I cannot have an opinion until I know the following, much of which might not be available.
How well has SI managed the transition to digital? That has killed numerous other publications.
Pre-virus how much was their operating income and how much was their operating expenses excluding debt. Who much with debt?
As far as I know, SI has not begun charging for online content, and is down to 16 paper issues for $20. How much subscriber revenue do they have? The Athletic charges $60 for online only (sometimes discounts are available). That seems more sustainable. SI has presumably much greater reach and advertising revenue, but that is much less reliable. There are almost no online publications that are profitable without online subscriber fees, and those that survive are often political ones like the Nation or National Review that solicit and receive voluntary contributions from like minded readers, while selling cruise experiences as their primary cash cow. There are also a few that rely solely on voluntary Patreon subscriptions, but none of those, I'm certain, pay writers $350k whether salary, bonus, or whatever combination.
My point is, it is likely ownership planned these cuts regardless of the virus. It might also be they needed to make these cuts (or at least some level of cuts) to be sustainable. Or not. Maybe SI was wildly profitable and this is all just greedy profit feasting. I don't know but passing judgment without knowing is not meaningful. There just aren't many publications left that have not had to cut staff and payroll substantially.
Finally, whether base salary or salary plus bonus, I'm shocked anyone could earn $350k from a single gig writing about soccer for a US audience. There is a dispute about whether that was Wahl's salary or salary plus bonus, but nobody seems to claim that includes other income Wahl earned. So I presume that figure does not include Wahl's TV appearances, which were not on shows produced by SI and that income is not part of the $350k. Same for any book advances or royalties. I would not be surprised to learn Wahl made $350k from all that combined, but I would not have expected any soccer analyst in the US could make that much from a single gig whether written or TV or whatever. This has nothing to do with whether he deserved it or earned it. I presume he did but that's not the point. I just did not think there was nearly enough demand for written soccer content in the US to pay anybody that much to generate it. That's an eye opener to me regardless of who's to blame here. Even if in the long run that was not sustainable, that it ever was is a surprise to me.
