Without investments in the workers, and our workplaces, all of Ziff’s plans will fail. Our demands are simple: We want answers about the direction of our company. We deserve that much. (7/7)
Despite a new push for more content and shifting priorities, we continue to experience widespread understaffing. We need leadership that understands the reality our members face every day. We need real and actionable strategy to survive this difficult time in media. (6/7)
For months, Gutman and other company execs have laid out vague and piecemeal plans to revamp our workplaces, boost revenue, and regain lost traffic. The best that current leadership has managed to do so far is cut our colleagues and resources. (5/7)
Ahead of our most recent Town Hall, which was focused on setting the company’s 2026 North Stars, HR rejected our request for an open Q&A. We were told to direct our concerns elsewhere. (4/7)
During this time, Gutman has rarely made her presence known to the editorial staff. Our interactions with her have been limited to quarterly “town halls,” where she reads statements from sheets of paper and takes no questions. (3/7)
Since Gutman took over as general manager of the company’s Technology Media Group in 2024, we have seen consistently declining numbers and 3 different rounds of layoffs, including one just last month. (2/7)
Today, we sent a supermajority vote of no confidence to Ziff Davis General Manager, Kate Gutman. Here’s why. (1/7)
On Jan. 14, our parent company Ziff Davis laid off 5 of our members, days after our successful CES showing as the CNET Group. This is the third round of layoffs since Ziff acquired CNET in 2024. We’re sick of our members being on the chopping block.
Read our full statement below:
Poster reading: News Not Slop! Rally for people-powered journalism Thursday, Dec. 4 @ 1pm ET One Liberty Plaza, across from Zuccotti Park Rally in solidarity with Insider Union members to protect the integrity and reputation of the newsroom, job security, and HUMAN-powered journalism! Wear red and/or your best union swag!
Poster reading: NEWS NOT SLOP Dec 4th 6 PMET Al Town Hall On Thursday, December 4th at 6 pm ET, hear from journalists who are fighting Al's creep into America's newsrooms.
TODAY alone, Reuters Guild and @insiderunion.bsky.social are fighting for say in AI, IRL at their NYC offices.
TONIGHT, NewsGuild is hosting a town hall all about how we are FIGHTING and WINNING on AI. Register here! 6 p.m. ET us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Our fellow unions are fighting back too! The @siunion.bsky.social sent a letter to management, signed by more than 80% of its members, and secured a provision ensuring the disclosure of AI in generating editorial content. The unit is continuing to press for job protections in collective bargaining.
Our hard work paid off! We won no layoffs due to generative AI implementation, transparency over AI usage, a special AI subcommittee, and reasonable advance notice of AI implementation at the company.
Members of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild holding picket signs in front of Scabby the Rat in NYC.
Members of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild with picket signs and red shirts.
Members of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild with red shirts.
FIGHTING BACK AGAINST AI with worker action AND solid contract protections.
Last year, ZDCG took action online and in-person to gain AI guardrails. We swarmed Slack, spoke out at the bargaining table, and took to the streets to picket.
