Business Insider will lay off one in five employees and go “all-in on AI,” CEO Barbara Peng told staff on Thursday.
In a memo first reported by New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin, Peng announced that 21% of staff will lose their jobs as Business Insider moves to reduce its reliance on “traffic-sensitive” parts of the business. While some news publishers haven’t seen a drop in referral traffic amid the rise of Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT queries, others — including many small- and medium-sized sites — report their traffic has fallen off considerably.
“The media industry is at a crossroads. Business models are under pressure, distribution is unstable, and competition for attention is fiercer than ever,” Peng wrote. “At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for companies who harness AI first. Our strategy is strong, but we don’t have the luxury of time. The pace of change combined with the opportunity ahead demands bold, focused action — and it’s our chance to lead the pack.”
The layoffs will touch “every department” of the media company, Peng said. In response, the Insider Union, which represents more than 250 editorial staffers, released a statement calling the layoffs a “brazen pivot away from journalism toward greed.”
“Our position as a union is that no AI tool or technology should – or can – take the place of human beings,” Insider Union said in the statement.
In its news coverage, Business Insider will scale back on “categories that once performed well on other platforms but no longer drive meaningful readership or aren’t areas where we can lead,” Peng said. That includes scrapping the majority of its e-commerce business “given its reliance on search.” The news organization, which was purchased by Axel Springer in 2015, will launch a new “live journalism” events business called BI Live.
“We’re at the start of a major shift in how people find and consume information, which is driving ongoing volatility in traffic and distribution for all publishers,” Peng wrote in the memo. “The impact on our industry has been profound, with many publications shuttering in recent years.”
Though each visit to Business Insider generates twice as much revenue as it did two years ago, 70% of the news site’s business “has some degree of traffic sensitivity,” according to Peng.
“We must be structured to endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control,” she wrote, “so we’re reducing our overall company to a size where we can absorb that volatility.”
Business Insider averages 100 million global monthly uniques and has 1.5 million newsletter subscribers, according to its media kit. The site has an AI-powered paywall and sells subscriptions for $13/month or $150/year but has not made recent subscription numbers public. It reported 330,000 paid subscribers in November 2023.
Nieman Lab staff writer Andrew Deck recently reported that Business Insider is tracking and incentivizing employee AI usage. In her memo today, Peng reiterated to staff that Business Insider is going “all-in on AI.” Peng also underlined the goal to have every employee using Enterprise ChatGPT regularly.
Here’s the full note:
Team,Today we’re making significant organizational changes that are part of the strategy we set in motion a year and a half ago: to be the essential source of business, tech, and innovation journalism for an audience determined to succeed and unafraid to challenge convention to do it.
Since returning to our roots as Business Insider, we’ve been building toward something new. This kind of transformation takes time — and it requires tough decisions along the way.
What happens today
We are reducing the size of our organization, a move that will impact about 21% of our colleagues and touch every department.
This will be a difficult day, and our first priority is to provide clarity and support to those colleagues whose roles are being eliminated.
If your role is impacted, you will receive an email from the People & Culture team in the next 15 minutes. The email will include details for a meeting today in which a member of our P&C team will walk you through next steps and answer any questions. You will only receive an email if your role is affected.
We’re also proposing changes that impact our UK team, but the process is a bit different there; separate communication will follow from Claire Shelton.
While today’s changes are what we must do to build the most enduring Business Insider, it doesn’t make them any easier. We are fortunate to have built a company filled with thoughtful, kind, and creative people around the world, and we deeply appreciate the positive impact they have made within the company and on our readers, clients, and partners.
The changes we’re making today and why
Eighteen months ago we announced our new strategy: We went back to Business Insider and focused on delivering best-in-class business, tech, and innovation journalism to a smart, specific audience. That kicked off the beginning of our transformation from Insider — with its broad approach and appeal — to a more focused Business Insider.
Since Jamie Heller joined as EIC at the end of last year, we’ve made great progress — we’ve sharpened our standards and are shifting towards more reporting that is authoritative and matters deeply to the people who read it. We’ve doubled the amount of original reporting we publish and have substantially increased engagement in the past months.
This is a new Business Insider. It’s more focused. It’s intentional. And it’s working.
More broadly though, the media industry is at a crossroads. Business models are under pressure, distribution is unstable, and competition for attention is fiercer than ever. At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for companies who harness AI first. Our strategy is strong, but we don’t have the luxury of time. The pace of change combined with the opportunity ahead demands bold, focused action — and it’s our chance to lead the pack.
Here’s what’s changing today:
1. We’re aligning our coverage to match our strategic focus.
We’re focusing where we can deliver unique, lasting value and serve our audience in ways only Business Insider can.
As Insider, we cast a wide net, covering a broad range of topics. Some of those still align with our strategy — stories that spotlight the smart moves (and mistakes!) people make as they actually experience the world.
At the same time, we’re scaling back on categories that once performed well on other platforms but no longer drive meaningful readership or aren’t areas where we can lead.
Our most loyal readers subscribe, engage, and consistently return for specific coverage — and we’re doubling down on those areas with expanded reporting and key hires.
2. We’re launching events and reducing our reliance on traffic-sensitive businesses.
We’re at the start of a major shift in how people find and consume information, which is driving ongoing volatility in traffic and distribution for all publishers. The impact on our industry has been profound, with many publications shuttering in recent years.
Our business is diversified, which has helped insulate us. We’ve also significantly improved how we monetize traffic — each visit to our site now generates twice as much revenue as it did just two years ago.
Still, 70% of our business has some degree of traffic sensitivity. We must be structured to endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control, so we’re reducing our overall company to a size where we can absorb that volatility.
We’re also exiting the majority of our Commerce business, given its reliance on search, and maintaining a few high performing verticals.
We’re launching and investing in BI Live, our new live journalism events business. It’s a space where we can showcase our journalism, connect directly with our audience, and build a strong portfolio of experiences. We’ve already seen demand, brought on key leaders, and will continue to build the team.
3. Finally, we are fully embracing AI.
As we shared during our April All-Hands, we are going all-in on AI — and we’re off to a strong start.
Over 70% of Business Insider employees are already using Enterprise ChatGPT regularly (our goal is 100%), and we’re building prompt libraries and sharing everyday use cases that help us work faster, smarter, and better.
In the past year, we’ve launched multiple AI-driven products to better serve our audience — from gen-AI onsite search to our AI-powered paywall — with new products set to launch in the coming months. We’re also exploring how AI can boost operations across shared services, helping us scale and operate more efficiently.
Change like this isn’t easy. But Business Insider was born in a time of disruption — when the smartphone was reshaping how people consumed news. We thrived by taking risks and building something new.
We’re at that moment again. It calls for bold experimentation, openness to change, and a willingness to lead.
Among all publications, we are uniquely positioned to do just that.
What’s next
I know this is a lot to absorb and it will take time to process. We’ll come together during the All-Hands today at 11:30AM ET and leaders will be hosting team meetings to answer your questions.
To those affected today, we are grateful to you for helping build Business Insider and for being wonderful colleagues. Your work has made an impact and we appreciate you.
Please support each other today and as we move through the coming days and weeks. While this change is extraordinarily difficult and will test us in many ways, it is a moment I know we’ll be able to meet. Thank you all for your resilience, as ever.
Barbara
