Following news earlier this week announcing the sale of urban design innovation vertical CityLab to Bloomberg Media by The Atlantic, news reports today indicate that the publication's entire staff has been laid off.
Nieman Lab reports that the acquisition is the first for Bloomberg Media in over a decade, following its purchase of BusinessWeek in 2009. The sale comes as Bloomberg Media founder and 90% owner Michael Bloomberg undertakes a presidential campaign. Bloomberg has stepped away from day-to-day operations at the company and has vowed to either sell or enter the company into a "blind trust" should he win the presidential election.
Regarding the sale, Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith tells Adweek, "What’s really exciting about the addition to CityLab to our portfolio is that it can be introduced into that model as a new multi-platform, global sub-brand that is super-serving a niche that we care about a lot, that we think is very valuable."
As part of the transaction, The Atlantic has effectively laid off the entire 16-person staff of CityLab.
Quoting several anonymous CityLab staffers, Mother Jones reports that seven people will be allowed to make the transition to the new ownership arrangement. According to the report, CityLab staffers were informed this week that each person would need to re-apply to keep their jobs when the sale closes at the end of the month.
One anonymous staffer tells Mother Jones, “Over the last few days, most of the staff has received comments [from friends and on Twitter] saying ‘Congratulations!’ and asking if we’re moving to New York or what our new job title will be, But the reality is most of us are being laid off.”
*Editor’s Note: A previous version of the story stated that Bloomberg Media had laid off the entire staff of CityLab; That statement was incorrect. The CityLab staff was in fact laid off by The Atlantic as part of the sale; roughly half of the existing staff members will be allowed to re-apply for the jobs. We regret the error.
Please note the update to this article. The Atlantic has laid off the CityLab staff, not Bloomberg.
All 9 Comments
Oligarch
but why?
any theories as to why Bloomberg is gutting citylab as he opens a presidential run? Didn’t like a lot of their map/data urban elitism but they had some good arch coverage occasionally.
Seems like pop media like the NYT “outsourced” their arch coverage to less stable blogs like citylab, curbed etc to focus on Trump 24/7 = $$
Please note the update to this article. The Atlantic has laid off the CityLab staff, not Bloomberg.
WSJ provides this wonderfully illuminating explanation:
“We believe this acquisition will strengthen our portfolio of content verticals across our platforms, while providing more opportunities for advertisers to connect to our readers,” said Justin Smith, Bloomberg Media’s chief executive.
More down to earth:
The site also includes an events business, which gathers mayors and urban leaders to discuss challenges facing cities. Since 2013, CityLab events have been co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Mr. Bloomberg’s charitable foundation. The events will continue under the Bloomberg name.
The Atlantic itself is controlled by a corporate power:
In 2017, Emerson Collective, an investment arm owned by Laurene Powell Jobs, acquired a majority stake in the Atlantic, including CityLab.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/b...
And in this Times piece, we see the political connection:
As Mr. Bloomberg traverses the country as a presidential candidate, he is drawing on a vast network of city leaders whom he has funded as a philanthropist or advised as an elder statesman of municipal politics. Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has assets totaling $9 billion, has supported 196 different cities with grants, technical assistance and education programs worth a combined $350 million. Now, leaders in some of those cities are forming the spine of Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign: He has been endorsed so far by eight mayors — from larger cities like San Jose, Calif., and Louisville, Ky., and smaller ones like Gary, Ind., representing a total of more than 2.6 million Americans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/1...
Whatever the merits of CityLab, likely it will lose its bite and independence. Stay tuned.
He is your Democrat candidate wanna-be. Staff meeting in the conference room at 10. Bring your company-issued laptop and cell phone.
"urban design innovation vertical CityLab"
I suppose that's different than the "American power vertical moneyed white men"
Cool acquisition, Bloomberg. Now do Fox News!
YES, TO STOP FASCISM WE MUST ELIMINATE OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS!
Not eliminate, but expose those who made the election of a woman assaulting fraud like our Dear Mr. Trump.
why buy something you immediately destroy?
“As part of the transaction, The Atlantic has effectively laid off the entire 16-person staff of CityLab.“
“ A previous version of the story stated that Bloomberg Media had laid off the entire staff of CityLab; That statement was incorrect.“
So, CityLab writers and editors want to make sure we know it wasn’t Mike! that laid them off. It was merely the Atlantic*
Let the Bloomberg boot kissing begin! Think I would prefer Mitt Romney to Mike!
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.