CoinDesk lays off 45% of editorial staff

Crypto media company CoinDesk has laid off 45% of its editorial staff, or 20 people, as its parent company Digital Currency Group plans to bring on strategic investors, reports Frank Chaparro of The Block.

Chaparro reports, “The company, which was founded in 2013, announced the layoffs internally on Monday, according to a memo reviewed by The Block. The firm is having an all-hands meeting at 4:00pm ET to discuss the layoffs.

“‘The purpose of the meeting is to inform everyone that today several roles, predominantly in our media team, were impacted by a reduction in force,’ the message, penned by CoinDesk CEO Kevin Worth, reads. ‘This is an incredibly difficult message to send to everyone over email and yet I also wanted everyone at CoinDesk to know as soon as possible what is happening today.’

“‘This was a required step to ensure a financially sound business moving forward and to set us on the path to close the deal to sell CoinDesk Inc,’ he added.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.