Yahoo shuts down 7 digital magazines

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com): Yahoo is phasing out seven digital magazine properties, including those for food and travel, as part of the internet company’s cost-cutting moves.

On Wednesday, the company said it has begun phasing out seven digital magazines: Yahoo Food, Yahoo Health, Yahoo Parenting, Yahoo Makers, Yahoo Travel, Yahoo Autos and Yahoo Real Estate. Martha Nelson, Time Inc.’s top editorial exec who joined Yahoo as global editor-in-chief last fall, announced the closures in a blog post.

Earlier this month, Yahoo disclosed plans to lay off 15% of its workforce and said it would streamline its content around four areas – news, sports, finance and lifestyle. It also said it was exploring a potential sale. The company at the time said it would consolidate some of its digital magazines around the four vertical segments and shut others down.

A Yahoo rep declined to say how many employees will be laid off as a result of the digital magazine shutdowns.

For now, seven other Yahoo magazines – TV, Movies, Music, Beauty, Style, Celebrity and Tech – will remain in place. David Pogue, the former New York Times personal technology columnist, will continue at Yahoo Tech.

“As we make these changes, we acknowledge the talent and dedication of an extraordinary group of journalists who brought new and newsworthy content to Yahoo,” Nelson wrote. “While these Digital Magazines will no longer be published, you will continue to find the topics they covered, as well as style, celebrity, entertainment, politics, tech and much more across our network.”

The moves come after the company shut down Yahoo Screen, the video-aggregation service that had been home to original series such as the sixth season of ‘Community’ and licensed entertainment content.