Medium CEO Ev Williams, also co-founder of Twitter, announced Wednesday that they will be laying off 50 employees in non-engineering role and closing its New York and Washington, D.C., offices. "While we could continue on our current path  —  and there is a business case for doing so  —  we decided that we risk failing on our larger, original mission if we don’t make some proactive changes while we have the momentum and resources to do so" Williams wrote that the site was being supported by an ad-driven model, which was a break from the innovative media platform it is striving to be. Despite the bum news, Williams said Medium grew in popularity as a product last year, with 300 percent growth in readers and published posts.