Thursday, October 30, 2008
Condé Nast Cuts Focus on 2 Magazines:
Through the first nine months of the year, ad pages in all United States magazines were down 9.5 percent from the same period in 2007. Most magazines produced by Condé Nast - including Vogue, GQ, Architectural Digest and Wired - have had much smaller declines, but they are also among the most expensive magazines to produce. I immediately thought of this, Can Si Newhouse Keep Condé Nast's Gloss Going?: Some extravagances have been curtailed, but no one in the business disputes that Condé still spends far more money than its competitors. Magazine publishers and editors in chief haul in $400,000 to $2 million in salary and bonuses, current and former executives say, and many executives have clothing allowances in the high five figures. I remember thinking at the time that when the bubble bursts they'll regret not running a more efficient operation. To some extent it seems like Advance treats its glossies like performance art as opposed to a business operation. Of course, S. I. Newhouse is nearly a 10 billionaire so I guess he can afford to be less orthodox than the typical billion-pinching mogul. At least The Big Money isn't going anywhere. H/T Tyler. |