Boston Globe Retooling Boston.Com, Slashing Staff

Boston, MA - As its digital strategy continues to shift, The Boston Globe's owner is shaking things up again, pivoting its boston.com news site, and offering buyouts as it changes.

The boston.com domain has undergone extensive changes in leadership and strategy in the past few years, as it seeks to find its place next to the paper's main page. To observers, and even to many within the paper itself, the secondary site's role has become increasingly unclear.

In a newsroom memo published by Universal Hub, boston.com general manager Eleanor Cleverly and digital operations head Anthony Bonfiglio say:

"The number one, long-term priority of our organization is to significantly grow our digital subscriber base at Globe.com. In order to do so, we need for our two sites to become more complementary in their day-to-day content and businesses.

Boston.com will continue to be the region's best free go-to site for things to do, where to live, what to drive, where to work, destinations for travel and so much more, while also evolving to more closely focus on the needs of our audiences in key demographic segments and advertisers who are trying to connect with our audiences. It will be the indispensable guide, resource, and forum for the region. Boston.com will also be a portal to news from The Boston Globe for millions of visitors every month."

Going forward, the company will differentiate boston.com from the bostonglobe.com news site by centering its content on "community-centered resources," rather than news, the memo said.

"A reorganization of the digital operation is under way. This will create fewer redundancies, increased collaboration, greater efficiency and cost savings across the company," the memo states.

As such, Boston Globe Media Partners is offering a voluntary buyout program for staff working "dedicated digital roles," likely including everyone at boston.com.

"For those of you who are staying as we move ahead, know that you will be part of a team of smart, collaborative, digital-first thinkers who will generate stories of great relevance and innovative products we can all be proud of. For those who choose to take this buyout, thank you for making our digital experience such an important part of our future," the memo said.

Patch will update this story.