New York Mag staff fears Vox will swing ax

A town hall meeting called by New York Media chief executive Pam Wasserstein on Wednesday failed to quell unrest in the rank and file following the sale to Vox Media.

Wasserstein and Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff had pl꧙edged that there would be no layoffs at the company — which owns New York Magazine and various websites — but few media observers think that is possible.

“Nobody on edit believes that there won’t be business/ꦉtech/production-side layoffs,” said one staffer. “Seems like that is a way to save money.”

Thꦛe Wall Street Journal said sources estimated New York Media lost more than $15 million last year. There was also worry that Vox would one day close the print version of New York Magazine, which cut back from weekly to 𝕴every other week in 2014.

“I hope it continues because it binds the brand together,” the stཧaffer said. “Once you kill it, you can’t restart it — it’s🔴 dead forever.”

And there was lingering resentment that Wasserstein and Bankoff sat down for an on-the-record interview and photo shoot with the New York Times long before Wasserstein told the staff that they had been sold at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday. The NewsGuild of New Y🐼ork said workers were “deeply unsettled by the disrespectful manner in which th𝓡ey informed our staff.”

“That was a great spin it got in the Times,” sಞaid one source, who added that the photo of Bankoff and Wasserstein accompanying the story on the web on Tuesday “made it look like they were getting married.”

“If it was such a great deal, why would you sell it for all ��sto𝓰ck and no cash?” the source said.

The source expects there to be overlap and potential for layoffs. The source points out that Vox’s Eater and New York Media’s Grub Street seem 🃏to fall into the same🎀 niche, as do NYM’s Science of Us and Vox’s science site, The Verge.

“How can they not let 🍌people go?” asked the source, who also speculated that Vox would be less inclined to keep the print publication going than the Wasserstein family trust that has owned it since the sudden death of fina♌ncier Bruce Wasserstein — who paid $55 million to buy it in 2003.

New York Media will have 12 percent꧃ of the Vox Media stock after the deal closes, according to the Journal, which said the stock transaction values the deal at $105 million. It pegg෴ed Vox’s valuation at $750 million, down from $1 billion four years ago.

David Haskell, who succeeded the legendary Adam Moss as editor-in-chief earlier this year, took another stab at🌳 reassuring his restless staff in a memo Thursday.

“I really appreciated the frank conversations and look forward to more of them,” said Haskell. “One thing I’d like to mention, and make sure you’re not worried about: after the close of the deal with Vox Media, the combined company will of course recognize and bargain with our NewsGuild unit. As Pam mentioned in her note Tuesday night, Vox Media’s editorial employees have an agreement with Writers Guild of America, East, that was ratified earlier this yeaওr.”

New York Media’s 185 full-time and part-time staffers opted to unionize in December, but have not hammered out a contract yet. After 14 months, Writers Guild wrapped up its sometimes-contentious ne൲gotiations with management in June, in a deal that expires 🎃in 2022.