San Francisco-based Wired lays off about 20 reporters and editors amid wider Condé Nast cut

Wired, the San Francisco-based science and technology magazine, has laid off around 20 employees, according to company staff.

Condé Nast, Wired’s corporate owner, told employees in early November the media giant would be laying off about 5% of its wider workforce. But last Thursday Wired’s reporters, editors and other staffers learned the cuts would be more sweeping, with at least 15% of staff receiving layoff notices that day, per reports from workers. 

When he announced the cuts internally in November, Roger Lynch, Condé Nast’s CEO, said the company had seen an overall decline in traffic from social media traffic and shifting audience interest to short-form video, The New York Times reported. 

Wired staff writer Ramin Skibba told SFGATE that he and another member of the outlet’s Diversity Committee were both laid off on Thursday. He had worked at Wired for two-and-a-half years, and said his layoff leaves the outlet without a dedicated space reporter. 

He praised his team’s work, saying that Wired-style stories often include coverage of futuristic and “out-there” ideas, and details about “weird technology” that few other outlets cover. 

“I hope that sort of unique voice to the magazine continues on,” he said.

Neither Wired’s union nor Condé Nast responded to SFGATE’s requests for comment. When Wired’s editorial staff went public with their union push in 2020, they wrote, “Company-wide consolidation of editorial departments threatens to erode WIRED’s distinct voice. And staffers in San Francisco feel perpetual uncertainty about the future of their office, despite the need for a strong presence in Silicon Valley.”

Once a monthly magazine, Wired now only promises six issues a year for print subscribers.

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