At 7:00am sharp on Thursday, Business Insider employees received a gut-punch of an email. Barbara Peng, the company's newish chief executive, informed staffers that 21% of the company would be laid off—a staggering reduction that impacted every department and marked the third major wave of cuts under Peng’s tenure.

The memo framed the layoffs as part of Peng's long-term strategy to overhaul the outlet. “This kind of transformation takes time—and it requires tough decisions along the way,” she wrote. Business Insider was becoming a leaner, more focused news organization that would move away from “traffic-sensitive businesses” and toward live events and original reporting.

But inside the newsroom, the rollout was messy and emotionally raw. Predictably, the Insider Union swiftly issued a blistering statement, excoriating management for the cuts. "It is unacceptable that union members and other talented coworkers are again paying the price for the strategic failures of Business Insider's leadership," the union said, blasting the outlet’s parent company Axel Springer for what it described as a "brazen pivot away from journalism toward greed."