The Independent Journal Review (IJR) terminated a number of its employees on Thursday, leaving an unclear future for the millennial-focused conservative website that has recently faced a declining audience and internal strife, several employees told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Employees received notice about their termination Thursday morning via email, according to multiple recently laid-off IJR staffers. Another source inside the company told TheDCNF a total of 15 positions were terminated — a massive blow to the already skeleton staff.
A number of veteran employees were also allegedly included in the mass layoffs. One source said that eliminations hit virtually every department at the company.
Fired IJR employees who spoke to TheDCNF on the condition of anonymity say there was no indication the layoffs were coming.
“They were really careful this time. Everything was sent individually. Mine was a simple ‘your position was one of those terminated,'” said one staffer.
The staffer also said that before the morning meeting, employees were locked out of their email, presumably as an attempt to stop leaks.
IJR’s difficulties have been well documented over the years. Reports have described internal conflicts over the direction of the site. An analytics report from SimilarWeb.com shows a substantial drop in traffic in 2018.
The precipitous downfall of the once innovative conservative aggregation site has been overseen by former GOP consultant Alex Skatell. Skatell, who formerly worked at the RNC, founded IJR in 2012 along with Media Group of America, a parent company that also owns a number of other subsidiaries.
Editor’s Note: The original version of this piece stated that IJR was contacted for comment. The contact information used was out of date, and the article has been updated to reflect that fact. IJR has not provided comment.
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