Outside Inc layoffs

[maxim809]

I feel bad for the people who are left.

It's like your friends, colleagues, and comrades were stripped away from you. Somehow you were "lucky" and "saved", but, you know it'll never be same on the slightly more deserted island.

[TobinHatesYou]

Andy van Bergen, Jose Been, Kit Nicholson, Jonny Long and Iain Treloar have all resigned.

[maquisard]

Pretty clear that CyclingTips is dead. Very sad as it was a great website.

I suspect and hope there is work underway to restart CyclingTips under a new name. Same people, some great content, different name.

[itsacarr]

I read about Ian this evening but wasn't aware of the above. CT became gutted way faster than I expected. I feel for the few left.

[kervelo]

Andy van Bergen, Jose Been, Kit Nicholson, Jonny Long and Iain Treloar have all resigned.

So sad to hear this.

[maquisard]

Who now remains on the editorial side, Dave Everett, James Huang, Ronan McLaughlin and Abbey Skujins?

Outside really have handled this very badly. The damage done to the Outside brand is quite spectacular.

I suspect if Wade Wallace tries to reboot then Outside will try and go after him. However that would depend on how he left Cycling Tips, whether it was a simple resignation or if he had some sort of package which would most likely have an anti-competition clause in it for a period of years. Having said that - those are basically unenforceable.

[fa63]

Wade has said that he does not have a non-compete with Outside, just a non-solicitation. But as you mentioned, that is not really enforceable depending on where the new company may be based (such as Australia).

[maquisard]

Hard for Outside arguing solicitation of current CyclingTips staff when they layed off key staff members to begin with. The current round of resignations are a natural outcome of a company in decline. Have already noticed Velonews articles appearing on CyclingTips

[Butcher]

Hard to enforce a lot of contracts but you could make it real miserable with lawyers. Especially if you have them on staff and the other one is in the unemployment line.

[Karvalo]

Andy van Bergen, Jose Been, Kit Nicholson, Jonny Long and Iain Treloar have all resigned.

So sad to hear this.

Very much so. Iain in particular was probably not the best cycling writer around but IMO the best writer working in cycling journalism today, and his articles were a huge part of what made Cyclingtips a unique website to visit. From James Huang's social media I'd be aurprised if he stays much longer now. Outside is reaping the whirlwind, it seems but do they care?.

The damage done to the Outside brand is quite spectacular.

Unfortunately I doubt that's really true outside of this audience. CT, and even cycling as a whole are a tiny part of the Outside brand, and from what I understand they have significant form in this aquire/dilute/advertise to the max business model. It's one of those 'not a bug but a feature' deals for them.

[Stendhal]

Hard to enforce a lot of contracts but you could make it real miserable with lawyers. Especially if you have them on staff and the other one is in the unemployment line.

In most US jurisdictions, covenants not to compete are enforceable in a narrow context that would apply here: when one sells one's business. It's the context where the covenant makes sense. That being said, I'd be surprised if the covenant covered such a long time frame as to extend to today; CyclingTips was sold to Pinkbike in 2019 and the logic behind a covenant when you see a business does not extend indefinitely. (Pinkbike acquired it from Bike Exchange so Wade Wallace may have sold it earlier.). Lawyers know this and thus write covenants for short time periods, maybe 2 years at the most. Moreover, Wade did not sell CyclingTips to Outside; he already had sold it. What Wade surely could not do is use the CyclingTips name or something close enough to cause confusion.

FYI, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/covenant_not_to_compete

[ms6073]

I feel bad for the people who are left.

It's like your friends, colleagues, and comrades were stripped away from you. Somehow you were "lucky" and "saved", but, you know it'll never be same on the slightly more deserted island.

[TobinHatesYou]

Abby Mickey Skujina just resigned. Hopefully she gets her podcast back up and running without too many delays...it's more or less the only one truly covering women's racing in detail.

[jever98]

James Huang and Ronan Mc Laughlin seem about the only ones left?

[TobinHatesYou]

James Huang and Ronan Mc Laughlin seem about the only ones left?

Shoddy!