Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News/Philly.com buyout and layoff update:

Longtime columnist Stu Bykofsky appears to be on his way out –

Management told Bykofsky he could take the buyout or become a sports copy editor. Guess he made his choice. https://t.co/CXiLAta2af — dhm (@dhm) July 11, 2019

Bykofsky is a “Metro Columnist” who wrote about anything and everything. He’s been with the paper for 30+ years, having started in the late eighties, back when I was three years old and Guns and Roses had just released “Appetite for Destruction.”

He’s written something like a bazillion stories over the years, but you might be most familiar with the time he ate his column after predicting the Eagles would lose Super Bowl 52. When I say he “ate his column,” I mean he literally inserted the newspaper clipping into a Turkey hoagie and consumed it.

As you know by now, the Inquirer/Daily News/Philly.com is trimming down the staff by 30 folks, offering buyout packages that include 24 weeks pay and six months of medical coverage, or a lump sum of $5,000. That tidbit courtesy of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Jeff Blumenthal, who reported in June that the Inquirer’s ownership group had received 16 buyouts and might have to turn to layoffs to reach 30 people.

Since then, Eagles beat reporter Zach Berman informed the masses that he would be leaving the newspaper. Secret sources tell me he’s going to cover the Birds for another outlet this year. That leaves the company with only three Eagles reporters instead of four, then you add the four columnists to the group, and you’ve got seven amigos writing about the Eagles on any given Sunday. Seems like that’s enough coverage to me, but what do I know?

Sports editor Deborah Woodell and news reporter Jan Hefler are two more of the confirmed buyouts.

Along with Bykofsky, Jenice Armstrong, Mike Newall, and Helen Ubinas are listed as the other three “Metro Columnists” on the Inquirer website. If you know of anybody else taking a buyout, gimme a shout, or maybe I should actually contact a few sources and do my own work.