The corporate media industrial complex—effectively serving as PR arms for major corporations, governments, NGOs, and billionaires—has endured a brutal decade of structural decline. Trust in legacy media has collapsed to historic lows, while audience fragmentation continues to accelerate. Despite already aggressive consolidation, the world of journalism remains locked in a prolonged contraction with no clear bottom in sight. In contrast, alternative media outlets, X platform, and podcasters are gaining tremendous market share, driven by a growing demand for decentralized, unfiltered journalism grounded in authenticity and transparency.

Axios reported the latest wave of media layoffs Thursday morning—this time at Business Insider. Sara Fischer shared an internal memo from BI CEO Barbara Peng, announcing cuts that will affect approximately 21% of the staff across all departments. The layoffs are part of a broader transformation strategy aimed at building a leaner, more focused, and AI-driven newsroom.

"As we shared during our April All-Hands, we are going all-in on AI — and we're off to a strong start," Fischer told stafff, adding, "Over 70% of Business Insider employees are already using Enterprise ChatGPT regularly (our goal is 100%), and we're building prompt libraries and sharing everyday use cases that help us work faster, smarter, and better."

Peng's key points for the restructuring:

What are the immediate changes? 

German media conglomerate Axel Springer SE owns BI. It acquired a majority stake in 2015 for $343 million and increased its holdings in 2018 to bring ownership to a complete 100%.

Axel Springer's portfolio includes other outlets such as Politico, Bild, Die Welt, and other media brands. 

The timing of the BI's restructuring is very suspicious, given that the DOGE team has canceled Politico's USAID funding. 

Elon Musk has previously stated, "I don't think Business Insider is a real publication." 

Remember BI's hit piece on Dave Portnoy's "rough sex" ...