Mashable cuts staff as it shifts focus from politics and world news

Mashable founder and CEO Pete Cashmore (pictured above) announced layoffs today in a company-wide email that he also posted on LinkedIn. As part of the cuts, Executive Editor Jim Roberts and Chief Revenue Officer Seth Robin will be leaving the company.

Politico reports that the layoffs affected about 30 staffers, including its entire political reporting team, plus “most of its global news desk and about half of its editorial video team.”

The news comes just a week after Mashable announced it had raised $15 million in a round led by Turner Broadcasting. Turns out the two stories are connected. Cashmore wrote:

Last week we announced a funding round to put Mashable on
 more platforms, including television. This new focus means we have to
 change the way our teams are organized, and involved some very tough
 decisions. While such decisions are part of running a business, they are never easy. Change can often be hard, but we’re certain this is the right direction for Mashable.

More specifically, he said as Mashable moves to TV and streaming video, it no longer makes sense to cover world news and politics separately, rather than from a digital-specific angle: “We’ll spend more time focusing on 
our core coverage — technology, web culture, science, social media,
 entertainment, business and lifestyle, all told through the digital 
lens.”