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from the acquisition-followed-by-gutting-of-the-workforce dept.
It's as bad as many of us feared. In spite of the "happy talk" of "oh, his son will be running it and he's different", "Rupert wouldn't destroy an asset like Nat Geo", etc., the axe fell on [November 3].
The memo went out, and November 3rd 2015 came to the National Geographic office. This was the day in which Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox took over National Geographic. The management of National Geographic sent out an email telling its staff—all of its staff—all to report to their headquarters, and wait by their phones. This pulled back every person who was in the field, every photographer, every reporter, even those on vacation had to show up on this fateful day.
As these phones rang, one by one National Geographic let go the award-winning staff, and the venerable institution was no more.
[...] The National Geographic Society of Washington will lay off about 180 of its 2,000-member workforce in a cost-cutting move that follows the sale of its famous magazine and other assets to a company controlled by Rupert Murdoch.
The reduction, the largest in the organization's 127-year history, appears to affect almost every department of the nonprofit organization, including the magazine, which the society has published since just after its founding in 1888. It also will affect people who work for the National Geographic Channel, the most profitable part of the organization. Several people in the channel's fact-checking department, for example, were terminated on Tuesday, employees said...
In addition to the layoffs and buyouts, National Geographic Society said it would freeze its pension plan for eligible employees, eliminate medical coverage for future retirees and change its contributions to an employee 401(k) plan so that all employees receive the same percentage contribution.
[...] Other articles hint that this may just be the beginning of the layoffs.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Friday November 06 2015, @01:51AM
I will shed a tear. I suppose for geeks of a certain age, National Geographic doesn't mean anything, but for me, it was my introduction to science -- before and during grade school I would dig through a huge stack of Nat. Goes my parents found at a garage sale. This was the early 70s in a rural area -- no TV till I was 6 or 7 and even then, all we could get was red and black snow plus audio, obviously no internet and even if there had been, our phone was still a party line. I know the world has changed, but National Geographic was a nice introduction for me, and I will be sad to see it go.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @03:34AM
I grew up in the 80's. I read every NatGeo from cover to cover more faithfully than most Baptists read the Bible. It represented more than just travel photos: it was an ideology of exploration and expanding one's mind.
More years than I want to admit later, with less and less hair, more and more degrees, and a high-paying job in academia, I look back on that time fondly. I am where I am no in no small part because of the time I spent imbibing that ideology of growth and learning.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Friday November 06 2015, @09:18AM
I'd be sad as well. I learned a lot as a a kid and I couldn't get Playboy magazines... And party lines, what a pain in the ass. At least you had color snow on your tv. We only had black and white snow :)