Condé Nast has laid off sixty staffers this week. Self and Brides seem to be the hardest hit while The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue have so far been spared.
WWD (which is owned by Condé Nast) reports that Self lost eight in editorial and three on the business side. Self already has a small staff, a source noted to The Observer. Brides laid off five in editorial (although some have been moved to part time) and laid off five in business. Condé Nast Traveler, GQ and Wired laid off one editorial staffer each, sources told WWD. Two were laid off in the corporate communications department. Other layoffs are not yet clear.
Update: A tipster writes to say that Chris Baker, a senior editor at Wired, has been let go and there are more layoffs coming at the tech mag. At GQ, senior editor Logan Hill was laid off on Thursday.
The layoffs appear to be related to the five percent cuts that Condé Nast was asking be trimmed from all magazine 2013 budgets. The Post first reported on the new edict last week. That was in addition to the ten percent that most magazines were told to trim over the summer.
We have been hearing rumblings about layoffs and restructing at Fashion Fairchild Media (the Condé division that owns WWD and Observer alumni-driven M).
"Fairchild Fashion Media (FFM) is continuously evaluating our businesses to ensure we are operating at optimal efficiency. To that end, we have undergone a restructure so the company is well positioned for 2013. Moving forward, FFM will continue to invest in our existing brands as well as our new ventures, such as our newest acquisition NowManifest," read the statement we received from Fairchild in response to our query. No further word on the what that restructuring will look like or possible layoffs.
However, we just recieved word from Fairchild that WWD publisher Paul Jowdy has been promoted to Vice President and Group Publisher of WWD Brand and M. In his expanded role, Mr. Jowdy will be responsible for Men’s Week and M as well as continue to oversee WWD in print and online.
Know more? Get in touch: ksmoke@observer.com