Who owns Sports Illustrated? Reports of layoffs explored

Popular publication Sports Illustrated announced mass layoffs yesterday. This comes after the renowned news outlet struggled to gain traction online.

According to Newsweek, Sports Illustrated is not only laying off a huge portion of employees but also plans to terminate the employment of all of its staff. The Sports Illustrated Union and The NewsGuild of New York released a joint statement recently announcing that the company’s employees were notified prior to the public address.

The decision to lay off was made by Authentic Brands Group, who had revoked “Arena’s license to publish SI.” This comes after Arena Group failed to pay ABG $3.75 million, which breached their agreement.

The website also reported that the drastic decision comes after the print magazine struggled to find ground in the digital media landscape.

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Sports Illustrated is owned by Authentic Brands Group

According to Times Now News, the renowned publication was bought by Authentic Brands Group in 2018 for $110 million. Although they owned the magazine, The Arena Group held responsibility for the content.

According to the Sports Illustrated Union, several Guild members will be given 90 days' notice. Other employees will be let go immediately. According to Front Office Sports, an email was sent to the SI staff about the layoffs, which read,

“Some employees will be terminated immediately and paid in lieu of the applicable notice period under the [union contract]. Employees with a last working day of today will be contacted by the People team soon. Other employees will be expected to work through the end of the notice period, and will receive additional information shortly.”

Details about how many employees were laid off immediately remained unclear at the time of writing this article.

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Sports Illustrated's previous controversies explored

Conservative critics claim that Kim Petras’ SI cover must have also played a role in the possible shutdown of the publication. However, it is worth noting that official sources have not confirmed the same.

Petras graced the SI Swimsuit Edition cover in May after winning a Grammy for the song Unholy with Sam Smith. Speaking about her enthusiasm to be the cover model for the publication, she said last year,

“I was so excited when I got the call to be in Sports Illustrated… it’s very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before… so [it was a] big dream come true for me.”

Speaking about the edition, the SI Swimsuit Editor-In-Chief said,

“There is no theme [to this year’s issue]- rather, there is a vision, a sentiment, a hope that women can live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally and externally”

The magazine was also accused of publishing computer-generated content. However, SI denied the accusations. According to sources, the controversy reportedly led to The Arena Group terminating the company's CEO, Ross Levinsohn.