Media Job Cuts Rise as Sector Retrenchment Persists

Media job cuts rose in February, driven by reductions at news publishers and video game maker Activision Blizzard, as retrenchment in the sector persisted for a second month in 2019 and extended last year’s run of industry cutbacks.

In total, 1,530 media job cuts were announced last month, up from 1,279 in January, according to data from staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. They included 450 buyouts offered at newspaper company McClatchy, and 250 cuts at Vice Media, a digital news publisher. McClatchy said “nearly half” of the offers were accepted. Gatehouse Media, a publisher of local newspapers, laid off 60. Activision Blizzard cut 770 positions, the most by an individual media company but the only reductions in the gaming sector.