New York Time Will Vacate 8 Floors In Its HQ To Generate "Significant Rental Revenue"
by Tyler Durden
Remember when The NYT
reported that its ad hoc campaign to boost revenue by selling
subscriptions in response to the vicious back and forth with Donald Trump, was
said to be a smashing success?
Perhaps it was subscriptions for the crossword
puzzle because it appears the monetary success was not smashing enough, and according
to a just released note from executives Arthur Sulzberger and Mark Thompson, the
newspaper will vacate at least eight floors in its iconic building, allowing it
to "generate significant rental income" because it is "frankly,
too expensive to occupy this many floors when we don’t truly need them."
Maybe the lesson here
is that when the newspaper business model no longer works, one can just pivot
into a REIT?
The remaining staff will be consolidated
on the remaining, redesigned floors in a "more dynamic, modern and open
workplace, one that is better suited to the moment."
Furthermore, the NYT
publisher and CEO will lose their corner offices, which they call a "vestige
from a different era" and will "introduce more team rooms
and common spaces."
It is unclear if NYT
would distribute pink slips as part of the cost-cutting effort, however as the
letter adds, "in the end, these changes will impact every employee at 620
Eighth Ave.
"In the near term, we will have to move about 400 employees out
of the building to nearby office space while the first phase of work is
completed.
"We expect that group, which includes parts of marketing,
technology, the newsroom, news services, corporate finance and print products
and services pre-press operations, to move in the first quarter and return by
the end of 2017. Your manager will notify you if your position is affected by
this temporary move. We understand and appreciate the disruption this will
inevitably cause and we will do everything in our power to mitigate it."
But aside from all
that, subscriptions are soaring, we promise.
Full memo below:
Dear
Colleagues,
When
we moved into our new building in 2007, we saw it as a modern headquarters for
a modern New York Times. We still feel that way.
But
as Mark mentioned in the State of The Times last month, after a good deal of
consideration, we have determined that the way that we use our headquarters
building needs to evolve to better match the changes you and your colleagues
have been driving across every part of the company.
The
current way we have configured our office makes us slower and less
collaborative. It is also, frankly, too expensive to occupy this many floors
when we don’t truly need them.
We’ve
made the decision to consolidate our footprint across the building to create a
more dynamic, modern and open workplace, one that is better suited to the
moment. We’re planning significant investments in a redesign of our existing
space in order to facilitate more cross-departmental collaboration.
We
expect a substantial financial benefit as well. All told, we will vacate at
least eight floors, allowing us to generate significant rental income.
We
have engaged Gensler, an architecture and interior design firm, to help us
redesign our workplace and beginning early next year, work will begin on select
floors below 14. By the end of next year, we expect to have consolidated our
occupancy to that side of the building. We will keep the cafeteria and the
conference rooms on 15.
We
have already seen that changing office layouts can lead to good results. Some
of the most creative wings of the company — the Beta team, the Graphics
Department and some of our technology teams have changed their floor plans to
help improve the way they work.
The
coming redesign will introduce more team rooms and common spaces. And, we will
do away with big corner offices, like the ones you see on the 16th and 17th
floors, including, yes, the publisher and CEO’s offices. We don’t need to
preserve those vestiges from a different era, so we won’t.
In
the end, these changes will impact every employee at 620 Eighth Ave. In the
near term, we will have to move about 400 employees out of the building to
nearby office space while the first phase of work is completed. We expect that
group, which includes parts of marketing, technology, the newsroom, news
services, corporate finance and print products and services pre-press
operations, to move in the first quarter and return by the end of 2017. Your
manager will notify you if your position is affected by this temporary move. We
understand and appreciate the disruption this will inevitably cause and we will
do everything in our power to mitigate it.
Representatives
from across the company are serving on a steering committee to help us plan
these changes. They will solicit input from everyone interested in providing it
and we’re committed to keeping you fully informed as the project plays
out.
We
will have more details soon.
Thank
you.
Arthur and Mark
Arthur and Mark
Perhaps Facebook's
"fact-checkers" can move into the soon to be vacant space...
