New York Post

GOING BEAST MODE

News site’s staff fear new boss is sharpening ax

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Daily Beast staffers are bracing for the worst as the tabloid news site mounts a turnaround — fearing their new boss is already sharpening the ax, even as she issues bizarre demands for staffing and stories, The Post has learned.

Former Hearst Magazines executive Joanna Coles — who along with former Disney bigwig Ben Sherwood were granted a minority stake in The Daily Beast from media mogul Barry Diller — barged into the site’s headquarte­rs Monday, the same day the deal was announced, sources said.

As the 61-year-old exec swiftly installed herself in the corner office of former Daily Beast CEO Heather Dietrick, staffers got a scary assignment: one-page memos, due Friday, outlining who they are and how they want to cover their beats, sources said.

“People understand the memo as telling Coles ‘Why I should keep my job at The Daily Beast,’” said a source close to the situation.

A source close to Coles told The Post Thursday that the British-born editor often asks staffers to produce a one-page memo when she starts a new job to drum up ideas.

Dread and Diller

Adding to the sense of dread, IAC’s billionair­e chairman Diller made a rare appearance in the newsroom this week — “scurrying around” without mingling with the rank and file, according to a source.

“His mere presence is making people nervous,” the insider said.

Diller told The Post he came to the office “to say hello to Joanna Coles and Ben Sherwood and welcome them to the building.”

Coles and Sherwood are looking to squeeze profits from The Daily Beast’s Frank Gehry-designed headquarte­rs in Manhattan’s posh Chelsea neighborho­od. According to a person familiar with the financials, The Daily Beast spends about $20 million a year — leaving the company with an annual net loss of roughly $6 million.

The duo hit the ground running Monday at a breakfast meeting with Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tracy Connor — and Connor has been moping around the office ever since, according to sources.

Word on the street is that Sherwood and Coles are already looking to replace Connor, but first she will likely end up doing much of the dirty work of cutting staff before leaving.

“She knows that the walls are closing in on her,” said a Daily Beast source. “She’s coming to grips with the fact she will likely be fired.”

The tension has become so palpable that Connor’s dog — whom she has brought to the office every day for years without incident — peed on the carpet this week, according to a newsroom source, who added that dogs can “smell fear.”

“Unlike her dog, Pearl, who took a piss on the carpet because of stress, she seems more at peace with what she’s done during her tenure there,” a source said of Connor.

A spokespers­on for The Daily Beast denied that job cuts were imminent.

“The speculatio­n around personnel is patently false, new leadership hasn’t even been here a full week,” the rep said.

Meanwhile, Pearl’s spokespers­on barked at The Post that “she grapples with shy-bladder syndrome and is horrified by the unwanted attention.”

Jokes aside, the well-placed insider pointed to the stark difference between Connor — an ex-Post journo who’s a highly regarded workhorse of an editor who eschews flashy events — and Coles, a British-born exec who dresses in designer labels, relishes hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, and who has compared herself to Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

“Joanna once told a friend of hers she’s better than Anna because she has the extra ‘Jo’ that makes her more cutthroat,” said a source with knowledge.

Tough questions

At an all-hands meeting Monday afternoon run by Coles and Sherwood, a source said a reporter asked Coles if she thought The Daily Beast is “going to be like The Messenger” — the news startup that shut down in February after less than a year under media mogul Jimmy Finkelstei­n.

While Puck News reported over the weekend that Coles and Sherwood have earmarked $300,000 for a new editor-in-chief, a source told The Post the duo won’t be able to spend wildly like Finkelstei­n, noting that Diller has a tight leash on the situation.

Insiders said Coles — who had been relentless­ly pursued by Finkelstei­n to run the startup — told Beast staffers that she met with the billionair­e in Palm Beach, Fla., before The Messenger’s launch and “knew it wasn’t going to work.”

Meanwhile, some Beast staffers are rolling their eyes at what Coles has already done, which has included advertisin­g on her Instagram that she is looking to hire a Lauren Sanchez correspond­ent. Coles also raised eyebrows as she pushed out a vague story with no byline that reported Barron Trump may attend NYU.

Some employees likewise expressed chagrin when she asked for a story on Meghan Markle’s brand of jams and how to make your own — with one insider observing that Coles appears to be playing the part of a hard-charging editor while ignoring The Daily Beast’s reputation for muckraking, scoop-driven journalism.

For her part, Coles told The Post she’s “desperate to try Meghan Markle’s new jam.”

“I am British so I am obsessed by jams as all British people are. I like to stop my day at 4 p.m. for jam and scones,” Coles said, declining to offer more insight into her plans for the newsroom.

 ?? ?? Daily Beast minority owner Joanna Coles (left) and mogul Barry Diller stomped around the offices Monday, apparently moving editor-in-chief Tracy Connor’s dog, Pearl, to stress-pee.
Daily Beast minority owner Joanna Coles (left) and mogul Barry Diller stomped around the offices Monday, apparently moving editor-in-chief Tracy Connor’s dog, Pearl, to stress-pee.

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