Ziff Davis, the media conglomerate that owns outlets like CNET, ZDNet, PCMag, and Mashable is laying off 15 percent of its unionized workforce, for a total of 23 people.

The majority of layoffs are coming from CNET, where 19 people will lose their jobs — even as Ziff Davis goes on a shopping spree. The layoffs will hit CNET coverage areas like the finance, broadband, and sleep beats, as well as the outlet’s copy desk. A handful of staffers across Lifehacker, Mashable, and ZDNet will also be laid off.

“It’s very clear to us that these cuts aren’t about journalism,” Anna Iovine, unit chair of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, says. “They’re based on money and greed.” Iovine noted particular concerns about cutting copy editors and fact checkers.

“Eliminating any coverage is really devastating. These journalists, some of them have decades of experience, and we’re losing [that],” Iovine says.

Ziff Davis has acquired five other companies this year alone, most notably daily news outlet TheSkimm and health outlet Well+Good. CNET was acquired by Ziff Davis in 2024 for $100 million. Ziff Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNET has had a tumultuous last few years under its previous owner, Red Ventures. In 2023, the outlet was engulfed in controversy when readers discovered that it had been quietly publishing stories written by AI that were full of errors. In the ensuing weeks and months, CNET staff were laid off, editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo stepped down to take a job overseeing AI content, and staff at the outlet unionized. After Red Ventures sold CNET, the union was rolled into the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, which is represented by the NewsGuild of New York.

“At a time when CNET is still building back its reputation after a damaging AI scandal under Red Ventures, Ziff’s decision to further undermine CNET’s human authority is disturbing,” a statement from the bargaining unit reads.

“Our members are so much more than dollars and cents, even as the capricious management at Ziff Davis tries to treat us as such,” the statement continues. “We won a strong collective bargaining agreement just over a year ago, and we will fight to enforce it so we can preserve our ability to continue producing high-quality work for our readers.”

SpaceX has been moving at a breakneck pace, and rapid progress comes at a cost. Worker injury rates at its Starbase facility are almost 6x higher than the average, data reveals.

Google is starting to offer buyouts to US-based employees in its sprawling Search organization, along with other divisions like marketing, research, and core engineering, according to multiple employees familiar with the matter.

The buyouts, which Google is referring to as a "voluntary exit program," are currently not being offered to employees in DeepMind, Google Cloud, YouTube, or Google's central ad sales organization. Employees in Google's platforms and services group, which includes Android and the Pixel line of devices, were offered buyouts earlier this year before the company enacted layoffs. It's unclear if more layoffs will follow this week's buyout announcement. Employees in some orgs are being offered a minimum of 14 weeks' pay with a July 1st enrollment deadline.

Other parts of Google, including YouTube, are also requiring US employees within a 50-mile radius of an office to return to work at least three days a week by September, or be laid off with severance.

In an internal memo I obtained, Nick Fox, the head of Google's wider "Knowledge and Information" group that includes Search, called the buyout program a "supportive exit path for those of you who don't feel a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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