People Inc. Lays Off 195 Employees Amid Media Shift

People Inc. laid off 195 employees on October 29, representing approximately 6% of its workforce. CEO Neil Vogel announced the cuts in a staff memo, stating the majority of affected employees worked in the company's print and legacy web businesses. The layoffs primarily impacted the New York headquarters and remote workers, with additional cuts in Des Moines, Birmingham, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Bangalore.

Vogel attributed the restructuring to "rapid changes in media" and a strategic effort to reduce the company's dependence on Google web traffic. This move follows a 16% drop in print revenue during the second quarter of 2026, though digital revenue rose 6%. Despite the cuts, Vogel noted the company hired 320 people in 2026 and plans to continue investments into 2027.

The layoffs follow a previous round of 226 cuts in October 2025 and a recent rebranding from Dotdash Meredith to People Inc. The restructuring also coincides with the collapse of takeover discussions with MGM Resorts International. Those talks ended after a new voting agreement restricted the ownership stake of People Inc. to 29.9 percent, prompting the company to move away from the acquisition attempt.