Artsy Lays Off Eight in Content Sales, Editorial -ARTnews

ARTSY

Artsy, the multi-pronged online art startup, has laid off eight employees, with the cuts coming predominantly in the firm’s content-sales unit, which handles various forms of brand partnerships. Two of the eliminated positions were in the editorial department.

Simon Warren, Artsy’s senior director of communications, said the layoffs were part of the company’s efforts to focus on its art marketplace, which is “an increasingly meaningful source of revenue and key area of growth for our business.”

“A very modest single-digit reduction in our workforce will help support this increased investment in our marketplace . . . as well as our continued investment in Artsy’s editorial platform,” Warren said in an email. In all, the startup, which is headquartered in Lower Manhattan, employees about 230.

The moves come about a month after Sebastian Cwilich said that he would step down as president and COO later this year and transition to an advisory role.

When his departure was announced, Cwilich told the Art Newspaper that he was “leaving on a high,” and Artsy reported big jumps in users, gallery partners, and sales in 2018 versus the year prior.

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