End of road looming for Daily News drivers

UNIONIZED delivery truck drivers may be nearing the end of their run at the troubled Daily News.

A tipster tells Media Ink that the Newspaper Mailers and Deliverers Union, which has a contract with the troubled tabloid that runs until the end of 2020, is trying to work a deal for drivers that would offer a mid sixfigure buyout to each driver, in exchange for ending the contract early.

The deal being floated would essentially allow Tronc to phase out its 125 drivers over the next 18 months and would seem to hasten a big scale-back in print at the 99year-old daily in favor of digital, according to our source.

The move would mean a one-time charge against earnings in the tens of millions of dollars, according to one estimate. But Tronc has cash on the balance sheet after selling off the LA Times and San Diego Union Tribune for $500 million in June.

The last time the drivers’ contract was up for renewal in 2015, the News’s then-publisher, William

Holiber, threatened that if the drivers did not accept the last, best and final offer from the struggling daily — still owned at the time by real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman — the company would move immediately to convert to an all-digital format.

Zuckerman sold it to Chicagobased Tronc for $1 and the assumption of pension and other liabilities last September. The paper is still estimated to be losing close to $30 million a year.

The current move by the truckers union is seen as one that anticipates the eventuality that the Daily News will go all-digital.

Meanwhile, Grant Whitmore, the Tronc executive who broke the news on July 23 that half the Daily News newsroom was being laid off, was quietly promoted to publisher this week.

The promotion was noted in the masthead of the Sunday paper but apparently was done so quietly that the Daily News switchboard was un- aware of his new title as of Tuesday.

Whitmore, who was said to want no publicity on his new duties, did not return an e-mail seeking comment. Whitmore remains an EVP and general manager of Tronc’s other East Coast papers.

Union officials did not return calls or e-mails regarding the rumored buyout deal. Tronc had not gotten back by press time.

Rough edges

Hearst publishers and chief editors are bracing for a sweeping round of changes in the near future as Troy Young moves to shake things up in his new role as president of Hearst Magazines. However,

Michael Clinton, the president of advertising, looks like he will spared, sources say.

He, along with ex-Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles and Young, were all the top lieutenants to former Hearst magazines President

David Carey, who became chairman of the division with the elevation of Young on July 25.

Coles quickly resigned last Friday — news that was first revealed on nypost.com. Her farewell video on Instagram posted Monday quickly went viral. In it, she is filmed work- ing on her treadmill desk station in the Hearst Tower and told viewers, “my route is being redirected. It’s time for a new adventure.” She promised news “in the fall” and ended by turning off the treadmill and stepping away.

Clinton, according to insiders, had a smoother relationship than Coles did with Young, who is known for a brusque, sometimes abrasive, , style that stands in sharp contrast to that of his predecessor, Carey. “It will be interesting to see how his [Young’s] style plays out,” said one insider. “He’s a little rough around the edges.”

Fore

Condé Nast is going to be a little slow in getting the word out on the three magazines it is selling, W, Brides and Golf Digest, even as the guessing game begins as to who might want to buy them. The process is being handled by

Janine McGrath Shelffo, who joined from UBS last year as chief strategy and development officer for the parent company, Advance Publications. But sources say the news leaked so early that Condé Nast had not yet hired an outside in- vestment banker.

But the guessing game is on regarding prospective suitors. Meredith’s CEO, Tom Harty, once ran Golf Digest when he worked at Condé Nast, but most observers see no real fit for the golf title in the Meredith portfolio. And while Meredith’s women’scentric service magazines might seem a good place for Brides, the company did recently scrap the quarterly print version of Martha Stewart Weddings.

Banker and real estate developer Howard Milstein purchased Golf earlier this year for an estimated $10 million, but there is no indication he’s interested in bidding — and if he won which of the two rival titles would survive. Golf Digest was seen as a stronger magazine in the marketplace, but Golf Magazine has the better url — golf.com — for a digital future.

XO Group, which publishes regional wedding magazines to go with The Knot digital wedding planning guides, would seem a likely buyer. W’s longtime editor, Stefano Ton

chi, was said to be interested in buying W, according to Women’s Wear Daily — but would obviously need a deeppocketed backer.