In your completely laid-off Wednesday media column: details on more Time Inc. layoffs and buyouts at People and Essence, Fortune Small Business folds, and various ways that magazine publishers are terrorists.

Time Inc. layoffs: People magazine is looking for eight buyout candidates. The memo below went out to staff today:

From: Larry Hackett
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 10:02:00 -0500
Conversation: Staff announcement
Subject: Staff announcement

As part of a broad Time Inc. cost savings initiative, I regret to announce
that People magazine will be making cuts in its editorial staff. We are
looking for 8 volunteers to accept severance packages among the
following Guild-covered job classifications:

Staff Correspondent
Reporter-Researcher
Writer-Reporter
Writer-Editor

I strongly urge each of you to contact People's human resources
representatives... for details regarding your
particular package.

The call for volunteers expires on November 19th. If necessary, we will
then follow the guild contract procedure for conducting involuntary layoffs
in these Guild categories.

If you have any questions, please see me or your department heads.

A tipster tells us the Time Inc. layoffs struck Essence today. We're told the mag had a total of 18 layoffs, including "the entire web team." If you know more, email us.


Oh, and Time Inc. has decide to fold Fortune Small Business, a spinoff mag that was actually owned by Amex and sent directly to cardholders. Eleven layoffs there, reportedly.


Did you know that Al-Qaeda is bucking the current media trend, by publishing magazines? It's true. And the latest one has a nice grenade on the cover, proving they know how to move copies. Read all about it here, then explain why you did so to the NSA.


Hello, Vogue has a new publisher! Her name is Susan Plagemann, and Conde Nast lured her away from Hearst. John Koblin says that her hiring—and an accompanying broadening of Tom Florio's responsibilities—follows the recommendation of McKinsey, to ensure "a clearer bureaucratic structure is now in place." Everything is different now.