Some of the best known cycling journalists on the VeloNews and CyclingTips publications have been let go as their parent company has moved to reduce costs amid a global economic slowdown. VeloNews dates back to the early 1970s while CyclingTips is in its fifteenth year.
News of the job losses emerged today, Wednesday, after the company that owns both, Boulder-based Outside Inc, said the advertising market in particular was proving challenging, meaning more cutbacks were inevitable.
Some of those who confirmed on social media they have been let go include Daniel Benson, Matt de Neef and Caley Fretz. Benson was editor in chief at VeloNews and previously held the same position at CyclingNews. De Neef was managing editor at CyclingTips while Fretz was editor in chief at the same site and hosted the CyclingTips podcast.
Advertisement
Outside Inc also owns other cycling publications including PinkBike and Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. In a memo to staff on Wednesday, Outside Inc chief executive, Robin Thurston, said it had been "tough" to lose talented staff who had contributed to the company's evolution - as it has moved towards a paywall model.
He explained that back in May the company had set about reducing "expenses across all areas". This included reducing "non-employee costs, especially software, consultants, facilities, and travel".
"Unfortunately, the economic headwinds that every media and technology business is facing have only intensified, and those reductions haven’t closed the gap enough on the timeline we must hit," Thurston added.
Related News
"The decision to part ways with 12 per cent of our staff today was especially difficult given that the fundamentals of our business are sound. We’ve made meaningful progress on membership and product development, and we’re seeing the fruits of increased collaboration across our teams."
Thurston said while the company was hitting its membership - subscriber - goals, the slowdown in consumer spending meant the events it runs and the revenue from selling advertising had both been undermined, meaning the company must become leaner.
"These headwinds put an immediate strain on the critical goal of achieving profitability by next fall," he told staff in his memo. And while extra funding had been secured from investors in the last two months, it was still necessary to "manage our costs more tightly" so the company was profitable by the third quarter of next year.
Looking forward, he said many companies were curtailing or pausing the money they would be expected to spend advertising with Outside Inc publications next year. The fact advertising was expected to decline meant it would be "nearly impossible" to raise additional funding for the "foreseeable future".
As well as the external factors, Thurston acknowledged the company had made a number of mistakes internally that had added to the difficult outlook. This included spending "too freely" and buying new companies he would now "think twice about".
In July, 2021, Outside, acquired PinkBike and its mountain bike mapping app, TrailForks, as well as CyclingTips, which had been taken over by PinkBike in 2019. At that point the company already owned VeloNews, Beta, Peloton and Triathlete as well as Roll Massif, an event company, and the VeloPress book publisher. In February, 2021, when it was known as Pocket Outdoor Media, the company acquired Outside magazine and its related publications and rebranded as Outside Inc.
