Nationwide Vox layoffs include dining outlet Vegas Eater
Vox Media this week laid off 15 staffers nationwide, including the editor of Vegas Eater, a local site dedicated to dining and restaurant coverage in Las Vegas.
Staff were notified on Aug. 7 of the layoffs, mostly affecting their local digital outlets.
Vegas Eater editor Janna Karel confirmed she was laid off in an Instagram post, writing, “I was impacted by a round of mass layoffs yesterday. Vegas Eater no longer has an Editor.”
She continued, in part, “It’s been a privilege to cover restaurants in Las Vegas, one of the most exceptional food cities around — even if the rest of the world is still catching up … I’m sad for me. I’m sad for my bright, bold, brilliant coworkers — some of who were laid off, some navigating yet another shift away from the version of Eater I loved.”
Another employee of Eater’s national site, based in Las Vegas, confirmed they had been laid off but declined to comment further.
The layoffs also affected Texas and major cities including Chicago, according to sources familiar with the layoffs.
Karel’s update was shared along with a statement from The Vox Media Union Committees, which stated:
“Today, 15 members of the Vox Media Union working at Eater were notified without warning that their jobs were being eliminated as part of a major restructuring of the 20-year-old brand. This was especially shocking considering that Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff told Puck’s Dylan Byers just last week that he did not anticipate any impending layoffs at the company. But, of course, we’ve learned that we cannot trust Jim Bankoff’s word when it comes to layoffs.
“This is the second major round of layoffs at Eater this year, following a round earlier this year that decimated Eater’s award-winning cities network. To be abundantly clear: these layoffs are a gut-job, one that eliminates roughly a third of Eater’s union jobs. It is also a cowardly capitulation to the fallacious insistence that generative Al is the future of search and publishing. We are devastated that our colleagues have lost their jobs, and we are deeply worried about the future sustainability of Eater without them. Eater is currently in the midst of celebrating its 20th anniversary, and right now, there is not much to celebrate.
“We will have more information forthcoming about ways to support our laid-off colleagues in the coming days.”
A representative for Vox Media, in a statement Friday, said the digital outlet remains committed to local dining news:
“Eater is committed to operating all current Eater sites and continuing its best-in-class restaurant recommendations, local dining news, national tastemaking, and trade coverage across all the places that audiences can currently find us: on the sites, on social platforms, via our newsletters, in the app, and more. In order to reorient the business around our long-term strategy, we had to make the difficult decision to eliminate roles yesterday.”
Vox Media in December announced layoffs that affected Eater, Thrillist and PS (formerly PopSugar). According to the company’s union, those layoffs “essentially shuttered” Thrillist.
According to PR Newswire, at least 3,875 layoffs were reported across newspapers, broadcast and digital media in 2024.
Contact Kristen DeSilva at kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Follow @kristendesilva on X.
