Condé Nast ousts Norton after magazine fix fizzles
Jim Norton has been booted from Condé Nast, less than a year after he was recruited to shake up and revive the business side of the glitzy publisher.
Pamela D ru ck er Mann, aveteran insider, was promoted on Thursday to the new post of chief revenue and marketing officer, effectively replacing Norton.
Drucker Mann becomes the No. 2 to Condé Nast Chief Executive BobSauerberg.
As part of the shake-up, Chief Experience Officer Josh Stinchcomb will report directly to Sauerberg. He has been overseeing the company’s native ad effort, known as 23 Stories, which helps advertisers make long-form video ads for digital properties.
Norton joined Condé from AOL in October 2016 as chief business officer, andinJanuary had shaken up the ad sales force — scrapping the traditional print version of ad sales team son each magazine brand including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Glamour, amongothers.
As part of the repositioning, the title of publisher — once among the most esteemed titles in theindustry— wasabolished. Publishers were re- placed by chief revenue officers who handled stables of magazines and called on advertisers in categories ranging from beauty to tech and pharmaceuticals.
Insiders had been grumbling about Norton for months. The complaints centered on displeasure that the jarring realignment s did not help bolster the company’s sagging print magazines.
Norton had become so unpopular inside Condé that he was virtually banned from attending someofthered-carpet events hosted by magazines, one source said.
In announcing Norton’ s exit, Condé, in a single non-attributed sentence, said, “During his tenure at the company, Norton initiated significant structural changes that have resulted in one unified sales organization.”
Norton did not return a call seeking comment.