This Tronc Chairman 'Consulting' Scam Is Trumpy As Shit
Hi! Time to turn the comically oversized counter on your wall that's labeled "DAYS SINCE A MAJOR COMPANY HAS COMPLETELY FUCKED OVER ITS WORKERS" back to zero (though you're kind of a dumbass if you bothered to pay for more numbers than zero on that one, I have to say) because just in time for whatever comes after Boxing Day, we have a tale of Dickensian fuckery!
We have told you about Tronc before a bit -- they're the horrible douchebros who spun all the newspapers off from Tribune Publishing and hipstered the name to the onomatopoetic cartoon thud; they own the LA Times, the Orlando Sentinel, and the Chicago Tribune, and the still-extant Tribune Media is probably going to sell all its TV stations off to Sinclair.
We regret to inform you that in the intervening time, things have gotten a helluva lot worse.
How much worse, you ask? Well, you see! A few days before Christmas we found out that Michael Ferro , majority shareholder and chairman of Tronc, has just signed a deal in his capacity as chairman of Merrick Venture Managementfor himself in his capacity as a consultant with Tribune Media to the tune of $5 million yearly for three years! Yes, it's exactly as incestuous as it sounds.
Tronc's CEO salary recently rose to $8 million (or about $3 million more than the CEO of the New York Times Co.) while Chicago-area journalists consider going on strike over lack of pay raises. Tronc slashed jobs at the New York Daily News. They're the Bain Capital of newspapers, and oh god let's stop trying to describe it and just show you the video of what can happen when techbros journamalism .
Like right before Christmas they pull this shit. This is, by the way, going into effect the first business day of January.
You know how I know we're not at all living in a kleptocracy, though, is that techdude media mogul's new contract cancels his previous one where he got his private plane covered. Like, if he's giving up perks for salary maybe it's fine, right?
*reads LA Times' union website*
Right, of course he's getting twice as much now as the plane cost. Of course.
*adds pitchforks to shopping list*
Have you been wondering why we wrote this post without a single mention of how this is JUST LIKE how Donald Trump signed contracts with himself to consult for himself, and then sucked all the money out of the casinos and left the suckers holding the bag? Well, guess you're just going to have to live with it.
[ Deadline ]
Wharton, especially.
Deeply poetic. I've just downloaded the book.