The president of ABC News appeared to be reading from a script as he notified the 15 employees at data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight that they were out of a job — even though the staffers learned of their fate the night before from a Wall Street Journal article, according to a report.
Almin Karamehmedovic took no questions and offered no explanations as to why corporate parent Disney decided to shut down the site made famous by founder Nate Silver, according to the Status newsletter.
“He simply thanked the employees for their work, told them a human resources staffer would follow up, and ended the meeting,” Status newsletter author Oliver Darcy wrote on Thursday.
“The entire affair, I’m told, lasted about 15 minutes.”
Shortly afterward, the FiveThirtyEight staffers had their access to ABC News systems cut off and the site was no longer accessible on the internet, according to Status.
FiveThirtyEight is being shut down as part of widespread layoffs at ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks.
The job cuts, announced to staff on Wednesday, will affect approximately 200 employees, making up about six percent of the total workforce across the two divisions.
Most of the layoffs are concentrated at ABC News, with a significant number of impacted employees based in New York.
In addition to FiveThirtyEight’s closure, ABC News is restructuring some of its programming.
The long-form units, including “20/20” and “Nightline,” will now be consolidated under a single leadership structure.
Meanwhile, all three hours of Good Morning America are set to be overseen by Simone Swink, bringing the third hour under the same leadership as the rest of the morning show.
Seni Tienabeso has also taken on a new role as vice president overseeing ABC News Live and other specialized units.
Catherine McKenzie, the executive producer of “GMA3,” the show’s third hour, was let go as part of the layoffs that were announced by network boss Almin Karamehmedovic, according to the Status newsletter.
Although FiveThirtyEight will cease operations, ABC News plans to continue providing political data analysis and polling coverage across its platforms.
However, it remains unclear whether G. Elliott Morris, the site’s editorial director of data analytics, will remain with the network or what will become of FiveThirtyEight’s vast collection of data.
“As reported, the entire staff of 538 was laid off this morning,” Morris wrote on his social media page.
“This is a severe blow to political data journalism, and I feel for my colleagues. Readers note: As we were instructed not to publish any new content, all planned updates to polls data and averages are canceled indefinitely. Huge loss :(”
Nate Silver, who left the site in 2023 amid an earlier round of layoffs, also reacted to the news with disappointment. “Oh geez, I just saw the news about 538,” he wrote.
“My heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better.”
ABC News staffers told Status that the layoffs were akin to a “massacre.” According to the newsletter, employees were visibly crying and upset as they roamed the hallways of the company’s Manhattan offices on Wednesday.
“It’s a very somber scene in the building—people crying and upset. Lots of panicked phone calls between staffers trying to make sense of it,” one staffer told Status.
Another compared it to the hit show “Squid Game.”
“You just feel like you’ve made it to level seven of ‘Squid Games’ at this point if you’ve survived,” the staffer said.
Disney Entertainment Networks, which oversees Disney Channel, FX, and Freeform, is also seeing staff reductions in planning and scheduling, though exact numbers remain unclear.
Meanwhile, ABC’s digital editorial and social teams will be integrated with news gathering, shows, and the company’s owned stations.
The Post has sought comment from ABC News and Disney.
