MONEY

Meredith lays off 100 employees

Joel Aschbrenner
jaschbrenn@dmreg.com

Meredith Corp. announced Tuesday it is laying off about 100 employees, one-third of which are in Des Moines.

The job cuts are related to the Des Moines-based publishing and media company’s recent acquisitions of several new businesses, said company spokesman Art Slusark.

In the past year, Meredith has acquired Shape and Martha Stewart Living magazines, four TV stations, MyWedding.com and the digital advertising platform Selectable. As the new businesses are folded into the company, Meredith has found redundancies and ways to make the company more efficient, Slusark said.

Meredith added about 600 employees through the recent acquisitions and now employs about 4,000 people companywide, including about 900 in the Des Moines metro, he said.

Roughly one-third of the layoffs are in New York and another third are elsewhere in the country.

Slusark said the layoffs are spread throughout the company and aren’t concentrated in one particular publication or division. Some layoffs were effective immediately and some will take effect as projects are completed.

The round of layoffs strikes a familiar tune. In 2012, the Meredith laid off 80 people, including 25 in Des Moines, after the company acquired a slew of publications and added more than 350 employees.