The Layoff Parade: Teen Vogue, Details, Forbes, Time Inc.
In your dark Tuesday media column: the layoff train is rollin' down the tracks that many magazines now regret installing in their offices, the San Francisco Chronicle flounders like a flounder, Wonkette hates Politico anew, and John Stossel vs. Lou Dobbs.
Another Conde Nast mag lines up for its 25% budget cuts: A tipster tells us that Teen Vogue had about six layoffs today in the sales and marketing departments, including, they say, a pregnant woman. We also hear rumors of editorial layoffs at Details today, although we have no...details. Know more? Email us.
Elsewhere in magazine layoffs: The long-awaited Forbes layoffs are coming down this week. Keith Kelly says 30 to 40 layoffs there this week. And WWD says that Time Inc. is "expected to make staff reductions across the board next week." That follows the 600 layoffs there one year ago. Damn.
What horrible things are going on at the San Francisco Chronicle? The paper lost more than 25% of its circulation in the latest report. Which is great news, according to the publisher! "Frank Vega, publisher of The Chronicle, said the newspaper's loss in circulation was an expected result of moving away from a business model that depends mainly on advertising and instead relies on readers for a greater share of revenue." Ah yes: Now that your model relies on readers for revenue, you'd expect readers to flee from your paper in record numbers. Naturally. Also: "Starting next month, the paper will become the first in the country to use glossy, magazine-style paper in its daily editions, although not for every page." Um, just what the public's been waiting for? Even Romenesko is totally making fun of you, SF Chronicle.
Looks like Wonkette will be resuming its boycott of Politico, after discovering Politico is still way dumb.
There's a little war of words going on between "xenophobic" xenophobe Lou Dobbs and "self-important ass" Fox Biz mustache-haver John Stossel. Hopefully this will end with both men tearing each other limb from limb.