--- title: "Sports Illustrated Owner Minute Media Cuts 12 Percent…" canonical: "https://www.metaintro.com/blog/sports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff" language: "en" author: "drashtigarach" published: "2026-06-01T16:40:10.000Z" modified: "2026-10-02T19:32:21.053Z" --- [Back to Blog](/blog) [Layoffs](/blog/tag/layoffs)[Jobs](/blog/tag/jobs)[AI](/blog/tag/ai)[Labor Market](/blog/tag/labor-market)[Career](/blog/tag/career)[News](/blog/tag/news)[Information](/blog/tag/information) # Sports Illustrated Owner Minute Media Cuts 12 Percent of Its Staff Sports Illustrated publisher Minute Media cut 12 percent of staff, about 60 jobs, and reversed its VideoVerse deal. What it means for media careers ahead. [![Drashti Garach](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:40:40/q:72/plain/images/5719d740-e510-42bc-8017-e040d145f35f_1766029465094.png)Drashti Garach @DrashtiGarach](/blog/author/drashtigarach) [June 1, 2026](/blog/archive/2026/06)Updated October 2, 202612 min read ![Sports Illustrated Owner Minute Media Cuts 12 Percent of Its Staff](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:1200:675/q:78/plain/images/kai.R4I21KnU.png) [https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Sports%20Illustrated%20Owner%20Minute%20Media%20Cuts%2012%20Percent%20of%20Its%20Staff&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Sports%20Illustrated%20Owner%20Minute%20Media%20Cuts%2012%20Percent%20of%20Its%20Staff&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff)[http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff)[https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff&title=Sports%20Illustrated%20Owner%20Minute%20Media%20Cuts%2012%20Percent%20of%20Its%20Staff](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff&title=Sports%20Illustrated%20Owner%20Minute%20Media%20Cuts%2012%20Percent%20of%20Its%20Staff)[mailto:?subject=Sports%20Illustrated%20Owner%20Minute%20Media%20Cuts%2012%20Percent%20of%20Its%20Staff&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff](mailto:?subject=Sports%20Illustrated%20Owner%20Minute%20Media%20Cuts%2012%20Percent%20of%20Its%20Staff&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fsports-illustrated-owner-minute-media-cuts-12-percent-of-its-staff) Minute Media, the publisher behind [Sports Illustrated](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7), has laid off roughly 12 percent of its global workforce, about 60 of its nearly 500 employees, according to reporting from Israeli business outlet [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7). The company tied the cuts to shifts in the media market and the rising role of AI, and on the same day it walked away from its roughly 200 million dollar acquisition of the video-technology firm VideoVerse. At [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com), we track stories like this because they signal where the job market is moving and where workers should look next. The short version for media professionals is this: the disruption is real, but so are the new places where content work is still growing. ## What Exactly Did Minute Media Cut? Minute Media confirmed it was reducing its global headcount by about 12 percent, which works out to roughly 60 people out of a staff of close to 500, as first detailed by [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7). The company framed the decision as a response to a changing media landscape and to the accelerating role of artificial intelligence in how content is produced and distributed. In a statement, it said the moves were not easy but were necessary as part of building Minute Media into a global leader in technology and sports content. The reductions landed across the business, but the most visible hit was at Sports Illustrated, which Minute Media has published since taking over the brand in 2024, after Authentic Brands Group ended The Arena Group license. [Front Office Sports](https://frontofficesports.com/several-longtime-writers-laid-off-at-sports-illustrated/) reported that roughly 10 to 15 staffers were affected at Sports Illustrated alone, a meaningful share of a storied newsroom that has weathered ownership change after ownership change over the past decade. The brand has cycled through several operators since its print heyday, and each transition has trimmed the editorial ranks a little further. For readers trying to gauge the scale, the figure that matters is the 12 percent. It is a single-week workforce reduction large enough to reshape teams and reporting beats, and it arrives at a publisher that many in the industry assumed had finally stabilized after years of turbulence at one of the most recognizable names in American sports media. The cut signals that even after new ownership, the underlying economics of the business remain under pressure. ## Which Sports Illustrated Writers Were Affected? The cuts swept up several longtime, well-known bylines. According to [Front Office Sports](https://frontofficesports.com/several-longtime-writers-laid-off-at-sports-illustrated/), [Awful Announcing](https://awfulannouncing.com/si/layoffs-stephanie-apstein-greg-bishop.html), and [Barrett Media](https://barrettmedia.com/2026/05/29/sports-illustrated-layoffs-underway/), the affected writers and editors included Greg Bishop, who joined the magazine in 2014, and Michael Rosenberg, who arrived in 2012. Baseball writer Stephanie Apstein, college sports reporter Mike McDaniel, writer Madison Williams, and editors including Kyle Koster, John Schwarb, and Jeff Ritter were also among those let go. Veteran golf reporter Bob Harig was another departure, a cut [EssentiallySports](https://www.essentiallysports.com/golf-news-fans-left-outraged-as-sports-illustrated-fires-legacy-golf-writers-in-lay-off-move/) reported drew an outcry from fans. Several of those affected had spent the better part of a decade or more building the magazine's voice. Apstein, who had spent nearly 15 years at the publication, summed up the moment in a widely shared post. "Eight days shy of my 15th anniversary at Sports Illustrated," she wrote, "I've been informed that I've joined the extensive ranks of writers laid off." The phrasing captured a hard truth about the modern media business: even deeply experienced, award-caliber journalists are not insulated from sudden restructuring, and tenure offers little protection when a company resets its cost