Skip to main content

Medium cuts one-third of its staff as it looks beyond ads at new business model

medium job cuts
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Following on from a successful 2016, publishing site Medium just dropped the bomb on its staff. The platform created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is axing 50 jobs (around one-third of its entire workforce) and shutting its offices in New York and Washington D.C.

The cuts will affect those in sales, support, and other business functions, claims Williams, with Medium retaining the “vast majority” of its product development and engineering teams.

“This is certainly one of the hardest things I’ve done in my years as a founder and CEO,” writes Williams.

The announcement comes as a bit of surprise seeing as just weeks ago Medium was touting the impressive year it had just witnessed. Publishing and visitor numbers were up across the board in 2016 — users shared 7.5 million posts (up from 1.9 million in 2015) and Medium saw its monthly visitors spike by 140 percent year-on-year to reach 60 million.

Evan Williams
Medium creator and CEO Evan Williams Image used with permission by copyright holder

So, what went wrong? According to Williams, the layoffs are part of the company’s efforts to create a new business model. What that model will look like remains unclear. For now, Williams maintains that the current ad-driven media system is “broken.” Nonetheless, it was a path that Medium was content to go down despite its creator’s comments upon its launch in 2012 condemning the digital media landscape as “unsustainable and unsatisfying for producers and consumers alike.”

However, in its bid to court major commercial publishers, Medium realized it had to create ad products, which were introduced last year. As a result, it managed to attract some big names and buzzy publications including The Awl, The Ringer (Bill Simmons’ post-ESPN media venture), and an offshoot of Time Inc. property Fortune. Its main ad initiative was “promoted stories” — Medium’s ad unit (launched in beta last year) that dealt with sponsored posts. A person familiar with the matter told Digital Trends that its ad unit is one of the affected offerings impacted by Medium’s shifting model.

Instead, the person says Medium will concentrate on Memberships — a subscription system that allows publishers to charge for some or all of their content — and micro-payments as a “potential area for investment.”

In his announcement, Williams touts a vague new model that will “reward” writers and creators “based on the value they’re creating for people.” The company was unwilling to clarify exactly how it plans to do this. Perhaps, as Williams indicates, it is itself unsure of what the strategy will look like.

Venture capitalist and Medium investor M.G. Siegler posted his own response to Williams’ announcement. Referring to the solid numbers the platform witnessed last year, Siegler said that metrics can “deceive” and that simply slapping ads on the site was not a “sustainable” solution. “The goal is not actually to build the site with the most pageviews on the internet, but instead to fundamentally change the nature of publishing and reading,” said Siegler in his post.

Saqib Shah
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
Need Help? These Are the Best places to hire people online
ZipRecruiter Job Board Lifestyle Post

This content was produced in partnership with ZipRecruiter.
Hiring the right people is a crucial part of developing your business. The best person for the job will be one that shares your vision, is highly responsible, appropriately skilled, and is an efficient worker. You know what you want from your next employee but what do you do when it comes to finding that person? With many different sources out there for finding the best way to hire employees, we've picked out the best places to hire people online including ways to find employees online fast or for a long-term commitment. There are dozens of sites available but it's important to pick the best outlet for the task, so you can spend less time on your recruitment drive and more time interviewing the best candidates for the job. Take a look below at the best places to hire people online.
ZipRecruiter

One of the most reliable names in the job posting world, ZipRecruiter is a great way of finding staff and quickly. It aims to make the hiring process as smooth as possible. It works by connecting to more than 100 job boards so the moment you create a job listing for your firm, ZipRecruiter posts it across the huge network so you're casting the net as wide as possible without having to manually create job listings at numerous sources.

Read more
The best 17-inch laptop bags and backpacks for 2023
Close up view of a zipper on an Asus ROG Nomad V2 backpack.

You need a bag to safely transport your laptop with you to work or school, but not all laptop bags are created equal. Some bags aren’t robust enough to carry heavier models or large enough to carry your charger and extra supplies. Some bags come at an affordable price, while other options are more of an investment.

Whether you’re in search of a sleek briefcase or a tricked-out gaming backpack, skip the guesswork and read on to find out the best ways to carry your laptop in 2023.

Read more
The Best Hiring Apps for Recruiters
Hiring handshake best hiring apps for recruiters

This content was produced in partnership with ZipRecruiter.
The best employment software, and comparable mobile applications, offer a valuable set of tools for hiring managers, HR, and even recruiters. They essentially streamline the candidate search and onboarding processes, making it easier to find potential hires but also to communicate, engage, and research them more in-depth. It stands to reason then that the best hiring apps for recruiters are the same hiring resources that nearly every professional can use, and while that may be true, there's one exception. Recruiting specific tools make it easier for recruiters to seek out and secure top-tier talent, and to continue that consistently. That means they include talent sourcing tools, interviewing, and communication tools, and sometimes scheduling and calendar tools to keep everything organized.

You might not think they're much different, but for recruiters, the best hiring apps also offer a reliable way to keep their finger on the pulse of the very broad talent pool. In light of that, here are the best hiring apps for recruiters:

Read more