Massive Daily News staff cuts Monday: sources

THE

fast-spreading rumor inside the Daily News is that Jim Rich is out as editor, bringing to an end his short-lived return engagement at the troubled tabloid as staffchopping is set to get underway.

Rich, who only returned to the job in late January, was said to be on vacation in Virginia and did not return e-mails.

Tronc was not commenting. But staff who sit near the newsroom entrance have been told about the added security for Monday and Tuesday, according to an insider.

The word is that after a lengthy meeting with Tronc executives last Thursday, Rich balked at making the sweeping cuts that management was demanding.

The paper lost close to $30 million last year. And this year, all newspapers are wrestling with newsprint price spikes of up to 30 percent, further compounding the financial woes for the teetering tabloid that Tronc took over for only $1 last September.

The word is that the cuts are going to be severe — up to 30 percent in a newsroom that has already shrunk to about 85 staffers in recent years, sources say. One blogger, on a site called Study Hall, was claiming Thursday that the cuts could reach up to 70 percent.

However, Tronc may have a secret plan up its sleeve, sources tell Media Ink. Toss out the high-priced veterans and replace them with a younger lowcost digital staff in both Jersey City and Manhattan.

Surprisingly, as news of the looming bloodbath was rattling nerves in the News downtown offices, a posting on the Tronc corporate job site on Thursday said the company “is looking to hire a Senior Recruiter for our Jersey City and New York City offices. In this role, you’ll serve as a consultant to our hiring managers in order to help meet the strategic talent acquisition needs of our business. This person will coordinate the recruitment process with hiring leaders and specialize in the digital recruitment process.”

If the rumors about Rich’s departure prove true — and sources say it will be revealed with the other cuts early next week — the obvious built-in interim replacement would be former Chicago Sun-Times editor Jim Kirk, who has been at Tronc since the Chicago tabloid was sold in August 2017.

He was interim editor of the News for less than two weeks in January before being dispatched to the LA Times as interim editor. He was there until June following the sale of the paper to Dr. Patrick SoonShiong and the naming of Norm Pearlstine as editor.

Kirk could not be reached for comment in recent days. A Tronc spokeswoman did not return several e-mails over several days on the matter.

Altered suitors

At least three potential suitors for Sports Illustrated are believed to have dropped out of the hunt, making the buyout group that includes motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert the apparent front-runner.

Three other suitors, including Jay Penske’s Penske Media, talent agency William Morris Endeavor and The Hill owner Jimmy Finkelstein, are said to have dropped out of the running, sources said.

The Robbins-Gilbert team is led by Joshua Pollock with backing from Raine Capital and Abry Partners. The group is also looking to buy Fortune and Money. A spokeswoman for Robbins confirmed his ongoing interest.

Meanwhile, one of the rumored suitors for Time magazine is said to be private equity firm TPG.

That’s the same firm that pumped $450 million into Vice Media in 2017 and last year attempted to team up with Graydon Carter to try and buy half of Vanity Fair from Condé Nast.

TPG declined to comment.

Hearst heir

Troy Young, the president of Hearst Magazines Digital Media, is being flagged by some insiders as the front-runner to succeed incumbent David Carey, who announced plans to step down at year end.

Carey’s other top lieutenants in the company that publishes Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and Town & Country are Michael Clinton, the president of marketing, and Joanna Coles, the onetime Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief — now the company’s first-ever chief content officer. But for various reasons, neither is seen as contending for the job. Clinton was passed over for the top job eight year ago, but turned into a trusted ally of Carey’s and was rewarded with a seat on the family-owned company’s board of directors. Coles has a seat on the board of Snap Inc. and a role as executive producer of the TV drama “The Bold Type” and a new book, “Love Rules: How to Find a Real Relationship in a Digital World,” but is seen more as an editorial and creative steward. Young, a former president of Say Media, has spent the past five years firing up Hearst’s digital efforts and, in 2015, was named Adweek’s Magazine Executive of the Year. Hearst declined to comment on the hunt, but one source said that Hearst is quietly telling some of its top editors that the job is going to Young. Young, Clinton and Coles declined to comment.