Maven To Use Funds From Wahl's Firing As Severance For Few

The Maven Founder & CEO James Heckman's claim that funds saved by firing longtime SI writer Grant Wahl "would be redistributed" to a group of about 10 now-unemployed staffers "appears to have been, at best, wildly misleading," according to Dennis Young of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Sources indicated that the money -- purportedly $350,000 -- will be used instead to "fund a second month of severance and health benefits for a small number of employees who would have received the bare minimum." A majority of those laid off from SI "already received more than a month of severance, and will receive nothing from the supposed Wahl savings." A minority of the 10 laid off "will go from one month severance to two," which is the "extent to which Heckman is redistributing" Wahl's $350,000. A Maven spokesperson said, "It is happening exactly as stated." In total, Maven has cut SI's staff by "about half" since taking over last fall (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/25).