Memo: TechCrunch plans to wind down TC+, its paid subscription product launched in 2019 as ExtraCrunch, and lays off ~8 staffers, amid industry-wide cutbacks
The Yahoo-owned publisher first launched TC+ in 2019 — Technology publisher TechCrunch laid off around eight staff members Monday … Threads: @thekenyeung , @markstenberg3 , @martinsfp , and @fredericl Mastodon: @patrickcmiller@infosec … , @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social , @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social , @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social , and @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social X: @lorenzofb , @bayareawriter , @panzer , @panzer , @etherington , @morgan_sung , @harriblogs , and @mjburnsy See also Mediagazer Threads: Ken Yeung / @thekenyeung : Oh man, some great journalists at @techcrunch were laid off today. If you're looking for exceptional media folks, consider @harriplaysmusic, @deewok, @morgansung and/or @mjburnsy. Mark Stenberg / @markstenberg3 : Scoop: TechCrunch is sunsetting its subscription product, TC+, almost five years after launching it. TechCrunch editor in chief Connie Loizos shared the news with staff in an internal memo yesterday, which also announced a round of eight layoffs. For @ADWEEK: https://www.adweek.com/... media #advertising #subscriptions @martinsfp : Thoughts with those laid off at TechCrunch today. It's bleak out there in media land. Frederic Lardinois / @fredericl : I don't think @techcrunch ever had layoffs in its history, but today is the day. Tells you something about the state of the media industry. Go and hire @deewok, @harriplaysmusic, @morgansung and @mjburnsy before somebody else does. Mastodon: @patrickcmiller@infosec.exchange : Wait, wasn't layoff season meant to be over? TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/... Zack Whittaker / @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social : Morgan Sung (@morgan_sung) knows the internet (and how to explain it) better than anyone and would bring much-needed internet culture reporting to your newsroom. Bonus: serial kitten foster mum. — And, Harri Weber (@harriblogs), a skilled tech, culture, science and transportation reporter/editor based in Los Angeles. … Zack Whittaker / @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social : Catherine Shu (@catherineshu) is an incredible journalist in Taiwan covering tech in Asia and globally; with a passion for writing about mental health that combines research, reporting & personal experience. An amazing writer, cat stan, and abundant knitter. (3/4) Zack Whittaker / @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social : Absolutely gutted to see talented journalists laid off from TechCrunch today. I deeply appreciate all the folks who reached out to me; the security desk is unaffected. But my friends are incredible editorial minds and helped to build a brilliant place on the internet, and you should hire them. … Zack Whittaker / @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social : Darrell Etherington (@etherington) was TechCrunch's managing editor (and my editor!). A fierce defender of his team and journalism, and was a huge support in some of our deepest investigations. A truly smart editorial mind. … X: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzofb : I honestly have lost count of how many layoffs I have been through. It always sucks because nobody deserves this. We lost a lot yesterday: young talent, experience, and just great human beings and journalists. Hire them, give them opportunities, they will deliver the goods. Mary Ann Azevedo / @bayareawriter : Thank you to all those who reached out...I, along with our whole team, was devastated to learn of the layoffs at TC today. So many talented people that will be missed like crazy! If you're hiring for writers/editors, please consider @mjburnsy, @etherington, @morgan_sung and... @panzer : Hire them. @panzer : more losses of great folks at tc ❤️ Darrell Etherington / @etherington : Laid off from @TechCrunch , the website I built over the past decade with the help of many wonderful humans including @jordanrcrook, @panzer, @alexia, and @mjburnsy to name just a few. Open to work if you're hiring, and also snap up @morgan_sung and @Harriblogs both also impacted Morgan Sung / @morgan_sung : NO LONGER A BIT LMAO the media layoffs got your girl 🫠 being employed would be sooo fun & sexy hmu morgansung@gmail.com working at techcrunch was quite literally the dream job! here's a roundup of my most banger articles that i've written over the last year [image] @harriblogs : Just got laid off from @TechCrunch — If you're hiring for a reporter / editor with experience across tech, culture, science and transportation, lmk! email is harri@harri.fm Matt Burns / @mjburnsy : Personal news: I was laid off at TechCrunch today along with a handful of Ops, Biz and editorial folks. All the best. TechCrunch has been my home since 2008. I grew up at TC. I traveled the world with TC. I became the fucking best at TechCrunch and it's their loss. DMs open. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
TC+ began as ExtraCrunch in 2019 to complement TechCrunch's advertising and events revenue. Its founding editor later described the product's attempt to add a business-reporting subscription layer and the difficulty of building the needed reporting operation.
The shutdown and staff cuts turn that experiment into a narrower publishing operation at a time when experienced tech workers were already struggling to find new roles amid layoffs.
First-order effects
- TechCrunch will retire TC+, ending its paid subscription offering and removing that product from its revenue mix.
- About eight staff members, including named editorial employees, are immediately affected by the layoffs.
Second-order effects
- TechCrunch must concentrate its remaining editorial resources on its other revenue-supported formats rather than maintaining a distinct subscription newsroom.
- Journalists displaced from the outlet enter a tech-media labor market already pressured by broader cutbacks, increasing competition for a limited set of comparable roles.
Third-order effects
- The outcome underscores that paid verticals at ad-supported publishers depend on sustained specialist reporting capacity, not simply on putting existing coverage behind a subscription tier.
- If similar retrenchment persists, tech-media companies may favor fewer, more clearly monetized editorial products over parallel experiments in subscriptions, events, and advertising.
The trend: This is one data point in tech publishing's shift from diversified growth experiments toward fewer revenue products that can support their own editorial costs.