But it turns out the permits were not enough, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff said in a staff memo, obtained by CNN Business.
“Our hope in May was that the business would recover in the following months,” Bankoff wrote. “As we discussed in the hands of last week, it is becoming increasingly clear that the second half of the year will not recover near our pre-COVID forecast. Also, as cases are tragically rising across the country and many of our Elected leaders avoid decisive action decisions, we have very limited visibility at the time or the strength of a recovery. “
“However, with the full strength of the Vox Media Union behind us, the committees were able to drive management and ensure that their company would fire fewer people than originally planned,” said Vox Media union. “We were also able to ensure that the company’s additional cost-saving measures did not result in salary reductions or leave for members of our unit.”
The New York media union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When the permits were announced in April, Bankoff said Vox missed its “multi-million dollar revenue targets in the first quarter,” citing factors such as “SXSW and March Madness cancellations, the collapse of travel, sports and fashion-related advertising. ” “
But the much-feared layoffs never materialized, as Bankoff wrote in his memo Thursday.
“Neither today’s permits nor actions were contemplated prior to this pandemic,” Bankoff wrote. “In fact, as I mentioned earlier, when we merged with New York Media last year, we did everything we could to avoid layoffs, and as a result, we were the only recent media merger to keep its teams intact.”
Bankoff said Vox Media expects these layoffs “to be sufficient to withstand this recession and uncertainty, without the need for significant additional measures.” While temporary salary cuts for employees have been removed, Bankoff said their salary and salaries for their executive teams will still be cut.
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