Mel MagazineThe magazine, which had been shut down in March 2021 after being saved by Recurrent Ventures was bailed out, was shut down again Friday as all 15 staff were laid off.
According to AdWeek, the layoffs at the men’s lifestyle site happened during the daily editorial staff meeting via Google Hangout as staffers were informed of the decision and then kicked out of the meeting as their access to Slack and company emails were cut off. AdWeek reported that staff weren’t told why they were being laid off.
Recurrent Ventures acquired Mel magazine in July 2021, but was unable to monetize the site, spokeswoman Cathy Hebert told via email about the company’s reorganization.
“We have also made the difficult decision to pivot our editorial and acquisition focuses away from the Lifestyle vertical which includes our key Lifestyle brand, MEL,” Hebert wrote. She was credited with the “tremendous job,”Co-founder and editor in chief Josh Schollmeyer, and executive editor Lindsay Schrupp. “the incredibly talented writers,” saying, “We love MEL and are very aware that the team has been through a lot over the last few year.”
In her email, she also said: “However, we’ve spent more than a year implementing and strategizing a variety of different monetization channels that haven’t gained traction. At this stage, we’ve invested more into the business than we committed to because we wanted this to succeed. Our overall M&A strategy has evolved to be focused on building a leadership position in our core verticals.”
Hebert concluded, “These are difficult decisions, but ones we believe are necessary to ensure Recurrent is properly structured for the long term.”
“We love MEL and are very aware that the team has been through a lot over the last few years,”Hebert wrote in an email: “However, we’ve spent more than a year implementing and strategizing a variety of different monetization channels that haven’t gained traction,”Adding the company had made the decision to “pivot our editorial and acquisition focuses away from the Lifestyle vertical.”
AdWeek reports that the editorial staff were told in July 2021 they would have 18 to 24 months to make a profit. However, the end was exactly 12 months later.
Many employees who were laid off tweeted Friday about being out of work.
Miles Klee, a staff writer, posted the following tweet: “lol got laid off again. send nudes,”Jokes, “time to get into crypto.”He also shared a meme about Aku, the villain of “Samurai Jack,”This is how it should be read “You’re back already?” as the reaction he’s likely to get from the California unemployment website.
Friday night, the site was still online with the The entire staff is still listedThe masthead.
This is for the record: In an earlier version of this article, Cathy Hebert was incorrectly referred as Karen Hebert. The Wrap regrets the error.
