As part of a company-wide restructuring, Vox Media, which also owns Thrillist and Pop Sugar (which rebranded to PS earlier this year), announced last Thursday that Eater will shift from city-specific editorial teams to a "regional coverage model." Vox did not indicate how many employees were let go across Eater, which includes one national platform and 23 individual city sites featuring everything from restaurant news to maps and lists. The Vox Media and Thrillist Unions claimed that "nearly 40 members" were laid off, though an exact number remains unconfirmed. Vox last laid off employees a year ago, when it cut .
"On Thursday, December 5, nearly 40 members of the Vox Media Union, Thrillist Union, and out-of-unit workers were laid off as management gutted its Eater Cities sites and reduced Thrillist by 80 percent," read a organized by former Eater Chicago Editor Ashok Selvam. "We are sickened to lose our beloved colleagues, some of whom have been with Vox Media for nearly a decade. We are grateful to have industry-leading severance language in our collective bargaining agreement."
The change at Eater raises questions about how San Diego's vibrant dining scene will be represented moving forward. Eater San Diego's founding editor, , has been a central figure in the city's food coverage since the site launched in 2012. There is no confirmation on whether she or other local contributors have been impacted by the layoffs, but of two articles published on the website since the layoffs, neither were from Woo.Ìý
According to Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff, the reorganization aims to "most efficiently serve [the] audience's needs," but critics fear it could dilute the hyperlocal focus that has made Eater's city sites important for readers. The move follows layoffs affecting many Eater staffers, particularly those on its Cities teams, which have traditionally provided boots-on-the-ground reporting of local food and dining culture.
"Today, we're implementing role eliminations and organizational changes across our lifestyle brands (Thrillist, PS and Eater), Product, and the Media Production & Technology organization," Vox CEO Jim Bankoff wrote in a staff memo issued on December 5. "All affected employees have been notified and are receiving transition support...Going forward, Thrillist will be operated by Eater, on a similar model to Punch, leveraging shared leadership and resources. PS will concentrate on its extensive footprint across social and video platforms with an even stronger emphasis on shopping. Eater is reorganizing its cities coverage into a regional model in order to most efficiently serve its audience’s needs."
Lauren Starke, Vox Media's senior vice president of communications, stated that Eater's regional model will still include local dining news and recommendations. Yet, with editors now overseeing multiple cities within a region, the depth and nuance of San Diego's coverage could be at risk, especially if the editors are not based locally.
"Today, we're implementing role eliminations and organizational changes across our lifestyle brands (Thrillist, PS and Eater), Product, and the Media Production & Technology organization," Vox CEO Jim Bankoff wrote in a staff memo issued on December 5. "All affected employees have been notified and are receiving transition support...Going forward, Thrillist will be operated by Eater, on a similar model to Punch, leveraging shared leadership and resources. PS will concentrate on its extensive footprint across social and video platforms with an even stronger emphasis on shopping. Eater is reorganizing its cities coverage into a regional model in order to most efficiently serve its audience’s needs."
Lauren Starke, Vox Media's senior vice president of communications, stated that Eater's regional model will still include local dining news and recommendations. Yet, with editors now overseeing multiple cities within a region, the depth and nuance of San Diego's coverage could be at risk, especially if the editors are not based locally.
This restructuring is part of a broader consolidation across Vox Media's lifestyle brands, including the near-dissolution of Thrillist and changes to PopSugar's focus. The decision has sparked outrage among the Vox Media Union and Writers Guild of America East, who criticized the layoffs as "short-sighted" and damaging to local journalism.
For Eater San Diego, the stakes are high. San Diego's food scene has thrived in recent years, with a growing reputation for innovative chefs, unique dining concepts, and a vibrant cultural tapestry of culinary influences. Local coverage has been key to highlighting these developments and connecting readers with the city's top dining experiences. As San Diego waits to see how these changes play out, the loss of dedicated local voices would be a significant blow not only to the city's food community but also to readers who rely on Eater San Diego as a trusted resource.
VOX MEMO:
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Today, we're implementing role eliminations and organizational changes across our lifestyle brands (Thrillist, PS and Eater), Product, and the Media Production & Technology organization. All affected employees have been notified and are receiving transition support.
Each of our brands faces distinct market opportunities and challenges. As you know, the pace of change is accelerating for media businesses and it is essential to our success that we continuously evaluate how and where we invest to serve our audiences best to advance the long term health of our business.Ìý
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In particular, the ways audiences are interacting with our Thrillist and PS brands have changed and we must adapt. Going forward, Thrillist will be operated by Eater, on a similar model to Punch, leveraging shared leadership and resources. PS will concentrate on its extensive footprint across social and video platforms with an even stronger emphasis on shopping. Eater is reorganizing its cities coverage into a regional model in order to most efficiently serve its audience's needs. The Product and Media Production & Technology organizations are being restructured to meet the current needs and scale of the business.Ìý
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Throughout our history, we've led the digital media landscape because we've been willing to adapt and evolve as technology and the way people consume content change. These actions, while difficult, are consistent with our strategic priority to deepen audience connections to the brands and franchises that drive loyalty while ensuring our financial strength. As was the case this year, in 2025 we will continue to invest in our business where we see the clearest opportunities: editorial and user experiences that build loyal, direct audiences; a high-value advertising proposition based on unique intellectual property; strong brands that command audience attention; leading multimedia productions like we're building with the Vox Media Podcast Network; and consumer-direct businesses to diversify revenue streams and grow recurring revenue.Ìý
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While our focus on improving our financial strength is always a priority, this year we have made meaningful progress to ensure our long-term profitability. This has meant difficult decisions and ongoing financial discipline about where we're investing and where we're pulling back. To our departing colleagues, I'm grateful for your contributions. To everyone at Vox Media, thank you for your continued commitment to our work.Ìý
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Jim
VOX MEDIA UNION STATEMENT:
Today, we were blindsided by news from Vox Media management that many of our colleagues at Thrillist and Eater would lose their jobs. We are devastated to lose writers and editors who produce invaluable work each and every day, and disgusted by Vox Media’s short-sighted decision making. As always, it is the workers who bear the brunt of management’s poor choices, and this close to the holidays, their callousness is especially galling.
We are incredibly disappointed by management’s decision to decimate Thrillist, a vertical that it has invested almost nothing in since acquiring it from Group Nine. As we have made clear to management with our demand for One Union, One Contract, the WGAE-Vox Media Union views our colleagues at Thrillist as members of our union, and we will make sure that they are made whole in light of management’s decision to essentially shutter this beloved publication.
Many of those impacted by today’s layoffs work on Eater’s Cities team, a group of powerhouse journalists who produce some of the most impactful local journalism in the country. Their work has always differentiated Eater and built it into the country’s most prominent food website, and management’s treatment of these workers is both irresponsible and reflects a complete lack of understanding of the journalism that is needed in this moment. We need more boots on the ground doing this essential work, not fewer.
As always, the Guild will continue to demand that members are treated fairly in the aftermath of layoffs. As we approach the upcoming negotiations for our third collective bargaining agreement, we want to make abundantly clear to management that the status quo of constant, cyclical layoffs will not continue. We will fight like hell to ensure that our industry has a future, no matter how many times those in charge attempt to run it into the ground.
Originally published on December 11, 2024.ÌýÌý
