Coronavirus pay cuts hit Condé Nast
Vogue editor Anna Wintour and high-earning staffers at Vanity Fair, GQ among those affected
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Condé Nast staffers are taking pay cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The magazine publisher behind Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ announced pay cuts for high earners and reduced hours for other employees as a result of “significant financial pressure,” Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch told staffers in a memo Monday.
Senior management, including Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, will have their salaries cut by 20 percent amid coronavirus. (Getty Images)
Employees earning more than $100,000 will have their wages cut between 10 and 20 percent for five months effective May 1. Staffers earning six figures make up “just under half the company,” according to the New York Times.
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Senior management, including Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, will have their salaries cut by 20 percent, and Lynch said he would cut his own salary in half.
Lynch also said in his memo layoffs are to be expected in the next month, however, they are a “last option” and the company will consider relief programs and stimulus packages for those who are furloughed or laid off.
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The company will also implement shorter work weeks of three to four days for staffers in markets like the U.K. and in Europe “where government programs and stimulus packages can help supplement employees’ earnings.”
Despite heightened media consumption at a time when many Americans are working from home or are unemployed due to the pandemic, Condé joins a number of media companies that have announced salary cuts and furloughs in recent weeks. American Media, the tabloid publisher of Us Weekly and In Touch, will reportedly cut employee salaries by 23 percent.
Digital media company BuzzFeed announced pay cuts between 5 to 25 percent. And the company that owns Sports Illustrated, Maven, laid off 9 percent of its staff on March 30, Forbes reported.
