The Next Gauge of the Economy Will Be Corporate Earnings

The coronavirus-related economic downturn has led to pay cuts, layoffs and shutdowns at many news outlets, from weeklies like Seven Days in Burlington, Vt., to Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain.

Finding a sizable audience has not been a problem for publishers. Hunger for news in a time of crisis has sent droves of readers to many publications. But with businesses paused or closed — and no longer willing or able to pay for advertisements — a crucial part of the industry’s support system has cracked.

“The traffic numbers are still way up,” said David Chavern, the president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance. “The digital subscriptions are hanging in there.”

He added, “The ad contraction is brutal and continuing.”

All told, 28,000 workers in the news media industry have been laid off, furloughed or had their pay reduced, a New York Times survey of the industry has found.

Executives like Jonah Peretti of BuzzFeed and Ben Lerer of Group Nine Media are forgoing their salaries. Publications like The Stranger, a weekly in Seattle, and the fashion magazine W have suspended publication. Tribune Publishing, the publicly traded company behind The Chicago Tribune and The New York Daily News, has cut the salaries of those making more than $67,000.

Raises have been put on hold at Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. A hiring slowdown has also gone into effect. And company leaders are considering layoffs for staff members and pay cuts for executives, according to two people with knowledge of discussions. In a March 27 staff memo, Roger J. Lynch, the chief executive, acknowledged the difficulties for a company dependent on the luxury industry: “Overall, we’re seeing many advertisers shift their investments with us to the second half of the year,” he wrote. “Others are decreasing or pausing their spend.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/stock-market-today-coronavirus.html