It sounds like a conspiracy, but I’ve noticed it too. Lol.

If you break down Tim Denning's $60,000 earnings from one article into 6,000 chunks of $10 and redistribute it to 6,000 writers, here's what happens: Tim quits, Medium loses $5, but Medium gains 6,000 new subscribers and earns $30,000.

But honestly, I think this is what Medium wants. They seem to prefer amplifying smaller voices rather than just shining the spotlight on big-name writers.