Macmillan Publishers has laid off an undisclosed number of employees across all divisions, temporarily reduced pay for select employees, and implemented a hiring freeze, effective April 2. As a result of the layoffs, the Thomas Dunne imprint has been shuttered. The move is part of a larger cost-saving initiative by Macmillan parent company Holtzbrinck, Macmillan said, and in response to the anticipated impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on Holtzbrinck's overall businesses.
The salary reductions, which will last through June, are structured according to salary level. Employees making $60,000 a year or less will not see their salaries affected, a Macmillan spokesperson confirmed. Those with salaries above that level will have their pay cut by a percentage that "increases to 20% and 33% as salary increases," the company said, while "senior executives" will have their salaries reduced by 50% for the next three months. The spokesperson confirmed that this would affect all senior executives who make more than $250,000.
The shuttering of Thomas Dunne, which was founded in 1986 as an imprint of St. Martin's Press, will also see the departure of its founder, Tom Dunne, who has been with the company since 1971. Addressing the move, Jennifer Enderlin, executive v-p and publisher of St. Martin's Publishing Group, called Dunne "a legendary figure in book publishing," and his contributions to St. Martin's Press over nearly 50 years "innumerable."
Macmillan is the first among the U.S.'s Big Five publishers to announce such measures in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Other publishers, such as Scholastic and Skyhorse, have already implemented different austerity measures—and, in Skyhorse's case, layoffs. The spokesperson told PW that, as of Friday, no further layoffs are currently planned.
This article has been updated with further information and for clarity.
