Sports Illustrated made a huge decision to part ways with one of its highest-paid writers after he took to social media and complained about coronavirus-related pay cuts that made its way to him.
Grant Wahl, one of the preeminent soccer journalists in the country, was reportedly bringing in more than $350K a year, but got hit with a 30% pay cut as part of cost cuts last month that included the firing of 31 people, according to the New York Post.
Before his firing, Wahl had been taking to Instagram and blasting upper management. Those posts got back to them and they hit back with a memo that was circulated to staffers.
“We’ve decided to direct what would have been this person’s salary into additional severance pay and health benefits for those laid off who need it most,” Jim Heckman, CEO of Maven, said in the memo obtained by The Post.
“To complain about a personal pay cut when 31 others had lost their jobs is incomprehensible in light of the sacrifices others made to help limit layoffs and maintain liveable salaries for our staff,” said the memo. “Such a me-first attitude is not part of the tradition and culture Maven is committed to maintaining.”
The Post states that the memo said the fired staffer was paid “over $350,000 last year to infrequently write stories that generated little meaningful viewership or revenue.”
Wahl would confirm the news via his Twitter account:
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral Soccer stories via Google! Follow Us
From 30% of $350K to absolutely nothing. Was it worth it?
