NYPost Publisher Tells Staff That Its Business Is ‘Drastically Disrupted’

The publisher of The NY Post said its business had been “drastically disrupted” by the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis, according to The Daily Beast.

During a series of calls with staffers on Wednesday, New York Post publisher Sean Giancola, announced that the company will take significant cost-cutting measures to keep the publication afloat following the “significant decrease in the advertising demand,” as business closures have shrunk budgets.

People familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast that more than a dozen staffers were laid off. “The paper is dying,” said one staffer who was axed.

Over the past several weeks, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Post has told its part-time staff of “runners”—the street reporters who feed copy back to the newsroom—that they would be receiving months-long furloughs without pay until the crisis was over. The team that works on the paper’s luxury supplement Alexa were also furloughed last Friday alongside a number of staffers from the sports department.

But in Wednesday’s meeting, Giancola said the Post would take a number of additional steps. The publication plans to freeze all new hiring, cut and even eliminate most freelance budgets, and lay off staff. And while the publisher said that he planned on bringing back furloughed staff after several months, he said he could not guarantee further layoffs in the near future.

“I would be remiss if I wasn’t honest with everyone and say the future is very uncertain in media and in business, and that could change,” Giancola said, noting the Post did not have immediate plans for more layoffs.

The Post’s top competitor, The New York Daily News, last week announced furloughs while other staffers were earlier hit with pay cuts of between 2-10% for any employee earning $67,000 or more.