Editorial and commercial staff on the Standard website have been told they could be transferred to the owner of The Independent.
Evening Standard Limited (ESL) would continue to publish its weekly print newspaper.
Standard staff on Tuesday were told the proposed outsourcing of the website to Independent Media will take effect from 1 March. However contract negotiations remain ongoing.
Staff were invited to apply for voluntary redundancy with a deadline of next Monday (26 January) at 9am.
If they do not apply for VR, but they object to being transferred to The Independent under TUPE (which protects employees’ rights when they transfer to a new employer), then their employment would end on 1 March without any redundancy or notice payment.
Standard CEO Tamar Riley, who has led the business since July last year, told staff that the business is “in discussions” with Independent Media to “expand our existing relationship to incorporate additional aspects of The Standard’s digital operations, including digital content and commercial activity”.
Lord Evgeny Lebedev is the controlling shareholder of the Standard and is also the largest single shareholder of The Independent. Both businesses are based in the same London building.
In March 2024 The Independent took over the running of Buzzfeed UK, including Huffpost UK, in a multi-year licensing deal.
In the memo to staff, seen by Press Gazette, Riley said: “Independent Media has a proven track record in building and growing successful digital businesses. Closer collaboration between Independent Media and The Standard would present opportunities to further strengthen and enhance our digital operations.
“We will continue to maintain our current print product and core ESL print team, while further optimising the product to better align with client and audience needs, supported by a cost structure that future-proofs the business.”
Riley added that the “focus is to create a structure that: strengthens our audience and commercial proposition; upholds the quality and integrity of The Standard’s journalism; supports our people; positions the organisation for sustainable long-term growth”.
Independent Media CEO Christian Broughton said in an email to Independent staff on Tuesday: “Independent Media has supported The Standard’s digital operations for many years, and we are now in discussions about the potential to broaden our partnership.
“We are uniquely positioned to draw on a range of expertise and experience: we have a 10-year track record of consistent profitability and growth in digital, we have invested in our Studio business (podcasts, social video and newsletters) and proprietary AI tools, and we have successfully taken the BuzzFeed brands – including Tasty and HuffPost – into profitability in the UK and Ireland.
“So we are excited to explore how we can connect audiences and partners with the Standard’s trusted, differentiated, high-quality journalism, combining our innovation, infrastructure and creativity with the globally renowned Standard brand.”
The Evening Standard closed its daily print edition in September 2024 and now puts out a weekly title on Thursdays with more of a magazine feel. Around 150 staff were believed to have been made redundant (of which around 70 were in editorial) with the end of the daily edition.
A Standard insider, who asked to remain anonymous, told Press Gazette they understood the Standard currently has a staff of about 75 people and a core team of about 25 will be retained to work on the print edition. The rest would either transfer to The Independent or leave the business.
Press Gazette understands a list of 38 editorial staff who will transfer to The Independent if they do not choose to apply for voluntary redundancy has been circulated internally.
The insider said they believed “the beginning of the end” for the Standard began when former Conservative chancellor George Osborne became editor in 2017 and “alienated half of London”. “But the real end began with the pandemic and things never got better.”
They noted that the Standard has not had an editor for more than a year since Dylan Jones stepped down, as chief content officer Anna van Praagh has been acting editor. Before former GQ editor Jones joined in May 2023, the Standard editor’s chair had similarly sat empty for more than a year and a half.
The source added: “There’s no strategy for the website. The clicks on the website are entirely random, driven by Google News and Google Discover.” They said traffic is largely dependent on sport news about Arsenal and Chelsea.
“So it is not a surprise that essentially the game’s up for the Standard website under its current guise but it’s still come as a shock and a lot of people are very upset and frightened by what’s been announced.”
The Independent runs the fourth biggest news website in the UK, with a UK audience of 20.7 million people in November (behind BBC News, The Sun and The Guardian).
The Standard’s website has a monthly audience of 10.7 million, putting it in 16th place on Press Gazette top 50 ranking of UK news online news publishers.
The Independent has a higher level of engagement (eight minutes per person on average versus five for the Standard) and recorded 167.6 million total UK audience minutes in November versus 49.3 million.
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