CoinDesk, a crypto media business owned by Digital Currency Group, is reducing its workforce, according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch.
“Several roles, predominantly in our media team, were impacted by a reduction in force,” Kevin Worth, CEO of CoinDesk wrote in the note.
Update: After publication, TechCrunch learned that the layoffs impact 16% of the company’s staff.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the media organization was nearing a deal to be sold to a group of investors for $125 million. The investment is led by Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6, according to people close to the matter, WSJ said. The deal is expected to be finished in the coming weeks.
“This was a required step to ensure a financially sound business moving forward and to set us on the path to close the deal to sell CoinDesk, Inc.,” Worth added in the email.
TechCrunch reached out to CoinDesk for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
CoinDesk is well known across the crypto space for its coverage, receiving mainstream attention in late 2022 for breaking the story on crypto exchange FTX’s shaky balance sheet (which caused a ripple effect and, shortly after, the crypto exchange’s downfall).
The news group was founded in 2013 and was later sold to DCG for $500,000 in 2016. Aside from CoinDesk, DCG is the parent company of Grayscale Investments, Foundry, Genesis and Luno.