The Wall Street Journal - 19.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Thursday, March 19, 2020 |B3

said he opposed social distanc-

ing—the practice of sharply

limiting interpersonal contact,

as recommended by health of-

ficials around the world to

slow infection rates—and

urged employees to come to

work. However, he added that

offices would close if required

by local officials and that em-

ployees could work from home

in certain situations including

a lack of child care.

“There is undoubtedly

stress on the medical system

and a tragedy for the senior

population, but no reason to

believe it is risky for other-

wise healthy people to go to

work, school, or live our lives,”

wrote Mr. Saylor, whose firm

provides analytics and mobil-

ity applications for businesses.

“It is soul-stealing and debili-

tating to embrace the notion

of social distancing & eco-

nomic hibernation.”

A MicroStrategy software

developer in his 20s said he

and many colleagues he heard

from were stunned by Mr. Say-

lor’s memo. “Just because old

people are dying from [the

coronavirus] doesn’t mean we

shouldn’t be worried about it,”

he said, adding that he has

worked from home during

snow storms without hiccups.

“We could give it to family

members.”

Asked for comment, a

spokeswoman for MicroStrat-

egy forwarded an email Mr.

Saylor sent to the company’s

roughly 2,300 employees

Wednesday in which the exec-

utive expressed a change of

heart.

“As I reflect as someone

who cares deeply about Mi-

croStrategy and its employees,

it’s time for me to listen to our

employees, leaders, and gov-

ernments,” Mr. Saylor wrote.

“Effective today, MicroStrat-

egy is moving to a voluntary

work-from-home policy and

we encourage you to work re-

motely.”

Shutting down even for a

brief period could be devastat-

ing for many small firms, said

apart—a mandate that some of

his restaurants aren’t large

enough to support—and to

prohibit patrons from sitting

at restaurant bars.

“I don’t know if we’re going

to make it through this,” said

Mr. Johnson, who has since

closed the company’s

restaurants after Washington,

D.C., officials ordered all eat-

eries to cease table service

Monday. “I’m not some huge

conglomerate.”

This week, a local California

sheriff’s office where Tesla

Inc.’s U.S. car factory is lo-

cated said activities there

should be limited to “mini-

mum basic operation only”

after the auto maker’s CEO

Elon Musk publicly played

down the significance of the

viral pandemic.

In an email to staffers Mon-

day, Mr. Musk said the harm

from the panic over the novel

coronavirus is more dangerous

than the actual disease, reiter-

ating past comments he has

made on social media.

Tom Johnson, managing part-

ner of Hill Restaurant Group,

in a post he wrote on a trade

group’s private Facebook page

Sunday saying he opposed

closing his eateries’ doors.

The post was later shared

publicly online, and Mr. John-

son said he has since received

several threatening phone

calls and emails. “We were vil-

lainized overnight,” he said,

adding that he regrets the

tone of his post. “We weren’t

trying to say we don’t care or

that the virus is something to

not take seriously.”

Mr. Johnson said local offi-

cials had ordered restaurants

to keep tables at least 6 feet

Companies say their

actions have been

aimed at avoiding

service disruptions.

Playboy magazine, the once
pace-setting journal that
chronicled the sexual revolu-
tion through a mix of high-
gloss nude photographs and
top-rate fiction and journal-
ism, will end its print run in
the U.S. after nearly seven de-
cades on the newsstand, the
company said Wednesday.
The magazine, which had
struggled with profitability for
years and had steadily reduced
its print frequency since the
death of its founder, Hugh
Hefner, in 2017, ultimately fell
victim to the coronavirus pan-
demic sweeping the globe.
“As the disruption of the
coronavirus pandemic to con-
tent production and the supply
chain became clearer and
clearer,wewereforcedtoac-
celerate a conversation we’ve
been having internally,” Ben
Kohn, chief executive ofPlay-
boy EnterprisesInc., wrote in
a post on Medium.
“With all of this in mind,
we have decided that our
Spring 2020 Issue, which ar-
rives on U.S. newsstands and
as a digital download this
week, will be our final printed
publication for the year in the
U.S.”
Mr. Kohn said the magazine
would continue publishing
regularly only online, with an
occasional special edition in
print. The magazine will con-
tinue to be published in some
markets overseas through li-
censing agreements.
“Over the past 66 years,
we’ve become far more than a
magazine and sometimes you
have to let go of the past to
make room for the future,” he
said.
After Mr. Hefner’s death at
age 91, the company began to
re-evaluate the future of the
money-losing U.S. magazine,
which was scaled back to six
issues a year from 10 in 2017.

BYLUKASI.ALPERT

Playboy

Magazine

Ends U.S.

Print Run

BUSINESS NEWS

Some businesses for days

played down the health threat

of the new coronavirus or di-

rected employees to continue

coming into offices as federal

and local health authorities

have called for flexible work

arrangements to slow the

spread of the disease.

Closely heldHill Restau-

rant Grouprecently said it

wouldn’t close its seven eater-

ies in the Washington, D.C.,

area before reversing course.

Ad agency holding company

Omnicom Group Inc. and

technology firmMicroStrat-

egyInc. maintained—until this

week—that most employees

should come into work.

The companies say their ac-

tions have been aimed at avoid-

ing service disruptions or other

outcomes that might cause se-

rious financial harm. In some

instances, company leaders

have argued that the new coro-

navirus isn’t as dire a threat as

other infectious diseases.

Experts say the coronavirus

poses a major health threat in

part because there is no

vaccine to protect people

against Covid-19, the poten-

tially deadly illness caused by

the virus.

State and county officials

have encouraged businesses to

send workers home in recent

days while many businesses—

including in retail, entertain-

ment and hospitality—have

opted to close temporarily.

Some jurisdictions that have

mandated closures have

carved out exemptions for

first-responders and “essen-

tial” personnel in health-care

fields or at grocery stores and

banks.

In a more-than-3,100-word

memo to employees Monday

that was reviewed by The Wall

Street Journal, MicroStrategy

Chief Executive Michael Saylor

BYSARAHE.NEEDLEMAN

ANDPATIENCEHAGGIN

Some Firms Ask Staff to Show Up

Managers argue risks

from pandemic are

overstated as staff

push for flexibility

A Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., in 2018. On Monday, CEO Elon Musk said panic over the coronavirus is more dangerous than the disease.

BRIAN MOLYNEAUX FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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