The word “restructuring” is sometimes used as a euphemism when the corporate weed whacker comes out. The term seems to be genuinely applicable to what’s going on at Ziff Davis Enterprise, however, as the company lays off some people, hires others, and shuffles around a third group.
Steve Weitzner
Numbers haven’t been made public, but CEO Steve Weitzner sent a reassuring email to FOLIO. In it, he stated, “[T]he changes we are making will be less extreme than some recent layoffs in the media industry. I am truly concerned with the loss of even one job and I wish this action were unnecessary. However, there are a number of changes to our structure that are fundamental to our continued success.”
One of the changes involves the addition of Kevin Neary as vice president and CFO. Neary previously worked as CFO at Primedia, the print and online publisher. Another puts Larry Walsh, the former editor in chief of Baseline, into the position of vice president of Channel Insider. And Kirk Laughlin is now managing director of the Live Event arm, up from senior editorial director.
Weitzner certainly didn’t waste much time in making these alterations; he was only named the CEO of Ziff Davis Enterprise on January 7th of this year. Also, on January 14th, he announced another bout of restructuring.
Ziff Davis Enterprise is going somewhere quickly; supporters can only hope it’s moving in the right direction.
