CNET, the tech news and reviews site owned by digital media and marketing company Red Ventures, has joined the parade of media-industry layoffs.
The site on Thursday axed 10% of its workforce, or about a dozen staff members, according to a report by the Verge (which is a CNET competitor) citing an anonymous employee. A CNET spokesperson confirmed the site let go “a number of colleagues” as part of a reorganization but declined to quantify the layoffs.
According to the CNET rep, “Today’s decision was not a reflection of the value or performance of our team members, the use of emerging technologies, or our confidence in the CNET Group’s future.” The spokesperson added, “While it was a difficult decision to let employees go, we believe this is critical for the longevity and future growth of the business.”
CNET has been in the headlines after it disclosed that starting in November 2022 it had used an internally developed AI engine to generate 77 stories, about 1% of the site’s total content. That came after tech blog Futurism reported that CNET had quietly been publishing articles written by AI without anyone noticing. In January, CNET said it was halting the use of the AI tech after finding more than half of those stories contained factual errors or plagiarized sections.
According to CNET, with the reorg and layoffs, the site will narrow its coverage categories to five areas: consumer technology, home and wellness, energy, broadband and personal finance. Those are “categories where the CNET Group has a high degree of authority, relevance, differentiation and where we can make a large difference in the lives of our audience,” the spokesperson said. “We believe success in these focus areas will set the groundwork for future expansion and create the right conditions for a high-growth, sustainable business.”
In 2020, Red Ventures acquired CNET Media Group in a $500 million deal with Paramount Global. In addition to the flagship CNET site, the group housed other brands including TV Guide, Metacritic, GameSpot and Giant Bomb — which Red Ventures sold last year to Fandom for about $50 million. In January, Fandom made layoffs affecting less than 10% of its workforce across those properties.
Other media outlets that have made layoffs in recent months include the Washington Post, Yahoo, CNN, Vox Media, NPR, BuzzFeed and Bustle Digital Group (BDG), which shut down Gawker as part of its cutbacks.
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