The former owner of Eastern Economist, an English language weekly, said that the company's financial situation was known prior to sale.
Two months after the editor of Eastern Economist revealed plans to expand coverage beyond Ukraine, the troubled English-language business weekly has temporarily ceased publication.
Myron Spolsky, a Canadian businessman who purchased the publication from former publisher and founder Lidia Wolanskyj earlier this year, said he will resume publication of the weekly in mid-November.
“The weekly has been stopped for the time being as part of a broader reorganization within the company,” Spolsky said, indicating that the reorganization would include staffing changes.
He added that the Eastern Economist Daily, which is a competitor to the Kyiv Post Daily, has not stopped production.
But the Eastern Economist’s former chief editor and general manager, Jim Hydzik, isn’t optimistic about the future of the troubled weekly. He said the staff was forced to halt production because the newsroom was understaffed and without telephone connections.
Spolsky denied these allegations.
Whatever the reports, the Post successfully contacted the Eastern Economist’s office by telephone on Oct. 13.
Hydzik also said Spolsky was behind in paying staff salaries, rent on the office and money owed to the printer.
Vadym Synilo, an apartment tenant on Ivana Franka who rents out the office space used by the Eastern Economist in the same building, told the Post on Oct. 10 that he has not received a rental payment from the Economist since July.
On Oct. 13, Spolsky confirmed that he was behind with rent payments, but added that he is currently paying staff salaries in full.
Since August, production of the weekly has been stopped twice, the company fell several months behind in paying salaries and staff turnover increased, Hydzik said. In April, the editorial staff dwindled to seven, far less than the 20 to 25 people necessary to put out the magazine, he added.
The Post reported on August 6 that Hydzik, an American citizen, was in the process of purchasing part of the Eastern Economist weekly and daily publications, as well as the rights to the Dining Out in Kyiv guidebook from Matlid Publications, then owned by Wolanskyj. Hydzik said he did not buy into the publications because of delays in paperwork in the United States, leaving Spolsky’s Altana Ltd. the sole owner of the Eastern Economist name.
However, Wolanskyj said Spolsky has not yet paid her in full.
“[Myron] never paid me for the business and he’s trying to sell the assets to [Kyiv Post publisher] Jed Sunden,” she wrote in an e-mail Sept. 30.
Spolsky told the Post on Oct. 13 that he met with Sunden to discuss the possible sale of the EE’s daily. Sunden denied making Spolsky an offer.
Hydzik said that the Eastern Economist fell on hard times after the August 1998 financial crisis, when English-speaking businesses pulled out of Kyiv
But Wolanskyj said that since Spolsky bought the business, he has exaggerated the company’s financial situation, spreading rumors that the weekly had taken on more debt than he expected under her ownership.
“Given that he worked with our sales team from January to April, and had free access to the books, Mr. Spolsky knew exactly what state the company was in,” she said.
Wolanskyj also expressed doubts that Spolsky will successfully revive the magazine. The fact that he has already stopped production twice was a mistake, she said.
“If it’s not possible to produce the magazine at full length, at least eight pages should be printed every week.”
