About 200 employees, the most of whom were employed in Hearst Magazines’ recognizable Midtown Manhattan offices, have been let go by the publisher of Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Esquire.
The union that represents thousands of media professionals, the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), reported the news outlet W42ST that 197 persons were laid off in total, 67 of them belonged to the Hearst Union bargaining unit.
The union also informed W42ST that the “most affected workers are based at Hearst Tower,” which is located on the West Side of Manhattan between 8th Avenue and 57th Street.
The 46-story, approximately 600-foot-tall Hearst Tower is a triangular glass skyscraper built by Norman Foster that is renowned for its streamlined, eco-friendly design.
The historic Hearst Magazine Building, whose front was named a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1988, was the site of the tower’s 2006 construction.
The company’s president, Debi Chirichella, sent out a message to staff members last week informing them of the layoffs.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chirichella wrote in the email, “After a thorough review of our business, we’ve decided to reallocate resources to better support our goals and continue our focus on digital innovation while strengthening our best in class print products.”
“We will scale back in areas that do not support our core strategy and will eliminate certain positions as we reimagine our team structures to drive long-term growth.”
How many staff and which departments would be impacted were not specified by Chirichella in the message.
In an announcement released on Wednesday, WGAE executive director Sam Wheeler said, “Today, the consistently anti-union Hearst Magazines became the latest media company to enact needless, irresponsible, and cruel layoffs of editorial employees.”
“Until Hearst and the rest of the media industry recognize that the workers are the most valuable part of their companies and brands, they will continue their race to the bottom with no one to blame but themselves,” he continued.
The most recent indication of danger in the publishing and magazine industries is the layoffs. Condé Nast, a competitor of Hearst, declared a year ago that it will lay off 270 workers, or 5% of its staff. This decision will impact magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and GQ.
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Time magazine declared in January that 15% of its editorial staff would be let go.
