Medium Just Laid Off 50 Employees and Shut Down Offices in New York and D.C.

Medium founder and CEO Ev Williams disclosed today in a blog post that his four-and-a-half-year-old company is eliminating 50 jobs and shutting down offices in New York and Washington, D.C. In a philosophical letter to the public, he recounted how his team's ultimate goals had gotten off course thanks to the monetization model known as advertising.  "We set out to build a better publishing platform—one that allowed anyone to offer their stories and ideas to the world and that helped the great ones rise to the top," Williams wrote. "In 2016, we made big investments in teams and technology aimed at attracting and migrating commercial publishers to Medium. And in order to get these publishers paid, we built out and started selling our first ad products. This strategy worked in terms of driving growth, as well as improving the volume and consistency of great content." While it appears Medium is doing away with its sponsored posts ads product, he wrote that 2016 was his company's best year in terms of key metrics. For instance, published posts jumped roughly 300 percent year over year, and monthly visitors reportedly reached 60 million in December, representing a 140 percent year-over-year increase. Medium, a digital storytelling platform, has even attracted scores of public figures—most notably President Barack Obama—to get their messages out.  Meanwhile, publishers of all sizes have been able to try to make money off their Medium stories, which have been sponsored in... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2017-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc. Eyes Candidates for Chief Revenue Officer, Mulls Cost-Cutting Options

You might think December would be the calm before the storm at Time Inc., which is, to say the least, expecting an eventful 2014. But CEO Joe Ripp is busy this month too.The company, which publishes magazines including People and Sports Illustrated, is slated to spin off from parent Time Warner... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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7 Tips from The German Book Office’s Translation Workshop

At the GBO's recent translator workshop, two US book editors and translator Susan Bernofksy shared techniques and tips for literary translators. Here's what they said. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #literary translators #book editors


Dohle Thanks PRH Employees for Great Start

In a brief year end note to Penguin Random House employees worldwide, CEO Markus Dohle thanked everyone for putting merger distractions aside did give the company a solid start. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #great start


Reading the New York Times Magazine isn't what it used to be | Michael Wolff

The magazine was once the most hotly anticipated Sunday read. Now it's been eclipsed by the showy T style publicationTwo magazines, both published by the New York Times, arrived in my house over the weekend, one thin, the other thick.The thin one, The New York Times Magazine, is largely about... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #media business #ad revenues


David Higham moves offices

David Higham Associates is moving offices across Soho to Noel Street, after 43 years in Lower... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Medium brings design and photo improvements to its social publishing platform

Medium is debuting a slew of new look-and-feel tweaks designed to let would-be columnists pretend they're working for a well-designed print publication. The site says that one of its initial goals was to empower writers with "dead simple" tools to ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With Medium 1.0, Ev Williams Tackles The Platform's Identity Crisis

Ev Williams talks about designing the newly-launched Medium 1.0, and his vision for the blogging platform's future in online publishing."What is Medium?"Read Full Story     Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #online publishing #identity crisis #blogging platform


New York magazine goes biweekly

New York magazine will reduce its frequency from 42 issues to 29—effectively going from a weekly to biweekly—in a move that reflects shifting reader habits as much as it does the economic realities of putting out a print magazine, the company said Monday.The magazine will save $3.5 million in... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Conde Nast, New York Times, Hearst Are Adapting for Real-Time Bidding

When Matt Prohaska joined The New York Times as its first-ever programmatic advertising director, he claims to have begun meetings by drawing blood from his arm. "I wanted to show everyone I was human," he said.There was no actual bloodshed. Mr. Prohaska, hired in April after running his own... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quarto Group consolidates London offices

The Quarto Group has completed the consolidation of its three London offices into two, with a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Linux Format employees jump ship to form new magazine

While I love Linux, quality magazines about the kernel are few and far between. Over the years, my favorite has been Linux Format. I was attracted to the magazine by the quality articles and interesting content. However, the price of the magazine was particularly high in the USA, which often... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2013-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AUDIO: Topsy and Tim on TV after 50 years

Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon book series, and Greg Childs, former executive producer for CBBC & Cbeebies, discuss the re-introduction of classic children's TV. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2013-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York Times Ad Chief: Branded Content Units Coming Soon

The New York Times is planning to step off the sidelines and into the world of native advertising online, where a growing list of traditional publishers have thrown their arms around sponsored or branded content.Meredith Kopit Levien, exec VP-advertising, said the Times is planning to introduce... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Medium opens its social publishing platform to all Twitter users

Twitter's Ev Williams started Medium to simplify and socialize online article writing, but the service's invitation-only nature has kept many folks on the sidelines. Today, things are opening up: Medium's now accessible to anyone willing to sign into Twitter and verify an email address. Would-be ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #email address #twitter users


John Rechy's 'City of Night' turns 50

"City of Night" was not the first overtly gay-themed book but it may be the most unapologetic, a searing screed of life on the edge.I spent part of Wednesday afternoon at UCLA, on a panel to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Rechy’s novel “City of Night,” newly reissued to commemorate the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why 20th Century Fox Blanked Out Two Pages of The New York Times

In the main section of today's print edition of The New York Times, readers will notice a whole lot of nothing on pages 9 and 10. The two virtually blank, back-to-back pages are actually an ad for 20th Century Fox's upcoming film adaptation of Markus Zusak's best-selling novel, "The Book Thief,"... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One Year Later, Medium Is Changing the Way Its Writers Write and Its Readers Read

It was just more than a year ago that Ev Williams and Biz Stone created the publishing platform Medium. The Internet officially met the site in August 2012, and since then, Medium’s popularity has grown enough for even the most ske ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 10 Biggest Things That Happened at New York Comic Con

In case you slept through this weekend and missed it, here are the 10 biggest comic book stories from 2013's New York Comic Con.     Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2013-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Facebook employee says Dave Eggers copied her memoir in his new novel

Former Facebook employee Kate Losse says Eggers used her personal story as the narrative for his novel 'The Circle.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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