ONE GLOSSY GLUT
Condé looking to shed 3 losing titles: sources
Condé Nast is quietly shopping some of its worstperforming magazines, The Post has learned.
The owner of Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ is looking to unload W, Brides and Golf Digest, sources said, noting efforts have been ongoing, and the company has approached potential suitors.
The trio of titles is among the New York publishing giant’s smaller assets and the move is part of a larger ongoing strategy to cut costs as the company invests in digital.
Boston Consulting Group is advising Condé Nast on its media strategy, a source close to the company revealed. Condé declined to comment.
It could not be determined how long the magazines have been on the block, but a source said W has been presented to Jay Penske, whose company, PMC, owns fashion trade publication Women’s Wear Daily and luxury magazine The Robb Report, among others.
Penske declined to comment. PMC is said to have passed on two previous opportunities to buy W, sources said.
The sale news isn’t exactly surprising to media watchers, considering cost-cutting at the target titles, including a reduction in the number of issues per year, and the broader consolidation in the magazine world.
Late last year, Condé Nast, run by Chief Executive Robert Sauerberg, lopped W’s frequency from 10 to eight issues annually, and upped its newsstand price to $9.99, saying it was repositioning the magazine as a “luxury collectible” with issues tied to tentpole events and seasons rather than months — a sure sign of problems, sources said.
Insiders have complained that budgets are extremely lean at W and that top talent has been scrambling for the door after fashion and style director Edward Enninful got plucked last year for the editor-in-chief job at British Vogue.
Brides, which publishes six times annually, got a makeover this year that takes in- spiration from the Instagram generation. Translation: It is desperately seeking new young readers.
Brides could be an acquisition target for magazine giant Meredith, which acquired Time Inc. earlier this year, one source mused.
If Meredith bought Brides, the Des Moines, Iowa, company could combine it with its bridal title, Martha Stewart Weddings, sources said.
Meredith declined to comment.
And then there’s Golf Digest, which is a horse of a different color in Condé’s current stable of high-gloss fashion and lifestyle magazines.
As the publisher mulls Golf Digest’s future, it is in the process of pumping up its revenue streams via a digital, video and print offering for $9.99 that it launched four months ago.
Finding a buyer for the sports publication may be easier than attracting one for the other two, however.
Late last year, banking mogul Howard Milstein expanded his golf-related holdings when he bought Time Inc.’s Golf magazine and golf.com Web site.
Milstein, a minority investor in Nicklaus & Co., Jack Nicklaus’ golf lifestyle company, as well as Miura Golf and True Spec, declined to comment.