Staff layoffs follow the sale of Creative Loafing Tampa

Creative Loafing Tampa, the “alt-weekly” news and arts publication that has served the bay area community for 30 years (also known, for a time, as Weekly Planet), has been sold to Ohio-based Euclid Media Company. Euclid’s media portfolio includes eight other such publications, including Orlando Weekly.

Creative Loafing was sold by Southcomm Inc., which put one of its flagship publications, Nashville Scene, on the market in January after making extensive cuts to the staff.

Euclid immediately laid off several key employees of Creative Loafing, including longtime editor-in-chief David Warner – at the helm since 2004 – news editor Kate Bradshaw, creative director Julio Ramos and account executives James Ostrand and Claire Sayetta.

The ax fell on Friday. “There were hugs and tears and lots of drinks at the Armature Works at the end of the day,” Warner wrote in a moving farewell column. “And a staff that was already small is now verging on minuscule.”

In a statement, Euclid CEO Michael Wagner looked towards the future. “Creative Loafing Tampa has established itself as a cultural institution and we are very proud to add their incredible and resilient staff to the Euclid family,” he said.

“We’re excited to continue to strengthen CL’s relationships and contributions in the community with engaging content, local marketing solutions and world class events.”