Locally based digital media firm slashes jobs

ST. PETERSBURG — The Penny Hoarder, a St. Petersburg-based personal finance website, announced job cuts Wednesday.

The layoffs come on the heels of years of strong growth for the company, founded by Kyle Taylor, an entrepreneur who struggled with college and credit card debt and launched the site as a blog that shared his money-saving tips.

In 2015, the privately owned company generated $7.55 million in revenue; that number grew to $37 million in 2017, and the company moved into spacious new headquarters in the Tampa Bay Times building in downtown St. Pete. It also launched a partnership with the Times that saw “Dear Penny,” a Penny Hoarder advice column, appear in the newspaper.

While the firm did not specify how many workers had been let go, more than a dozen former Penny Hoarder employees tweeted about the layoffs — offering their video, writing and editorial skills to potential new employers. One person tweeted that the company went from about 100 to 50 employees.  

“The Penny Hoarder has always been an independent, bootstrapped company, and we intend for it to continue to be,” Taylor says in a statement. “We’ve had to make difficult decisions to better position and re-organize ourselves for the future, including the reduction of our team.”

Taylor, who serves as CEO of the company, did not provide specific reasons for the job cuts, but alluded to the media industry being “in a state of great change.”

He adds, via the statement, “We’ve made choices to better position ourselves for the future. We have full confidence in our continued ability to serve our audience and grow our business. Our primary focus right now is to take care of our team members both who have exited, and those who remain. We’re committed to ensuring these talented individuals have every opportunity to land on their feet. The Penny Hoarder is offering severance benefits and outplacement services to help make personal transitions as smooth as possible.”