ZDCG demands accountability for continued attacks on media workers in Gaza:
FROM NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 13TH IGN CREATORS GUILD IS GOING TO... DO OUR JOB! OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, IGN MANAGEMENT HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH LAYING OFF OUR COWORKERS OVER AND OVER. MEANWHILE, MANY OF OUR COLLEAGUES HAVE LEFT THE COMPANY IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO BUYOUTS, OVERWORK, AND FEELING UNSUPPORTED, EACH TIME, THE COMPANY HAS REFUSED TO BACKFILL MANY ESSENTIAL ROLES, CLAIMING WE'RE ON A HIRING FREEZE, IT'S NOT IN THE BUDGET, OR THAT WE'RE GOING TO DO LESS WORK THIS TIME. AS A RESULT, IGNCG MEMBERS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO TAKE ON MORE OF THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUES' WORKLOADS. MANY OF US NOW WORK LONGER HOURS THAN WE USED TO. A LOT OF US RARELY TAKE LUNCH BREAKS. SOME OF US DO NOT TAKE ADEQUATE TIME OFF DUE TO THERE BEING NO ONE TO PICK UP THE SLACK. OTHERS OF US ARE STUCK DOING WORK WE WERE NEVER HIRED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE. UP TO THIS POINT, WE'VE ALL ACCEPTED THIS AS NORMAL, BECAUSE WE CARE DEEPLY ABOUT IGN AND THE WORK WE DO. BUT WITH SO MANY OF US STRUGGLING MORE AND MORE AS EACH NEW WAVE OF OUR COWORKERS ARE DEPRIVED OF A LIVELIHOOD, THIS CYCLE CAN'T CONTINUE. MANAGEMENT IS UNWILLING TO STOP IT, SO IT FALLS TO US. WITH THE LAYOFFS OF EIGHT OF OUR COWORKERS, IGNCG HAS NEGOTIATED A SIX-MONTH RECALL LIST. WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT, FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, IF IGN WANTS TO FILL ANY OF THOSE ELIMINATED ROLES AGAIN, THEY MUST REHIRE OUR LAID-OFF COLLEAGUES. WE WANT THEM TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THEIR JOBS BACK IF THEY WANT THEM, AND IF NOT, WE WANT THOSE ROLES BACKFILLED TO EASE THE BURDEN ON THE REST OF US. SO STARTING TODAY, LENCE MEMBERS ARE COMMITTING TO DO OUR JOBS. NO MORE, NO LESS. WELL SHOW UP TO WORK ON TIME AND LEAVE ON TIME. WE'RE TAKING ALL OF OUR LUNCH TIME, EVERY DAY. IF WE WORK LATE, WE WILL FIRMLY ASK FOR OUR RIGHTFULLY EARNED COMP TIME. AND IF IGN WANTS OUR LAID-OFF COWORKERS' WORK TO GET DONE, THEY'LL HAVE TO REHIRE THEM TO DO IT INSTEAD OF FOISTING IT UPON US. HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT IGNCG IN ALL THIS? SHARE THIS POST, AND TELL IGN MANAGEMENT THAT Y…
Ziff Davis and IGN routinely decide that work done by our laid off colleagues is not important. But inevitably, that crucial work falls onto those who remain.
Not this time. Not anymore.
SECOND QUARTER 2025 RESULTS Q2 2025 quarterly revenues increased 9.8% to $352.2 million compared to $320.8 million for Q2 2024. Income from operations increased 17.2% to $33.5 million compared to $28.6 million for Q2 2024. Net income (1) decreased to $26.3 million compared to $36.9 million for Q2 2024. Net income per diluted share (1) decreased to $0.62 in Q2 2025 compared to $0.77 for Q2 2024. Adjusted EBITDA (2) for the quarter increased 11.8% to $107.7 million compared to $96.3 million for Q2 2024. Adjusted net income (2) decreased to $51.6 million compared to $53.7 million for Q2 2024. Adjusted net income per diluted share (1)(2) (or “Adjusted diluted EPS”) for the quarter increased 5.1% to $1.24 compared to $1.18 for Q2 2024. Net cash provided by operating activities was $57.1 million in Q2 2025 compared to $50.6 million in Q2 2024. Free cash flow (2) was $26.9 million in Q2 2025 compared to $25.1 million in Q2 2024. Ziff Davis deployed approximately $11.4 million for current and prior year acquisitions during the quarter and $33.9 million related to share repurchases in Q2 2025.
Ziff Davis just reported their "strongest quarterly revenue growth since 2021," up 9.8% to $352.2M, with gaming and entertainment up 7.5% YOY.
