Pink News has put nine roles at risk of redundancy, including three editorial positions.
The LGBTQ+ publisher told staff on Tuesday it was “truly sorry to have to take this step”, which it attributed to an “unpredictable financial year”.
Pink News employed 76 people as of August last year, of whom 41 worked on the content team. It has cut seven of the total number of roles since then, however Press Gazette understands new jobs have been added in partnerships, finance and video.
The new consultation affects roles in the Pink News editorial, brand and people teams, including the jobs of news editor, entertainment editor, weekend editor, head of brand, and marketing manager. Consultation meetings are due to take place this week.
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Pink News reported profit before tax of £1.5m in the year to 31 December 2022, the most recent period for which figures are available.
However, last summer the title told staff it had made a loss in each of the first six months of 2023, which it credited to reduced social media distribution, the declining value of the dollar and rising costs.
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Pink News ‘reviewing editorial team needs’
A Pink News spokesperson told Press Gazette: “Unfortunately, we are consulting on redundancies for nine roles. These reflect an unpredictable financial year for Pink News, which has necessitated strategic changes to our growth priorities.
“As part of this consultation, we are reviewing our editorial team needs, which have changed over the last year as we’ve continued to lean into video and integrate how we develop content. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of all our team members and will be supporting those impacted in the coming weeks.”
In the staff memo on Tuesday, Pink News said that “while this is not the outcome we would have wanted or imagined when we were making hiring decisions, we want everyone who may leave Pink News through this process to know that we care about you as colleagues and appreciate everything you’ve done for Pink News.
“We are lucky to welcome so many talented people to Pink News and we know your talent will soon be a fantastic addition to another business.”
In August, Pink News chief executive Benjamin Cohen told Press Gazette he expected the company to end 2023 breaking even or in profit for the year, in large part because of “significant” investment in its app, backend technology and its direct partnerships team.
“Taking the pain” in 2023, he said, “allows us to be in a much better position next year to take advantage of all the growth potential”.
Numerous publishers have been hit by algorithm changes at Facebook, Google and X (formerly Twitter) in the past year.
Reach, which published numerous local titles as well as the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, has attributed the 700 or so redundancies it made last year in part to declines in its Facebook referral traffic.
[Read more: Latest Google updates have led to massive traffic changes for news websites]
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