base. For job seekers in journalism and content, the lesson is not despair but preparation. Many of the writers affected here built durable personal brands and direct relationships with readers, and those assets travel with a professional even when an employer changes course. A reporter with a loyal audience, a clear beat, and a body of credible work carries real leverage into the next role, whether that role sits inside another newsroom or somewhere adjacent to it. ## What Happened With the VideoVerse Deal? Alongside the layoffs, Minute Media said it was terminating its agreement with VideoVerse, the Indian video-technology company it had agreed to buy for roughly 200 million dollars in a cash-and-stock transaction the prior September, per [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7). VideoVerse, which employed around 300 people, had built an automated platform for identifying and distributing sports highlights, the kind of tooling that promised to make a sports-content operation faster and cheaper to run. Minute Media said it reversed course after discovering significant gaps in the way the acquisition had been presented. The company had kept VideoVerse as a separate legal entity and had not fully integrated it before deciding to walk away. A roughly 200 million dollar deal collapsing within a year is a striking reminder that even ambitious technology bets in media can unravel quickly, and that the financial strain from a failed deal often surfaces in the form of headcount reductions elsewhere in the business. For employees, the takeaway is that the stability of an employer can hinge on decisions made far above the newsroom floor. ## Did the Cuts Reach Beyond Sports Illustrated? Yes. Minute Media owns a sizable portfolio of titles, and the reductions touched more than one of them. As [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/sports-illustrated-new-publisher-minute-media-1235854662/) has documented, the company operates brands including The Players' Tribune, FanSided, 90min, Mental Floss, and The Big Lead alongside its Sports Illustrated license. [Front Office Sports](https://frontofficesports.com/minute-media-players-tribune-layoffs/) reported that roughly 10 staffers were cut at The Players' Tribune as part of the same round. Notably, the Players' Tribune cuts came with a strategic shift away from video and back toward written, long-form athlete storytelling, as [Awful Announcing](https://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/players-tribune-layoffs-minute-media-video-pivot.html) detailed. A company spokesperson said that over the last decade its most impactful stories were those that were written, and that the outlet would refocus more of its efforts on the written, long-form athlete narrative while still exploring new ways of storytelling. The detail matters for job seekers because it shows that even within a single company, demand can move from one skill set to another rather than vanishing entirely. Video roles contracted while the case for strong writers, in this corner of the business, actually strengthened. ## Is This Part of a Bigger Media Layoff Trend? It is. The Minute Media cuts fit a pattern that has been building for several years. According to [Challenger, Gray and Christmas](https://www.challengergray.com/blog/2025-year-end-challenger-report-highest-q4-layoffs-since-2008-lowest-ytd-hiring-since-2010/), the media industry announced 17,163 job cuts in 2025, up 15 percent from the 15,039 announced in 2024. The same firm noted that technology has been pivoting toward developing and implementing artificial intelligence faster than any other industry, a shift that ripples directly into how media companies staff and operate. The AI factor is no longer a footnote. In [March 2026](https://www.challengergray.com/blog/challenger-report-march-cuts-rise-25-from-february-ai-leads-reasons/), Challenger reported that artificial intelligence led all stated reasons for U.S. job cuts that month, accounting for 15,341 of the 60,620 cuts announced, or about 25 percent. That is a sharp acceleration from 2025, when companies cited AI for roughly 5 percent of layoff plans across the full year. Media companies sit squarely in the path of that trend, because so much of the work involves text, image, and video tasks that automated tools can now assist or replace. Interestingly, the news subset of media, which Challenger tracks separately and which covers broadcast, digital, and print, actually saw fewer announced cuts in 2025 than the year before, falling to 2,254 from 4,902. Industry coverage at [Inside Radio](https://www.insideradio.com/free/challenger-report-despite-uptick-in-media-cuts-newsroom-layoffs-slow/article_f06a5692-29ce-4b4d-84c8-5940725c5c5d.html) framed the same paradox plainly, noting that newsroom layoffs slowed even as overall media cuts ticked up. That mix tells a nuanced story. The pain is spreading beyond traditional reporting jobs and into adjacent roles in technology, production, and distribution. The Minute Media reduction, which paired editorial cuts with a reversed technology acquisition, is a textbook example of that blend. ## How Bad Has the Long-Term Newsroom Decline Been? The longer arc is even more striking. [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/07/13/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-fallen-26-since-2008/) found that U.S. newsroom employment fell about 26 percent between 2008 and 2020, dropping from roughly 114 thousand workers to about 85 thousand. Newspapers absorbed the worst of it, shedding roughly 57 percent of their newsroom jobs over a similar span. The decline hit midcareer workers hardest, which helps explain why so many of the names at Sports Illustrated this week were experienced veterans rather than recent hires. There are bright spots inside that decline, though. The same Pew analysis found that digital-native news outlets grew their share of newsroom employment from about 6 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2020, even as newspapers shrank. The audience and the advertising dollars have moved online, and the jobs have followed, just into different kinds of organizations than the ones that dominated a generation ago. For a job seeker, that means the search often has to widen beyond the legacy names to the digital outlets, networks, and platforms that are doing the hiring now. ## How Is the Digital