The Outline Lays Off Support Staff and Remaining Staff Writers ⇥ observer.com

Cale Guthrie Weissman, Fast Company:

The Outline, the Joshua Topolsky-founded culture website, laid off the last of its two remaining staff writers today. On Twitter, one staff writer, Paris Martineau, announced the shakeup. I’ve confirmed that the other full-time staff member, Ann-Derrick Gaillot, has also been let go. And other non-editorial employees seem to be impacted too. Editors appear to be the only full-time editorial staff the site has left.

John Bonazzo, the Observer:

The source also noted that The Outline plans to slash its freelance budget despite the dearth of staff writers. The site will likely move from its current Lower East Side office to an undisclosed WeWork location.

The Outline had ambitious goals, launching with 26 employees from companies like Vox, Vice and BuzzFeed. Most recently, it completed a $5 million funding round in May.

These are worrying signs — an online magazine without writers is hardly encouraging. I hope they can recover; the Outline is a particularly interesting publication, and Martineau was one of my favourite writers there.