So why were 8 of our members and 23 members of @zdcreatorsguild.bsky.social just laid off? bit.ly/3H0Osvb
Today, IGN Entertainment announced that it would be laying off eight members of the IGN Creators Guild. This is 12% of our bargaining unit, and comes just days after our sister union, the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, underwent similar layoffs impacting 15% of their members. It also comes just months after our multibillion-dollar parent company, Ziff Davis, instituted a company-wide buyout that shrunk our unit numbers, with the express intent of avoiding future layoffs. And it comes just a little over one year after three of our members were laid off almost immediately after our union went public. The company has told us that the reason for this layoff stems from a Ziff Davis-mandate to cut costs despite several quarters in a row of year-over-year revenue increases, to which IGN Entertainment responded by coming for our members' jobs. This is perplexing to us, as we are told again and again that IGN Entertainment has had a tremendously successful year thus far thanks to their hard work. In just the last few months, our members have been absolutely essential to major events and livestreams, including San Diego ComicCon, Summer of Gaming, and IGN Live. Every single person impacted today was involved in and critical to the success of those events. Meanwhile, IGN Entertainment continues to spend money on costly acquisitions, only to turn around and gut those companies in the same way it is cutting away at IGN itself. For instance, last year, it acquired Gamer Network, and almost immediately laid off a number of staff critical to making those sites successful. The company has not responded to the union's questions about whether its budget for future acquisitions is being reconsidered as a cost-saving measure alongside these other apparently necessary personnel cuts. At a time when it is more necessary than ever to support its creators, IGN Entertainment is choosing to eliminate the individuals who ensure IGN remains competitive as generative AI
threatens our reach. We have been told that expert opinion pieces, original interviews, and work that leverages our staff's deep knowledge of gaming, tech, and entertainment are all essential to combating AI summarization and regurgitation of our work. Management has responded by cutting several individuals who do that exact work, as well as others whose job it is to ensure that these written and video pieces are published in a speedy manner — another component of combating AI we're told is critical. This continued cycle of repeated, aggressive cuts to our staff and being asked to do more with less, only for management to continue to spend on new business it isn't interested in sustaining cannot continue. We will enforce our interim agreement that guarantees better severance and other protections to laid off members, as well as demand additional support for those impacted. We will continue to bargain over our first contract with the aim of enshrining even better protections against further layoffs, working conditions continuously degraded by understaffing, and the encroachment of generative AI. And we won't stop fighting to ensure IGN remains the best destination for trustworthy, original, exciting, and creative work covering video games, entertainment, and tech. While IGN Entertainment management may not value us, we value one another and the incredible work we can do together. Behind the articles, videos, social posts, playlists, and maps of IGN are human beings, not just numbers on a spreadsheet to be pushed around when some number at the top isn't big enough. Without us, there is no IGN.
Today, IGN laid off eight extremely valuable members of our union and workforce via directive from our parent company, Ziff Davis. This, after two incredibly successful live events IGN Live and SDCC, and yet another corporate acquisition.
Please take a moment to read and share our full statement:
Breaking: Ziff Davis is doing layoffs today, affecting 15% of the union. The majority of the workers being laid off are at CNET, along with several across ZDNET, Mashable, and Lifehacker.
Ziff Davis has been on a buying spree this year, acquiring 5 other companies.
www.theverge.com/news/715220/...
What we know for sure: We are aggressively enforcing our strong contract to ensure our members’ rights are protected. Our colleagues are incredible at what they do, and shouldn't be reduced to just dollars and cents.
Today, the multibillion-dollar Ziff Davis is slashing its staff of 23 valuable ZDCG colleagues — just weeks after it finalized even more corporate acquisitions and boasted about profitability being "up." Ziff Davis is putting its spending spree ahead of its own workers. 👇
An update: management has chosen not to recognize our Product, Engineering, and Humble Bundle colleagues as part of IGNCG, instead insisting on a time-consuming NLRB hearing, which took place last week.
Help us spread the word: we will not be divided. We are IGN, and we will always stand together.
Our @forbesunion.bsky.social members crunched the numbers -- and found that @forbes.com is relying heavily on temp workers instead of filling vacancies with full time workers. More here..... nyguild.org/post/union-f...
4/ If you’re covering these protests and face unsafe conditions or targeting, you’re not alone.
We defended journalists and Guild members attacked by police during the George Floyd protests, and we are ready to do so now.
newsguild.org/journalists-...
1/ Journalists' guide to protective gear:
cpj.org/wp-content/u...
The White House wants Congress to take back approved funds for public media. Good jobs and local and educational programming - including shows written by our members at PBS - are at risk.
Let your Congressperson know you OPPOSE slashing public media funding! Call (202) 224-3121 ☎️
A WIN FOR PRESS FREEDOM: On Thursday, NY State lawmakers passed the “Keep Police Radio Public Act,” which would ensure media access to police radio transmissions….. nyguild.org/front-page-d...
Tell your Representative to vote NO on H.R. 4 before Congress votes. Call (202) 224-3121 ⬇️
The United States is supposed to be a leader in supporting a free press and protecting the rights of journalists to do their jobs. We stand with our @withmeaa.bsky.social family and condemn the shooting of journalist Lauren Tomasi.
