Magazine editor rides out of Sunset

SUNSET’S

editor-in-chief, Irene Edwards, who helped steer the sale of the magazine to a new owner in the waning days of the Time Inc. empire, has exited.

Edwards did not return an e-mail when we attempted to reach her via social media. But on her Instagram account, she indicated that she was no longer at Sunset.

A call to the Oakland, Calif., office — where the magazine moved when its longtime, campus-like headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., was sold by Time Inc. to raise cash — told Media Ink that Edwards left “several weeks ago.”

Calls were directed to the offices of Beverly Hills private equity firm Regent, headed by Michael Rein- stein, which purchased the magazine in late 2017.

“She was instrumental in that sale,” said one Time Inc. insider.

Sunset was founded in 1898 by a railroad company hoping to lure people to the Golden West. The Lane family picked it up during the Great Depression and turned it into a lush magazine that chronicled Western lifestyle.

Lane Publishing was sold to Time Inc. in 1990 for $225 million. Time Inc., back in the days when it was still trying to save itself, put Sunset on the block along with Essence, Golf magazine and SI Play.

The magazine sale was not enough to forestall the $2.8 billion takeover of Time Inc. by Meredith in January 2018.

Asked who was taking over at Sunset, an insider said, “We’re still working that out.”

Reinstein did not return calls or emails by press time. Edwards held the job since 2015, when she replaced Peggy Northrop.

More Condé cuts

Condé Nast on Thursday quickly moved to phase two in its reorganization.

Layoffs on the digital side of oper- ations came as it works to integrate more of its domestic and international operations into one global tech team.

There were no estimates on how many were let go in the process, although word circulated that audiovisual and tech support were hit.

“It sounds like Monday was phase one with the ad sales and this is phase two with the tech people,” said one source.

Speculation continues to swirl that phase three will involve editorial in the near future, althoughh the company was trying to tamp down that speculation.

Condé confirmed that Fred Santarpia was exiting, and said that a new global tech team was forming to be headed by Edward Cudahy of Condé’s domestic arm and Lee Wilkinson on the international side. The team reports to Bob Sauerberg, the CEO of domestic, and Wolfgang Blau, the president of international.

The company did say Thursday that for the moment it plans to keep its Austin, Texas-based Digital Innovation Center, which Santarpia opened in 2016 and currently has about 50 employees.

The company, which lost $120 million last year, is expected to lose at least $60 million this year.

The company is cutting staff, trying to sell off unwanted magazines like Brides, Golf Digest and W, and is also cutting back on its real estate needs at One World Trade Center.

Ebony exit redux

Linda Johnson Rice, whose family sold Ebony and Jet to private equityy firm CVG Group in 2016, has stepped away from her chairperson role with the company once again. Johnson Rice’s departure emerged on Thursday, the same day that the National Writers Union filed a complaint in Cook County Court claiming the publisher of Ebony and the digital-only Jet had reneged on an agreement for back pay to 40 freelance writers. Michael Gibson, the head of CVG, had not returned a call by press time. Johnson Rice first left the publishing company when Johnson Publishing sold its media holdings two years ago.