New York Times announces buyouts in the midst of an overhaul

The New York Times on Wednesday announced it’s offering buyouts to employees as part of an ongoing effort to remake its entire news operation.

In an email to Poynter, a New York Times spokesperson said the newspaper is not aiming to cut an exact number of employees or free up a specific amount of money.

The New York Times has offered buyouts to employees with some regularity in the past several years: In 2014, The Times offered buyouts to 100 employees; in 2015, it offered buyouts to employees in its video unit in a bid to restructure the department. In 2012, management offered buyouts for the fourth time in five years.

The reduction comes as The New York Times is planning an ambitious transformation which will extend to nearly every aspect of the paper’s journalism. In a memo Friday, New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet noted that the changes would require some cuts, although he said there wouldn’t be layoffs in the second half of the year:

While no layoffs are planned in the newsroom for this calendar year, the company is planning other measures to cut costs, including in the newsroom. I’ve made clear that the changing economics of journalism make it unlikely we can sustain a newsroom of this size, which is larger than it has ever been. More importantly, The Times of the future will look different, which is why you will see that as we cut back in some areas, we will invest in others.

Correction: A previous version of this story described the reductions as “layoffs.” We apologize for the error.