Engadget Reimagined: Yahoo’s Plan for Technical News Excellence

Yahoo has laid off numerous employees from the 20-year-old tech media outlet, Engadget, as the company restructures its editorial teams with a new focus on driving traffic and revenue growth.

In addition to reducing the number of staff, the editorial team is divided into two sections: “News and Articles” and “Reviews and Buying Tips.”

The news and articles team consists of correspondents and newsroom editors, as well as news contributors and editors. The primary charter of this group is to increase traffic through high-quality and timely coverage.

While the review and purchasing advice team continues its work with a significant focus on content and the constantly emerging evidence in search engines.

Yahoo has engineered the changes to boost the outlet’s focus on commerce revenue, which includes stripping the main editorial leaders from the newsroom, up to and including the Editor-in-Chief.

As part of the layoff process, Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman is absent, as reported on X platform, as well as Managing Editor Terence O’Brien.

In the executive statement, Sarah Priestley, listed as the General Manager of Engadget, wrote: “The changes enable us to simplify our operations, accelerate our pace, and deliver superior content to our readers.”

The changes paint a picture of reducing staff numbers to focus on elements such as Google traffic, search engine optimization, commerce, and revenue—areas that could be more profitable for Yahoo, even though they might be volatile and subject to the influences of advertisers’ decisions and Google’s commercial strategies.

Caitlin Briehl, a spokesperson for Engadget, said, “Yahoo is implementing changes to the scale and complexity of our organization in order to simplify our efforts. This streamlined structure is aimed at helping to enhance our speed while we create high-quality content that is relevant and valuable to our audience.”

She added, “Engadget has played a vital role in tech journalism for 20 years, and we are confident that these skills will support future growth and prepare us for the long term as we continue to deliver the best experience for our readers.”

It seems that Yahoo is following the footsteps of other outlets like CNET, where a similar focus on search engine optimization and marketing has led to the gradual emptying of the newsroom, either due to many staff members leaving or being laid off. CNET employees working on reviews have felt the pressure to maintain editorial independence under the ownership of Red Ventures.