Artnet Cuts Dozens of Jobs as Artsy Merger Reshapes the Company
Artnet has laid off dozens of employees as it moves under shared leadership with Artsy, with sources saying the cuts landed hardest in its editorial operation and in Berlin, where staff support the company’s online art sales business. The changes arrive at a moment of deep restructuring for one of the art market’s most closely watched digital platforms.
According to people familiar with the matter, Artnet News was especially affected. Andrew Russeth, who previously served as executive editor of is expected to become interim editor of Artnet News. The Berlin team involved in facilitating Artnet’s sales efforts was also impacted, those sources said.
A spokesperson for Artnet and Artsy confirmed that layoffs took place at both companies, but declined to specify how many employees were let go or which departments were most affected. In a joint statement, the companies said the changes were part of “bringing Artsy and Artnet together as one company” and creating “one go-forward team,” adding that Artnet’s German entity is being wound down as a separate business decision. They said affected employees would receive severance and support.
The layoffs follow a prolonged period of financial strain at Artnet. The company’s CEO resigned abruptly in September of last year ahead of a general meeting, after Beowolff Capital, the British investment firm run by Andrew Evan Wolff, acquired a controlling stake. At the time, Wolff said the digital art market was “ripe for accelerated innovation.” In May of last year, Artnet was valued at 65 million euros.
The latest leadership shift came yesterday, when Jeffrey Yin, CEO of Artsy, was also appointed to lead Artnet. In a statement, Yin said the two companies now had “the chance to do something unprecedented” by connecting galleries, auction houses, collectors, and institutions on a single platform. The announcement said nothing would change for partners or users, though it offered little detail about how the combined workforce would be organized.
The companies said they draw 7 million monthly visitors in more than 190 countries, underscoring the scale of the platform even as its internal structure is being pared back. For the art market, the consolidation signals a new phase in the competition to control how art is discovered, sold, and reported online.
