Multiple reports indicate that The Daily Wire has shut down its kids programming and has laid off a number of its employees.
A spokesman for The Daily Wire informed Will Sommer, a Senior Reporter for The Bulwark, confirmed a number of employees have been laid off.
The spokesman stated, “As part of our ongoing plan to better align resources with business priorities and growth areas, The Daily Wire has made the decision to streamline and in some cases, reduce some of our workforce. This decision was based on business needs and operational efficiencies. We are deeply grateful to our impacted employees for their contributions and are providing them with severance and career transition support. Our focus remains on delivering the highest-quality content and experiences to our subscribers while ensuring the long-term success of our business.”
On top of Sommer’s report, Breitbart reports that Kevin McCreary, the lead video editor at The Daily Wire’s kids department revealed he had been laid off in a now-deleted post on X.
The outlet reported that McCreary wrote, “The Daily Wire just laid off its entire kids department including myself. So….I’m free to work, if you got anything for me.”
In an explanation as to why he deleted the post, McCreary wrote, “I’ve deleted my former tweet because it was getting picked up by people using it to disparage my former employer. That is not my intent. I personally am just looking for work as a video editor. Thank you to those who have reached out offering me leads during this hard time.”
Other Daily Wire employees shared that they were laid off as well. Ethan Nicolle wrote on X, “Got the call today. My time at DailyWire and Bentkey has come to an end. I wish we could have created so much more but I was treated very generously by DW and will be forever grateful for the job.”
“It’s scary not having the regular paycheck and security of a staff job but I’m excited to reacquire the fire that joblessness puts under my ass. It’s always led to bigger and better things. I’m thankful for this period of my life and looking forward to the next. Hopefully I can get through this without too much stress eating,” he added.
Eric Branscum also reported, “Same for me. But getting to co-create a show, act as head writer, write on another show, develop a different show of my own, and help get the entire streaming service off the ground was a wild ride that I'm incredibly grateful for. I'd do it all again! Now onto the next thing!”
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Back in 2022, The Daily Wire announced it was going to invest $100 million into children’s entertainment. The company informed Axios that it would spend “a minimum of $100 million” over the course of the next three years.
Axios also reported at the time that the company had its “12-month revenue hit $100 million for the first time in January 2022, up from roughly $65 million for the full year in 2020.”
These layoffs come about two weeks after co-CEO Jeremy Boreing announced he was stepping down from that position and would move into an advisor role working on creative endeavors such as The Pendragon Cycle.
On March 18th, The Daily Wire and Boreing announced he was stepping down. In a press release, Boreing said, “When Ben, Caleb, and I founded The Daily Wire in 2015, we set out to build an institution. I’m enormously proud of our team, of our many battles, and of the successes we’ve achieved together over the last decade. And we’re just getting started.”
“To get us to the heights we know we can achieve, we have brought in a world-class executive team that I am confident will thrive in taking us to the next level under Caleb’s ongoing leadership while I turn my full attention to creative and entertainment ventures for the company.”
What do you make of The Daily Wire shutting down their kids programming and announcing layoffs?
...Don't know why so many folks on the right side of the aisle seem almost gleeful about DW having troubles. Why? They do great work!
Bentkey isn't gone, I just checked. But they are apparently asking folks to put in $1 to try it out, where it used to just be part of a membership.
Me, I'll still support a company that does good things, and that's Daily Wire.
They can always ask AIPAC for more money.