Los Angeles Times Eliminates 20% of Staff – 115 Employees Let Go

Owners of the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest Newspapers in California, eliminated a little more than 20% of their workforce on Tuesday, with a total of 115 employees let go, in the largest culling of staff in the newspaper’s 142-year-old history.

While the publication has been in decline for years for myriad reasons –  growing preference for online news, a huge decrease in advertising, and several sales of the paper resulting in their newsroom being moved from their historic downtown LA location to El Segundo – warning signs of an even bigger drop-off became apparent after the sale of the paper to billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong in 2018. Losses for the paper were estimated to be between $30 million to $40 million a year, with the paper continuing to struggle transitioning from a newspaper-centric advertising system to an online format based on subscriptions and online advertising.

In late 2023, drastic cuts were rumored to be necessary to help keep the paper afloat.

“Given the recent discussions about our economic challenges and the potential for staff reductions, we wanted to share an update,” the Times said in a memo to employees late last year. “We do anticipate layoffs. Management is currently in discussions with the Guild about how to proceed. The guild is asking for buyouts prior to any layoffs and management is stressing more flexibility would allow the company to save 50 Guild positions.”

In anticipation, guild employees at the Times staged a one-day walkout on Friday in protest of the upcoming cuts, with Executive Editor Kevin Merida exiting early and resigning in anticipation. On Tuesday, cuts were finally announced, with the guild seeing worse than anticipated numbers. A total of 115 employees would be let go in extreme cost-cutting measures, resulting in just over 20% of the newsroom being laid off. Of those are 94 guild employees, meaning that the newspaper guild for the Times was effectively reduced by 25%.

“Today’s decision is painful for all, but it is imperative that we act urgently and take steps to build a sustainable and thriving paper for the next generation,” said Soon-Shiong on Tuesday. “We are committed to doing so. I’m disappointed with the employees union. The one-day walkout it staged last week did not help the situation.

“I lost confidence in Merida and some other editors. But we are not in turmoil. We have a real plan.”

115 journalist let go at the LA Times

In a statement, the Guild countered Soon-Shiong, saying that the workplace had grown chaotic in recent years and that journalists with less seniority, mostly minorities, had experienced the brunt of Tuesday’s layoffs.

“Slashing a quarter of the newsroom is devastating by any measure — to our members and their families, to our morale, to the quality of our journalism, to the bond with our audience, and to the communities that depend on our work,” the Guild said.

Experts told the Globe on Tuesday that cuts were long anticipated, and that they underscored the ever changing media landscape.

“The L.A. Times cuts today, I mean, this was something that was going to happen,” explained media advisor Ellen Cochrane, who specializes in media transition, to the Globe on Tuesday. “In the last decade the Times moved out of their downtown location, which was a gigantic mistake. They got bought by a billionaire, which is actually not  bad as it helped flush in new capital. But, the Times made a lot of mistakes. They hyperfocused on too much. Their paywall, one of the most notorious in the business, didn’t allow for free articles of big events. Other papers with a paywall have thought up ways to really monetize that the Times just never implemented. And other outlets sprang up and started going not only into more detail on stories that the Times covered, but outscooped them too. Like for politics, CalMatters and the California Globe, you guys, started beating them to the punch, got interviews they never could, and cited facts and figures much better.”

“There are plenty of talented journalists at the Times. They just outstretched and tried to do too many things at once. And it ended up costing them a lot. Soon-Shiong pumped a lot of money into the Times, but the leadership didn’t make the pivots needed. Especially the ones needed to go up against more focused outlets. They are reevaluating now. And, look, many papers have cut jobs in the last several years. The Times is no exception. But they need to decide who they are. Those outlets survive. For the Times, they should cut back on community events and things like that and refocus. But let’s see what they do.”

For on the LA Times cuts are expected soon.