Medium offers buyouts to everyone on its editorial staff, as it shifts focus from its own publications to supporting independent writers on its platform

After what workers describe as a successful union-busting campaign, Ev Williams has announced to journalists who work for him that they should feel free to go.

VICE 2021-03-24 Edward Ongweso Jr

Context & Ripple Effects

This buyout offer is the latest step in a decade-long retreat from owned journalism. Medium spun off longform title Matter as an independent company back in 2016, then in 2017 laid off 50 employees — roughly a third of its staff — while closing its New York and DC offices to chase what it called a 'less proven' way of paying writers. Workers describe this round as the endgame of that arc: buyouts offered to the entire editorial staff, framed by employees as the payoff of a union-busting campaign under Ev Williams.

The move positions Medium squarely against Substack's model of courting individual writers rather than running publications — exactly the squeeze a later critique of Williams' tenure described, with the company caught between newsletter platforms and well-funded publishers like BuzzFeed and Vice. Within weeks, non-editorial staff would also depart en masse after Williams' April memo on the shifting culture, and by mid-2022 he had handed the CEO role to Tony Stubblebine.

First-order effects

Medium's in-house journalists — the people behind its own publications — are being offered exits, effectively winding down the editorial operation workers say was targeted in a successful union-busting campaign.
Ev Williams' strategy formally pivots from publishing content to operating infrastructure: Medium becomes a venue that supports independent writers rather than an employer of them.

Second-order effects

Substack and rival writer-first platforms inherit the audience and the talent pool, since writers losing their Medium mastheads must find a new home for their readerships.
Unionized media workers elsewhere get a cautionary template: the buyout-everyone approach shows how a platform owner can dissolve an organized newsroom without a single layoff headline.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, venture-backed media companies stop being publishers at all and consolidate into distribution platforms — with editorial labor treated as a cost center to be exited rather than a product to invest in.
Williams' trajectory — spinning off titles, cutting staff, dissolving the newsroom, then eventually stepping down as CEO — sketches a lifecycle where founder-led media experiments either become pure platforms or quietly disappear.

The trend: Platform-funded media is steadily shedding in-house editorial operations in favor of writer-marketplace models, with Substack-style economics setting the terms.

