401(K) roll-backs in the media conglomerate’s ongoing contract talks with the WGA East.

Vox Media, which owns digital brands like The Verge, Eater and Polygon as well as New York magazine, is in advanced talks to merge with Group Nine Media.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorVox Media and Group Nine Media are in advanced discussions to merge, in a deal that would give Vox Media a 75% ownership stake in the combined company — and create one of the industry’s largest pure-play digital media players.The talks between Vox Media and Group Nine were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which the companies later confirmed.Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff would become chief executive of the combined entity. “Due to a leak, this news is breaking prematurely,” Bankoff wrote in a memo Monday to staff after the Journal story was published.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorVox Media, the media company whose brands include New York Magazine, Vulture, The Verge and SB Nation, is cutting 6% of its workforce, laying off about 70 employees.According to a memo sent to company staff Thursday, CEO Jim Bankoff said the majority of the employees being laid off were furloughed in May (when Vox Media said it was furloughing 9% of its employees for a three-month period).Bankoff said Vox Media has already brought back (or will soon) nearly 30% of furloughed employees who did not take buyouts, per the memo, which Variety obtained.

By Todd Spangler