(Gray News/AP) – The future of Sports Illustrated is in question amid reports of a mass layoff and revocation of licensing.
The Sports Illustrated Union said in a social media post that its workers were notified that several of its guild workers were to be laid off.
CNN was among media outlets reporting that a memo revealed the magazine’s publisher was “laying off staff that work on the SI brand.”
In addition, there are reports that Arena Group missed a recent payment for publishing rights and Authentic Brands Group, the previous publisher revoked them.
The Arena Group acquired publishing rights from ABG in 2019 for at least 10 years. The group’s stewardship of SI has had many hurdles since then. In December, it fired chief executive officer Ross Levinsohn when the magazine’s alleged use of AI-generated stories drew public backlash.
The iconic sports brand has had a rough six years. It was acquired by Meredith Publishing in 2018 as part of the purchase of Time Inc., which started the magazine in 1954.
Less than a year later, Meredith sold the magazine’s intellectual property to Authentic Brands Group for $110 million. ABG owns the intellectual property of many brands and stars, including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali and Reebok.
Once a weekly publication, SI was reduced to biweekly publishing in 2018 and became a monthly in 2020.
Copyright 2024 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Future of Sports Illustrated uncertain amid reports of mass layoff
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