Android Central will continue publishing despite full layoffs
Parent company Future confirms Android Central will keep running after laying off all full-time staff yesterday, shifting to freelance contributors.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Android Central laid off all of its full-time editorial staff yesterday.
- Parent company Future confirms the Android-focused blog will continue publishing.
- New articles on the site are now being produced by freelance contributors.
- Rival site Android Police has also recently cut at least two staff members.
The tech media landscape faces another major shakeup as Android Central, a prominent blog dedicated to the Android ecosystem, laid off its entire full-time staff yesterday. The sudden cuts left followers and industry observers uncertain about the future of the publication.
Multiple staff members shared the news publicly yesterday. Four out of the six personnel listed on the site's editorial page posted about the layoffs, including Shruti Shekar, Derrek Lee, Harish Jonnalagadda, and Nicholas Sutrich. Additionally, former senior editor Namerah Saud Fatmi updated her LinkedIn profile to reflect that her tenure with the site had concluded.
Both Derrek Lee, who served as the site's managing editor, and Nicholas Sutrich confirmed that all remaining staff members were let go. At the time of the layoffs, the former employees had not been informed whether the web domain would shut down completely.
Mass layoffs at prominent tech publications highlight the ongoing financial pressures facing digital media companies amid shifting ad revenues and traffic patterns. Transitioning from a full-time newsroom to a contributor-driven model is an increasingly common cost-cutting measure used by parent corporations to keep established brand names operational.
A day after the layoffs, Nicole Martineau, a spokesperson for parent company Future, confirmed to The Verge that the site will stay online. "Future will continue to publish Android Central. We’ll share further information about the future of the site in due course," Martineau stated, adding that no further comments would be provided at this time.
True to that statement, new articles have appeared on Android Central today. Rather than coming from the previous full-time editorial team, these pieces are authored by the site's network of freelance contributors.
Source: The Verge
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