The other shoe dropped at Newsweek yesterday when the mag offered voluntary buyouts to about 30 employees covered by the Newspaper Guild contract.
The merger of Newsweek, owned by Sidney Harman, with IAC/InterActiveCorp’s Daily Beast was completed last month, forming a new joint venture called The Newsweek Daily Beast.
Bill O’Meara, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York, which represents about 90 Newsweek staffers, said he expects fewer than 10 people will take the buyout offer.
Employees who take the buyout will get at least four months severance pay, O’Meara said. Employees over 40 years old have 45 days to decide while employees under 40 have 21 days to make a decision, he added.
Insiders expect the dot-com side of Newsweek will be particularly hard hit.
A spokesman for Newsweek Daily Beast acknowledged there was a buyout offer but gave no details on how many would be downsized or whether this was the end of cutbacks.
“In any merger, there are potential overlapping functions,” said the spokesman, Andrew Kirk. “This was an important next step in the combination of the Newsweek and Daily Beast operations, and we look forward to a re-energized and successful future for our unified team.”
The news comes as Newsweek Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown has begun giving ad execs a peek at the prototype for the redesigned Newsweek, expected to hit at some point in the next few months.