Former Los Angeles Times editor-in-chief Lewis D’Vorkin and dozens of other employees of Tronc Inc. were dismissed on Thursday.
The cuts, which were made in a joint meeting with all the laid off employees present, included Tribune Interactive’s Los Angeles-based video and online content teams, which operate separately from the Los Angeles Times. No information on the total number of layoffs was immediately available.
D’Vorkin was the chief content officer of Tribune Interactive. In a story in the Los Angeles Times on the layoffs, D’Vorkin said his “heart just wasn’t in” Tribune Interactive’s plans.
“In discussions with the company that were going on for a while, finally I said, ‘You know, it’s time for me to move on and explore new ventures that take me back to my entrepreneurial roots,'” he said in the story. “Those are the things that are appealing to me.”
Tronc, based in Chicago, did not immediately comment on the layoffs.
The layoffs continue the upheaval at the paper, which has seen its publisher, Ross Levinsohn (the man who hired D’Vorkin as Los Angeles Times editor-in-chief last October) placed on unpaid leave after allegations of sexual misconduct. He was later cleared and made chief executive of Tribune Interactive.
The Los Angeles Times newsroom voted in January to join a union. However, the unions were concerned that a shadow newsroom was being built with certain hires by the business side.
Tronc has entered into an agreement to sell The Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune to L.A. biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. That deal is expected to close this month.
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