Hearst said to be weighing Cosmo shake-up

HEARSTmay be readying another top-editor shake-up. Higher-ups have begun to quietly search for a new editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan, its most profitable title, sources are whispering.

The job also oversees Seventeen, its little sister title. Current Cosmo Editor-in-Chief

Michele Promaulayko returned to the title only in September 2016 when then-EIC Joanna Coles was promoted to Hearst chief content officer.

Promaulayko had spent nine years as No. 2 editor at Cosmo, when it was edited by Kate White, before she jumped to Women’s Health.

After excelling at running WH and spending a year heading Ya- hoo’s health channel, Promaulayko circled back to land the top Cosmo job.

But recent staff turnover and a failure to halt sliding newsstand sales have made for a shaky return.

Some speculate that Hearst brass are weighing a soft landing for Promaulayko — perhaps back at Women’s Health as soon as Hearst’s $221 million takeover of Rodale is complete.

But that path is not clear. Hearst honchos are said to be impressed with the current WH editor.

Meanwhile, under Promaulayko, Cosmo’s newsstand sales decline accelerated in the first half of 2017. Only 227,027 individual copies were sold out of a total circulation of 3,026,406. That’s a 57 percent tumble from 2015.

A Hearst spokeswoman denied that any change is imminent at Cosmo.

Reddit IPO?

Reddit, the online discussion platform that has weathered a few storms, says it could be looking at an initial public offering in two years that could give a big boost to its beleaguered parent company, Advance Publications.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman dropped the news at a conference on Monday, according to Variety.

“It’s highly probable it could have an IPO in a couple of years if it keeps on the same trajectory,” Ste

ven Newhouse, head of Advance.net at Advance Publications, told Media Ink. Advance spun off Reddit but remains majority owner.

The company that bills itself as the “front page of the internet” was founded by Huffman and Alexis

Ohanian while they were still in college. In 2006, they sold it to Advance, parent of several newspapers and Condé Nast, for $10 million to $20 million.

Last year, it was given a valuation of $1.8 billion after a new $200 million investment round that included Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel’s

Ron Conway, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, Vy Capital, Fidelity and Y Combinator President Sam Altman as an individual.

Huffman left after the original 2006 sale but returned in 2015 as CEO.

New Bauer ED

James Heidenry will be the new editorial director of Bauer Publishing’s celebrity magazines — In

Touch, Life & Style and Closer — replacing David Perel. Heindenry will report directly to CEO Steve Kotok.

Both Perel and Heindenry have ties to rival American Media Inc., which has been cutting staff.

Perel had been longtime editor of AMI’s National Enquirer and Star magazine and was VP of digital before exiting AMI in August 2013 to try his hand as an entrepreneur. He joined Bauer a year later.

Heindenry, an ex-editor of Maxim and Modern Luxury’s Manhattan, had been running OK! when AMI acquired Us Weekly — and promptly added it to his portfolio. He resigned from AMI in late October and was succeeded by Dylan Howard.

Crain’s outs

Crain’s New York Business Editor Jeremy

Smerd was given the ol’ heave-ho on Tuesday after a year in the top spot. “Today was my last as @CrainsNewYork editor,” Swerd tweeted. “Thank you to the awardwinning news team for your great work, enthusiasm and support.”

Smerd was said to be one of three executives to be pink-slipped. Rosemary Maggiore, the general manager of digital, and Michael O’Connor, the head of audience development, saw their jobs eliminated. The positions will be run out of corporate in Detroit. It now means the weekly is without someone in the top two positions. Publisher Jill Kaplan apparently exited on her own last week — leaving to lead the NY-NJ region of United Airlines. The departures have stirred new worries that the recent ownership change — Rance Crain sold his half of the company to his brother Keith Crain — could foretell tough times for the business titles. K.C. Crain, president and son of company Chairman Keith Crain, said, “We remain committed to the city books and Crain’s New York Business. We’re just trying to break down the silos and do things more efficiently.” CNYB Managing Editor Brendan O’Connor will be the interim editor. Mary Kramer, publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business will become group publisher over Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and New York.