SI owner/operator TheMaven insists that the recent layoffs to staff are "already adding to the bottom line," according to Keith Kelly of the N.Y. POST. In an SEC filing yesterday, TheMaven said that SI shaved $27M from its costs compared with '18, when it was "still owned by Meredith." It also said that SI is "attracting more traffic than it did before the editorial bloodbath." Unique visitors grew 7.4% in December, to 29 million, up from 27 million in '18. The company, which changed SI's editorial strategy to focus on team-specific coverage online, said that the shift was "responsible for 5.6 million of those unique visitors." TheMaven "slashed the number of print editions SI publishes and scrapped its long-form video operation, which Maven said had been 'suffering significant financial losses.'" The print edition of SI, which had been every other week, now comes out "less often but will be a larger-sized format printed with heavier paper stock in a redesign to be unveiled next month." Breaking news will be on the "digital site only." Meanwhile, TheMaven has "not indicated" whether it will fight SI's union push and "insist on a secret ballot election or opt to voluntarily recognize the union." TheMaven forecast it will have earnings of $20M in '20 "before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization" on revenue of $160M (N.Y. POST, 1/8).
