After 32 years, Time’s Gibbs is calling it quits

TIME magazine Editor-in-Chief Nancy Gibbs, a 32-year veteran of the title, is stepping down, Time Inc. announced, hours after Media Ink called for comment on exit rumors.

Gibbs could not be reached for comment at press time. She was hosting an exhibit downtown on Tuesday night tied to the current Time “Firsts” issue — with Hil

lary Clinton on the cover. Gibbs is a best-selling author who has the most Time cover stories — more than 100 — of any writer in its 94-year history.

The first female editor of the newsweekly, Gibbs has overseen Time during a particularly tumultuous period. While she has aggressively pushed Time.com, the core print product has seen profits wither to nothing. Time’s digital traffic peaked at 41.2 million in January in the wake of President Trump’s election — but was down almost 20 percent, to 33 million, as of July, according to comScore.

Archrival Newsweek stopped putting out a print edition altogether — then was sold to new owners at IBT Media, which revived a small press run weekly to augment the digital operation.

US News & World Report, once a formidable No. 3 in the category, long ago skipped the weekly run in favor of monthly specials highlighting things like best colleges and best hospitals.

During Gibbs’ reign at the top, Time Inc., in 2014, spun itself off from Time Warner and then, earlier this year, went through a reluctant effort to entertain offers to sell itself.

That effort saw the publisher rebuff the interest of Edgar Bronfman Jr. and others — before deciding to go it alone.

Chief Executive Rich Battista has made a major push into video and digital products, but the future still looks uncertain. Time said it expects profits to be flat for several more years.

The departure of Gibbs, a 57year-old native New Yorker, will mark another dramatic exit of a storied magazine editor.

On Sept. 7, Condé Nast announced that Graydon Carter was leaving as editor of Vanity Fair at year end after 25 years leading the monthly.

On Monday, Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers told her staff she was exiting the fashion title after 17 years.

CEO Battista and Chief Content Officer Alan Murray said in a memo that a new E-i-C will be named shortly.

Garcia to run Elle

Robbie Myers skipped the Tuesday Fashion Week shows after parent Hearst revealed that Nina Garcia, the Marie Claire creative director, will be her replacement as the editor-in-chief of Elle.

Speculation now turns to whom Garcia will surround herself with at the top of the Elle masthead — and who will be heading to the exit. Both titles are owned by Hearst. One person on the hot seat has to be Elle Creative Director Ruba Abu-Nimah, who was only in- stalled in the job by Myers in May.

The Myers-to-Garcia change was swift.

Myers last day will be Friday. Garcia will start the new job on Monday — which suggests the change was long in the works even if Elle staffers and many in the fashion world were surprised.

Myers, 52, said she wanted to spend more time with her teenage sons.

Garcia, 50, had worked for Myers at one point as creative director of Elle from 2000 to 2008 — when the title was owned by Hachette Filipacchi.

Hearst hired Garcia away from Hachette in 2008 to be the fashion director of Marie Claire.

Garcia was then promoted to Marie Claire creative director in 2012 and, thanks to her role as a judge on the cable hit “Project Runway,” generated huge buzz and a social media following.

Hearst eventually bought most of Hachette’s assets, including Elle, for $1 billion in 2011.

And just like that, Myers found herself working for Hearst.

The Myers-to-Garcia move appears to strengthen the hand of Jo- anna Coles, who last year was named Hearst’s chief content officer. Myers had reported to Hearst Magazines President David Carey.

Garcia will report to Coles.

Rodale bids

Final bids for Rodale, publisher of Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention and other titles, are due to arrive at Allen & Co. Monday. Hearst is being piped by some as the front-runner, although Meredith is also in the running and nobody is ruling out Allen & Co.’s flushing out a surprise bidder. Adding to the fun, some sources says book publishers have been kicking the tires. When Rodale announced it was putting itself up for sale, it said it would entertain offers for the entire company as well as for separate divisions or even separate titles. A Rodale spokeswoman said the company would not comment until the process was completed and offered no timetable.