CollegeHumor has become the second major online comedy outlet to receive massive layoffs. Much like Collider, CollegeHumor had survived online for a very long time but face a massive round of layoffs. Vulture reports that 100 employees in New York and Los Angeles have lost their jobs.
Bloomberg reports that approximately ten people will remain at the company as it restructures itself under the leadership of CCO Sam Reich. Reich took to Twitter to explain all that is happening with the popular comedy outlet.
According to Reich, the parent company IAC decided to stop funding them, which lead to "100+ smart people to lose their jobs, some of them are dear friends."
CollegeHumor needs a new funding source to survive
IAC has handed over ownership to Sam Reich, making him the new majority owner of CH Media. Reich acknowledged that the company needs to become profitable and that he himself does not have the money to lose. Reich says the best way to support him and the others is to be subscribed to Dropout. CH Media is ready to release plenty of content over the next six months.
Reich has said they are planning to release "Dimension 20," "Um," "Game Changer," "Breaking News," and several other titles. "Dropout 2.0" is set to release at the end of the month, with two long-awaited features: downloads and Discord access.
Reich is set on saving Dropout, CollegeHumor, Drawfee, Dorkly, and other popular series. Some of these shows will be revamped and take on a new direction.
So, bad news – with a twist.
— Sam Reich (@samreich) January 8, 2020
⁰IAC, our parent company, has made the difficult decision to no longer finance us. Today, 100+ brilliant people lost their jobs, some of whom are my dear, dear friends. Hire them. (thread)
CollegeHumor not the only online content provider facing layoffs
CollegeHumor has been owned by IAC since 2006.
IAC has taken over several sites and apps like Vimeo and Tinder, as well as the popular news site The Daily Beast. Bloomberg previously reported in October, that IAC was considering selling off CollegeHumor. IAC calls Sam "the best choice to define the company's next chapter." Sam is an owner that is beloved by many and is passionate about the business.
Layoffs and massive shutdowns have become a recent trend for internet comedy outlets. Most recently, layoffs took place at Collider, when they shut down all of their hit shows. From 2016 to 2018, several rounds of cuts were made at Funny or Die, including the closure of their main engineering office in San Mateo, California. In early 2018, they laid off their entire editorial team.
These days it's become even harder to survive as an online comedy network, especially when it comes to original content. CollegeHumor has managed to survive since 1999, which says a lot. It will take a lot of work by Reich to keep CollegeHumor as successful as it originally was in its glory days.