NEW YORK (Reuters) – Vox Media, the owner of New York magazine, on Friday announced it is furloughing 9% of its workers in an effort to cut spending as the company’s revenues face the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The action will affect about 100 workers from May through July. About 1% of its workers will work under reduced hours and the company will have tiered pay cuts.
Media companies are squeezed for cash and cutting costs as advertising takes a major hit during the pandemic caused by the coronavirus.
Vox Media said it will continue to pay health insurance premiums for its furloughed employees.
Vox Media Chief Executive Jim Bankoff said in the letter to employees that the cancellations of the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and the March Madness college basketball tournament and the collapse of advertising impacted the company’s revenue in the first quarter.
“The impact will be significantly greater in the second quarter,” Bankoff said in the letter.
Bankoff and with Vox President Pam Wasserstein are taking 50% pay cuts. The company is also halting all pay increases until the end of 2020.
The Los Angeles Times notified readers that it will stop publishing three community newspapers – the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader and La Caada Valley Sun – by the end of April.
Among other newspaper publisheers, the McClatchy Co
(Reporting by Arriana McLymore; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
