Business Insider slashes 21% of workforce amid strategic pivot toward AI

By lauraharris // 2025-06-03

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Business Insider is cutting 21 percent of its workforce across all departments as part of a restructuring strategy focused on efficiency and long-term sustainability.
CEO Barbara Peng said the company is "going all-in on AI," with tools like generative AI search, an AI-powered paywall and broader automation integrated into operations.
BI is narrowing its editorial scope to areas like business, tech and innovation, shutting down most of its e-commerce operations and expanding its BI Live events division.
The Insider Union condemned the layoffs, calling them a continuation of Axel Springer's "pivot away from journalism toward greed" and criticized the use of AI as a justification for job cuts.
The layoffs are effective immediately, also impacting the U.K. division, with HR directly notifying affected employees. This marks the third major layoff at BI in three years.

Business Insider (BI) is laying off more than one-fifth (21 percent) of its staff as it pivots toward AI-powered content production, streamlined operations and a narrower editorial focus. The cuts, announced by CEO Barbara Peng in a memo to employees on May 29, affect employees across all departments. Peng described the cuts as part of a "leaner, more focused" strategy centered on AI adoption, live events and targeted coverage areas like business, tech and innovation. "We are reducing the size of our organization, a move that will impact about 21 percent of our colleagues and touch every department. This will be a difficult day, and our first priority is to provide clarity and support to those colleagues whose roles are being eliminated," Peng wrote in the memo. Peng indicated in the memo that the media outlet will shut down most of its e-commerce operations due to their reliance on search traffic, though a few high-performing verticals will be retained. At the same time, the company plans to expand its BI Live events business – a growing revenue stream that Peng says allows the company to "showcase our journalism, connect directly with our audience and build a strong portfolio of experiences." (Related: Job cuts in mainstream media outlets could lead to AI TAKEOVER of news industry.) Moreover, Peng revealed that BI is "going all-in on AI," citing the rollout of multiple AI-powered tools, including generative AI site search and an AI-driven paywall system. She also teased new AI products on the horizon and suggested that automation will be used across business operations to improve efficiency. Peng also disclosed that BI is narrowing its editorial focus on areas that attract the publication's "most loyal readers," although she did not elaborate on which verticals those are. She noted that 70 percent of the company's business is subject to fluctuations in web traffic and that the organization must be "structured to endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control." The layoffs are effective immediately, with impacted employees receiving direct communication from HR. BI's United Kingdom division is also affected, with a separate downsizing process underway.

Insider Union criticizes Business Insider for laying off employees over AI

The announcement has drawn strong backlash from the Insider Union, which is affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York. In a scathing statement, the union called the move "another example of Axel Springer's brazen pivot away from journalism toward greed." "We were notified that Business Insider management intends to lay off about 20 percent of our members as part of their ongoing ‘strategy' to 'build toward something new,'" the union said. "Let's be clear: This is far from anything new. This is the third round of layoffs in as many years and it is unacceptable that union members and other talented coworkers are again paying the price for the strategic failures of Business Insider's leadership." The union also took sharp aim at the company's AI push, calling Peng's emphasis on automation "tone-deaf" in the context of mass layoffs. "To say this was tone-deaf to include in an email on layoffs would be an understatement," the statement read. "Our position as a union is that no Al tool or technology should or can take the place of human beings." Visit FutureTech.news for more stories like this. Watch this video discussing which jobs are most at risk of being phased out due to AI.

This video is from the Recharge Freedom channel on Brighteon.com.

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Insider Union criticizes Business Insider for laying off employees over AI

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