Discussion

@thekenyeung Ken Yeung on x
Shakeup at Medium. Letter from Ev Williams. https://ev.medium.com/...
@mohamedzulf Mohamed Zulfi on x
@CaseyNewton I am unsubscribing from Medium, I guess? If they themselves do not want to support their own publications, then would I have confidence in them to support independent publications? I highly doubt it
@parismartineau Paris Martineau on x
medium is pivoting to what appears to be a substack like model, leaving the future of its pubs up in the air. every editorial staffer is being offered voluntary buy outs. https://ev.medium.com/...
@alex @alex on x
Yeah I think it's time for me to stop paying medium as well :( https://twitter.com/...
@lorcand Lorcan Dempsey on x
“ ... the real reason why the media has reason to fear Substack: it's not that Substack will compete with existing publications for their best writers, but rather that Substack makes it easy for the best writers to discover their actual market value.” https://stratechery.com/... …
@alex @alex on x
I don't know what this means - are the great medium pubs I like being slimmed? Shut down? https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
It's very rare to see a Silicon Valley company managed as poorly as Medium for such a long time. I feel awful for all the great journalists who have worked there over the years, who deserve so much better than this https://ev.medium.com/...
@psskow Martha Pskowski on x
very excited for the future of media: 2 legacy outlets where a tiny fraction of reporters will ever have the opportunity to work and dozens of new, shiny digital brands that fold after 1-2 years only to be replaced by the next “iteration.” https://twitter.com/...
@jessjoho Jess Joho on x
Paralyzing to see great journalists and publications face constant peril no matter how well they do their jobs. Unionize. Don't believe them when they say this “isn't the right time.” For companies, the timing will never be good for workers rights. https://twitter.com/...
@jfagone Jason Fagone on x
How many times has this guy hired teams of talented journalists, and made them promises, only to get bored and fire them a short time later when he couldn't “figure out the model” or whatever? https://ev.medium.com/...
@dansinker @dansinker on x
How many times has Medium tried and then walked back in-house publications? Is this the third? The fourth? Maybe, hear me out here, they're just really bad at it? https://ev.medium.com/...
@harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x
Is this the end of OneZero? Hope not—it's a gem. https://ev.medium.com/...
@laurenkgurley Lauren Kaori Gurley on x
The threat of closing/downsizing shops is union busting 101. It's hard to argue that's not part of why Medium is offering to buy out all its journalists weeks after a union election https://www.vice.com/...
@walthickey Walter Hickey on x
medium is like nine years old and owned by a founder worth $3 billion, why are they still chasing down venture capital https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@claramhogan Clara Hogan on x
Thanks to everyone reaching out. I'm still not sure what this will mean for me or @thebolditalic. I'll post when I do ♥️ Love to all my Medium colleagues. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@jathansadowski Jathan Sadowski on x
A lot of Silicon Valley bullshit here just to say “As owners, we fear that professionalized and unionized workers threaten our power and profits. So we're nipping it in the bud by firing them.” https://ev.medium.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
@JuiceboxCA Pastebin. LinkedIn. Notes app screenshot posted to Instagram
@aarieff Allison Arieff on x
Isn't this the 3rd or 4th time @Medium failed to figure out how to fund journalism? (at the expense of really smart editors & writers who put their trust in it) https://twitter.com/...
@noahyoo @noahyoo on x
Awful https://twitter.com/...
@mcwm Mike Murphy on x
time is a flat circle https://twitter.com/...
@juiceboxca Jack Appleby on x
@CaseyNewton I've actually wondered if we're underestimating Instagram as a writing platform...
@brookeobie Brooke Obie on x
Please take care of yourselves because these companies will choose themselves over and over and leave you in the dust and frame it like theyre doing you a favor. https://www.vice.com/...
@tamigraph Tamara Kneese on x
Medium is becoming Substack to crush their union, got it https://ev.medium.com/...
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
medium workers: we're gonna unionize! @ev: no you're fucking not https://twitter.com/...
@waywardwinifred Fred on x
Ev should be honest and admit that he's a union buster and that he's overhauling the business model to more effectively compete with @SubstackInc. https://twitter.com/...
@urocklive1 @urocklive1 on x
The move comes less than one month after all Medium employees—including the editorial unit—attempted to unionize and lost by one vote. https://www.vice.com/...
@helaineolen Helaine Olen on x
At some point, the new biz will run out of people who are convinced they can make a buck on it. Then what? https://twitter.com/...
@katie_robertson Katie Robertson on x
Medium editorial staff were told they did not have to accept the voluntary buyouts, but their jobs were not likely to stay the same https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mayavada Maya on x
Another anti-labor, VC-funded San Francisco “emerging unicorn.” Bay Area tech-capitalism has wrought nothing but destruction on the world. And it's all the same people behind every tech company. Medium is Andresen Horowitz, Google Ventures, and Greylock Partners. https://twitter.…
@dnbrgr Dan Berger on x
The owner of Medium busted a union drive and “no longer believes in the concept of publications.” We are just ethereal bits of data, focus-group vibes, to the fraternity that owns the media https://twitter.com/...
@sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x
Medium's continuous pivot into becoming a version of Substack continues https://ev.medium.com/...
@weinbergrrrrr Hannah on x
Unions work, which is why you see retaliation like this. Gutted for the @ozm @elemental @genmag @mrkr teams who've busted their butts to inform us and get treated like this: https://www.vice.com/...
@lyssaslounge Katharina Borchert on x
Oh boy ... The short version is: “Tech CEO really dislikes labour unions and regrets not founding Substack. Also, surprise, #publishing is still a really hard business.” You should still read the whole article. #MediumBusiness https://www.vice.com/...
@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
Wow, a big shift a @Medium, a platform where the majority of my new content now lives. If I'm reading this correctly, the topic pub/brands they've built are being deprecated as O/O editorial entities, but will live on with contributions from, I think, writers like myself. https:/…
@bigblackjacobin Edward Ongweso Jr on x
Ev Williams' pivot to a Substack model has NO connection to the recently busted union drive! It is NOT the latest example of a rich media owner who thinks he understands the industry better than workers inside it! https://www.vice.com/...
@_danilo @_danilo on x
Medium: “we're just gonna do Substack now” https://ev.medium.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@danshipper Dan Shipper on x
I don't think it means that bundles don't work—just that you can't graft an older editorial and business model onto Medium and suddenly make it work. Bundles and publications do work—they just need to work with creators differently than they have in the past. https://twitter.com/…
@juiceboxca Jack Appleby on x
@CaseyNewton If someone wanted to write occasionally and have a place to share their words, but couldn't justify the frequency of a substack, what's the best platform that gives them a chance at some eyeballs?
@timmarchman Tim Marchman on x
WOW: Famous thinkfluencer tells journalists who work for him to feel free to quit after overseeing union-busting drive https://www.vice.com/...
@iankar_ Ian Kar on x
How many times has this happened at medium now? and how many times will they get to try, hire a bunch of writers, and fail? IMO Medium is an incredible piece of technology trying to figure out a business. Selling the CMS tech B2B would be a great one /1 https://twitter.com/...
@jessicalessin Jessica Lessin on x
I feel deeply for all at @medium affected by the editorial change but agree with @ev's analysis. You can't build premium publications on top of a platform biz model. But can you build a publication into a platform???? ah ha... that is the ?. Stay tuned. https://rsci.app.link/...
@tomkrazit Tom Krazit on x
There's no reason for any editorial person to ever trust this company again, especially with the rise of new options for self-publishing. How many times do you have to watch the same cycle play out? https://twitter.com/...
@benyt Ben Smith on x
This is really about the triumph of individual stars/"talent" over publications/brands/bundles https://twitter.com/...
@jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x
I am thankful I listened to @davewiner in 2004, who taught me to always keep my independent place on the web — PressThink — at an address I owned. No matter what the enticement. https://ev.medium.com/...
@kgosztola Kevin Gosztola on x
“This is, it should be noted, the second time Williams has destroyed all of Medium's publications.” https://twitter.com/...
@jmrivera02 Joshua Rivera on x
this is what all that's about, btw. solidarity to friends and colleagues suddenly unsure about their employment, this sucks https://www.vice.com/...
@grimkim Kim Kelly on x
This “transition” that Medium's editorial staff are facing would probably look a lot different if the @mediumworkers union had won. https://twitter.com/...
@clarajeffery Clara Jeffery on x
.@medium is pivoting, and tossing pubs in the bin, again: https://twitter.com/...
@jason @jason on x
1/The public doesn't care about publications anymore—they care about platforms & people Pivoting to a platform is clearly the right move for @Medium, given market dynamics changing due to @SubstackInc poaching star writers from big publications with advances as for unions... http…
@aaronhuertas Aaron Huertas on x
Current Medium employee quoted here: “Editorial was the department that supported the union most vocally and visibly ... this is coming basically a month after a failed union drive preceded by pretty blatant union busting tactics by management.” https://www.vice.com/...

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