an ax-waving boss, canine pee on the carpet and Barry Diller ‘scurrying round’

Media

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By Alexandra Steigrad

Daily Beast staffers are bracing for the worst because the tabloid information website mounts a turnaround — fearing that their new boss is already sharpening the ax, whilst she points weird calls for for staffing and tales, The Post has realized.

Former Hearst Magazines government Joanna Coles — who together with former Disney bigwig Ben Sherwood has purchased a minority stake within the Daily Beast from media mogul Barry Diller — barged into the positioning’s headquarters on Monday, the identical day the deal was introduced, sources mentioned.

As the 61-year-old exec swiftly put in herself within the nook workplace of former Daily Beast CEO Heather Dietrick, staffers bought a scary task: a one-page memo, due Friday, outlining who they’re and the way they need to cowl their beats, sources mentioned.

“People understand the memo as telling Coles ‘Why I should keep my job at The Daily Beast,’” mentioned a supply near the scenario.

A supply near Coles instructed The Post on Thursday that the British-born editor usually asks staffers to provide a one-page memo when she begins a brand new job with a purpose to drum up contemporary concepts.

Adding to the sense of dread, IAC’s billionaire chairman Diller made a uncommon look within the newsroom this week — “scurrying around” with out mingling with the rank and file, based on a supply.

“His mere presence is making people nervous,” the insider mentioned.

Diller instructed The Post he got here to the workplace “to say hello to Joanna Coles and Ben Sherwood and welcome them to the building.”

Coles and Sherwood wish to squeeze earnings from the Daily Beast’s Frank Gehry-designed headquarters in Manhattan’s posh Chelsea neighborhood.

According to a person accustomed to the financials, the Daily Beast makes about $14 million in income and loses roughly $20 million a yr.

The duo hit the bottom operating on Monday with a breakfast assembly with Daily Beast editor in chief Tracy Connor —  and Connor has been moping across the workplace ever since, based on sources.

Word on the road is that Sherwood and Coles are already trying to change Connor, however that first, she is going to doubtless find yourself doing a lot of the soiled work of slicing employees earlier than she leaves.

“She knows that the walls are closing in on her,” mentioned a Daily Beast supply. “She’s coming to grips with the fact that she will likely be fired.”

The pressure has develop into so palpable that Connor’s canine —  who she has delivered to the workplace on a regular basis for years with out incident —  peed on the carpet this week, based on a newsroom supply, who added that dogs can “smell fear.”

“Unlike her dog, Pearl, who took a piss on the carpet because of stress, she seems more at peace with what she’s done during her tenure there,” a supply mentioned of Connor.

A spokesperson for the Daily Beast denied that job cuts are imminent.

“The speculation around personnel is patently false, new leadership hasn’t even been here a full week,” the rep mentioned.

Meanwhile, Pearl’s spokesperson barked at The Post that “she grapples with shy bladder syndrome and is horrified by the unwanted attention.”

Jokes apart, the well-placed insider pointed to the stark distinction between Connor — a extremely regarded workhorse of an editor who eschews flashy occasions — and Coles, a British-born exec who clothes in designer labels, relishes hobnobbing with the wealthy and highly effective, and who has in contrast herself to Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

“Joanna once told a friend of hers she’s better than Anna because she has the extra ‘Jo’ which makes her more cutthroat,” mentioned a supply with information.

At an all-hands assembly Monday afternoon run by Coles and Sherwood, a supply mentioned a reporter requested Coles if she thought that The Daily Beast is “going to be like The Messenger” — the information startup that shut down in February after lower than a yr below media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein.

While Puck News reported over the weekend that Coles and Sherwood have earmarked $300,000 for a brand new editor in chief, a supply instructed The Post that the duo received’t be capable of spend wildly like Finkelstein, noting that Diller has a good leash on the scenario.

Insiders mentioned Coles — who had been relentlessly pursued by Finkelstein to run the startup — instructed Beast staffers that she met with the billionaire in Palm Beach, Fla., earlier than The Messenger’s launch and “knew it wasn’t going to work.”

Adding to staffer anxiousness was the roaming presence of Coles’ assistant, a “guy with a beard” who was asking workers who they’re and what they do on the firm.

A textual content alternate seen by The Post revealed IAC workers perplexed by Coles’ bulldozing first few days, with one writing that this “type of leadership isn’t really normal anymore” and that she ought to “give people a shot.”

Meanwhile, some Beast staffers are rolling their eyes at what Coles has already finished, which has included promoting on her Instagram that she is trying to rent a Lauren Sanchez correspondent.

Coles additionally raised eyebrows as she pushed out a imprecise story with no byline that reported Barron Trump may attend NYU for college.

Some workers likewise expressed chagrin when she requested for a narrative on Meghan Markle’s model of jams and make your personal — with one insider observing that Coles seems to be enjoying the a part of a hard-charging editor whereas ignoring the Daily Beast’s fame for muckraking, scoop-driven journalism.

For her half, Coles instructed The Post she’s “desperate to try Meghan Markle’s new jam.”

“I am British so I am obsessed by jams as all British people are. I like to stop my day at 4 p.m. for jam and scones,” Coles mentioned, declining to supply extra perception into her plans for the newsroom.

But Coles’ cheeky humorousness thus far has bristled some on the outlet.

“The entire thing is a massive cluskerf–k,” the insider griped.

Another palpable signal of worry throughout the newsroom, based on a supply: Staffers confirmed as much as work “dressed to the nines” on Wednesday, with usually denim-clad male reporters placing on ties.

Still, workers appeared extra involved about mixing in than about elevating their profiles, the supply added.

“People are also very careful not to lock eyes with Coles,” the supply mentioned. “She will look at you and assign you some tasks.”