Finally, some good news from all this Chink Virus hysteria.
[Awful Announcing] - There have been plenty of layoffs and furloughs at various sports media outlets amidst the revenue downturns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest furloughs come from Vox Media (parent company to SB Nation and Banner Society on the sports side). Anthony Ha of TechCrunch writes that the company is furloughing 9 percent of its total employees for three months beginning May 1, including editorial staff at SB Nation and Curbed:
In a staff memo obtained by TechCrunch (and others), CEO Jim Bankoff outlined several cost-cutting measures but no outright layoffs.
The measures including furloughing 9% of employees from May 1 to July 31. Bankoff said this will include some employees in sales, sales support, production, events, IT and office operations, along with editorial staff at SB Nation and Curbed. He also said affected employees will retain their company health insurance during this period.
In addition, the company is freezing wages through the end of 2020, pausing its 401K match, reducing hours for 1% of employees and cutting salaries during the same three-month furlough period for employees making more than $130,000 per year — the cuts start at 15%, with Bankoff and Vox Media President Pam Wasserstein taking a 50% salary reduction. You know it's bad when a major executive takes a haircut like that. |