Sports Illustrated Plans To Dramatically Cut Staff

Sports Illustrated plunged into turmoil Thursday as the magazine’s new management began laying off staff members in a plan to heavily rely on freelancers, according to The LA Times.

Dozens of staff members are expected to be laid off. The cuts began nearly five months after Iowa publishing giant Meredith Corp. sold the 65-year-old publication to Authentic Brands Group for $110 million. Authentic Brands then assigned licensing rights to a third-party firm, Maven Inc., which now runs the magazine.

The upheaval at the legendary magazine illustrates the difficulties facing print publications that have long relied on advertising and subscriptions. Sports Illustrated was once the dominant sports-themed publication in the U.S. and a marquee title within the Time Inc. magazine portfolio. Magazine magnate Henry Luce, co-founder of Time, brought Sports Illustrated to life in 1954.

But Time Inc. was dismantled in 2018 after Meredith purchased the company. It sold several of the titles, including Time, Fortune and then Sports Illustrated. Meredith Corp., which publishes Better Homes and Gardens and Real Simple magazine, wanted to bolster its female-skewing titles so it retained such Time Inc. properties as People magazine.

Authentic Brands is a New York brand management firm with rights to big-name celebrities Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, and brands including Thomasville furniture, Frye boots and Frederick’s of Hollywood. In August, private equity giant BlackRock bought a 30% stake in Authentic Brands for $875 million.

Authentic Brands retained ownership of Sports Illustrated but assigned licensing rights to Seattle-based Maven. That group paid Authentic Brands $45 million in advance royalties as part of the 10-year deal for use of the Sports Illustrated properties, including the swimsuit edition, in seven countries. Maven assumed responsibility for operating the digital and print editions of Sports Illustrated, which is based in New York and reaches an estimated 2.7 million subscribers.