Media Business Model Shifting? The deeper force behind these cuts is a long restructuring of how digital media makes money. The advertising-driven, traffic-at-all-costs model that powered the last decade has given way to a search for more durable revenue, including subscriptions, licensing, video, and direct audience relationships. Minute Media itself reflects this through its mix of editorial brands and its STN Video distribution business, which holds rights tied to leagues including the NBA, NFL, and MLB, as noted by [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7). The company is, in effect, betting more on distribution technology and licensing than on a large central newsroom. Artificial intelligence is accelerating the shift. As routine production tasks become automated, companies are concentrating resources on differentiated, high-value content and on the technology that distributes it. That is part of a broader labor pattern. As [Lacey Kaelani](https://www.metaintro.com), CEO of [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com), told [People Managing People](https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/workforce-management/ai-layoffs/) that "AI is not completely eliminating roles, but instead restructuring roles and therefore slowing hiring for some jobs." For media workers, that restructuring means the job titles of the next decade may look different from the ones being cut today, even as the underlying skills remain in demand. ## Where Are Media and Content Jobs Actually Growing? The headline numbers are sobering, but they hide real pockets of demand. The U.S. [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/reporters-correspondents-and-broadcast-news-analysts.htm) projects that employment of news analysts, reporters, and journalists will decline about 4 percent from 2024 to 2034, yet it still expects roughly 4,100 openings each year on average over the decade as workers retire or move into other fields. The median annual wage for those roles was 60,280 dollars in May 2024. In other words, the traditional newsroom is contracting, but it is not disappearing, and skilled storytellers continue to be hired across the country. The faster growth is happening adjacent to journalism. The [creator economy](https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/consulting/articles/content-creator-economy-growth-and-future-challenges.html), which Deloitte and other analysts describe as a rapidly expanding market, is generating roles that did not exist a few years ago, including content strategist, program manager for creator partnerships, and performance analyst. Corporate content work is expanding too. A [Semrush](https://www.semrush.com/blog/content-marketing-job-market-study/) study of 8,000 content-marketing listings found the field shifting from pure writing toward content ownership and strategy, with strong demand for analytics, storytelling, and AI fluency. Hiring intent backs that up. [Robert Half](https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/data-reveals-which-marketing-and-creative-roles-are-in-highest-demand) found that about 65 percent of marketing leaders planned to expand permanent headcount in the first half of 2026, with another 61 percent stepping up contract hiring. These employers often value exactly the skills that newsroom veterans already have, including reporting, interviewing, fact discipline, and the ability to write fast and clean. ## What This Means for Your Career? If you work in media or content, the practical takeaway is to treat your skills as portable and your audience as an asset you own. The writers laid off from Sports Illustrated did not lose their ability to report or their relationships with readers, and that is the foundation many of them will rebuild on. Diversifying where your work appears, whether through freelance contracts, brand-side content roles, or independent publishing, reduces your exposure to any single employer reversing course the way Minute Media did with its VideoVerse deal. It also helps to lean into the parts of the field that are expanding rather than contracting. Building fluency with AI tools, learning the basics of audience analytics, and developing a beat that connects to commercial demand can move you toward the roles that companies are still funding. The market described by [Challenger, Gray and Christmas](https://www.challengergray.com/blog/2025-year-end-challenger-report-highest-q4-layoffs-since-2008-lowest-ytd-hiring-since-2010/) is tighter, but it still hires people who can tell stories that hold attention. Platforms like [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com) exist to surface those roles and to help professionals see where hiring is actually happening, not just where the cuts are landing. ## People Also Asked ### Q: How many people did Minute Media lay off? A: Minute Media cut about 12 percent of its global workforce, which amounts to roughly 60 employees out of nearly 500, according to [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7). The most visible reductions hit Sports Illustrated, where [Front Office Sports](https://frontofficesports.com/several-longtime-writers-laid-off-at-sports-illustrated/) reported 10 to 15 staffers were affected. ### Q: Why did Minute Media end the VideoVerse acquisition? A: The company said it terminated the roughly 200 million dollar deal after discovering significant gaps in how the acquisition had been presented, per [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/kk215pdq7). VideoVerse had been kept as a separate legal entity and was never fully integrated before the agreement was unwound. ### Q: Is journalism still a viable career in 2026? A: It is more competitive but not closed. The [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/reporters-correspondents-and-broadcast-news-analysts.htm) projects a 4 percent decline for reporters and news analysts through 2034 alongside roughly 4,100 openings each year, while adjacent fields like brand content and the [creator economy](https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/consulting/articles/content-creator-economy-growth-and-future-challenges.html) are adding new roles. Looking for your next opportunity? [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com) connects professionals to roles beyond the job board. 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