Joanne Lipman

Earlier today, Media Mob looked at Richard Pérez-Peña's New York Times Sunday Business article about Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse.

In that article, Mr. Pérez-Peña noted:

Last year, Condé introduced one of its most expensive new titles, Portfolio, its first business magazine, which company executives predict will lose $150 million or more before breaking even in four to five years.

The price tag for Porfolio just keeps going up, apparently. In April 2007, New York Magazine's Mark Fass wrote, that the magazine had "a reported budget of $125 million, it’s the most expensive launch Condé Nast has ever done."

Previously, the quote had been $100 million.  read more »

Portfolio has a profile of Related Companies chairman Steve Ross today, and along with it, a video of the magazine's real estate forum at the Four Seasons last month, where Joanne Lipman, Portfolio's editor, queried—somewhat awkwardly, at times—Mr. Ross, Vornado chairman Steve Roth, and Elliman superbroker Dolly Lenz.

(For more on Mr. Ross, we have an unrelated story on Related and a West Side tower in today's print edition.)

Portfolio senior editor Bob Roe was fired this week, and his last day was today, Media Mob has learned. It's the first major firing this year in what has been a relatively quiet year for the magazine.  read more »

It's on the record now.

Condé Nast editorial director Tom Wallace gave the company's loudest and most forceful public support for Joanne Lipman, the editor of Portfolio. In a story in today's Women's Wear Daily written by Stephanie Smith, Wallace says the following: that the company "love[s]" Joanne Lipman; that she's an "ingenious" editor; that she's absolutely safe in her job; that the company is "extremely pleased" with the magazine.  read more »

Last night, at Columbia's journalism school, Joanne Lipman said that three years ago she got a call from Si Newhouse. She met with him, had lunch, and loved the conversation so much she would have been perfectly satisfied with her life even if she'd been struck by a truck on her way out the door of his apartment building.  read more »

Shortly after former Newsweek writer Dana Thomas signed a contract with Portfolio to become the latter magazine’s European editor, she celebrated with a “couple-thousand”-dollar shopping spree.

“The first thing I did after I got the job was go shopping, and I bought three new dresses and a pair of red boots,” she said. “They’re red suede boots and they go over the knee—they’re really hot.  read more »

Last week, Michael Kinsley arrived at 4 Times Square for a meeting with Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman and word of the meeting spread quickly through the building: Was he about to become the latest masthead addition to the monthly business magazine?

Not quite yet.

Mr. Kinsley told Media Mob that he was meeting with Ms. Lipman to give her a few pointers with how to run the magazine.  read more »

Another departure for Portfolio: Women's Wear Daily reports that Daniel Roth, a senior writer who came to the magazine from Fortune, is moving to another Conde Nast title, Wired, where he'll hve the same title.  Mr. Roth joins Katrina Brooker, Michael Caruso, Jim Impoco, and Kurt Eichenwald, among others, in heading for the exits at the fledgling business glossy.

Still, it wasn't all bad news for Portfolio editor in chief Joanne Lipman yesterday. She got a plum seating assignment next to S.I. Newhouse at his annual Conde Nast party at the Four Seasons, which Keith Kelly interprets as a vote of confidence.

When Women's Wear Daily reported last week that Chris Jones, the managing editor of Portfolio.com, was resigning, he appeared to be another casualty of a magazine in crisis. Was Mr. Jones joining Jim Impoco in heading for the exits after failing to see eye-to-eye with top Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman?

The answer appears to be no. But Mr. Jones’ departure may still tell us something about the fledgling glossy’s growing pains. According to two people familiar with the situation, the editor left because he believed that the growing influence of the magazine’s business team was compromising its editorial independence.  read more »

Chris Jones, Portfolio.com's managing editor, has resigned after clashing with Portfolio editor in chief Joanne Lipman over hiring decisions for the site, Women's Wear Daily reported this morning. Mr. Jones joins Jim Impoco--who was fired in August after also failing to see eye-to-eye with Ms. Lipman--as an early alum of the young business glossy .  read more »

Former New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald did not inform one of his editors at The Times that he suffered from memory loss. "Kurt never told me that he suffers from memory loss, and to the best of my knowledge he didn't tell any editor here," wrote Times business editor Larry Ingrassia--who oversaw Mr. Eichenwald's controversial child pornograpahy story--in an email to The Observer.

Mr. Eichenwald revealed in an interview today with NPR that he has long-term memory loss due to a battle with epilepsy.

Mr. Eichenwald did inform Portfolio editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman that he has memory disruptions, but only in one of their final conversations together, two sources said. He later resigned from the glossy magazine.

It's hard to evaluate the news coming from Keith Kelly's Media Ink column in The New York Post about Conde Nast chief Si Newhouse's Wednesday meeting with Joanne Lipman, editrix of Portfolio.

The splashy $100 million project is the object of some Schadenfreude, though the Schaden-part has always been difficult to pin down.  read more »

Blaise Zerega, Portfolio's managing editor will be taking over the job of deputy editor--a position left vacant since the firing of Jim Impoco last month. Also, New Yorker managing editor Jacob Lewis will be joining Portfolio.

After the jump is the staff memo, obtained by The Observer.  read more »

Today, Portfolio announced the hiring of Hilary Stout, editor of the Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal. Ms. Lipman, while at the Journal, oversaw the section's creation, and has now added to her roster of ex-Journal staffers: Jesse Eisinger, Scot Paltrow, Ken Wells, Amy Stevens, and Peter Waldman.

Release after the jump.  read more »

Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto, who now owns business titles Fast Company and Inc., has lured an editor out of Joanne Lipman's stable at Portfolio.

Jeffrey Chu, a senior associate editor, is leaving the Conde Nast title for Mansueto's Fast Company.

It's the latest in a series of staff changes for Portfolio in the wake of the publication of its second issue.  read more »

Leaner, better magazine—but firings, resignations and charges of indecision at the top have some staffers sounding mutinous.  read more »

The new issue of Portfolio is out today, and it's worth taking a look at diction in the magazine's glossy pages.

To counter the some of the "wealth porn" criticism that the first issue received, several Portfolio staffers told The Observer that editors were instructed to think twice about certain lofty words: "chauffeur," "mansion," "titan," "millionaire," and "billionaire." This wasn't compulsory and there was no memo, staffers said. Just an effort to cut down.

So how did it work out?

Chauffeur: 0

Mansion: 7

Titan: 2

Millionaire: 2

Billionaire: 6

Not bad, but we'll see how it goes with issue 3, which closes in just a few weeks.

--Additional reporting by Julia Heming

   read more »

Portfolio’s second issue hits newsstands on August 15, and there have now been two high-profile departures in the past four days alone.

Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer and investigative reporter, has resigned, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

For two decades, Mr. Eichenwald worked as an investigative reporter at the New York Times before joining the Conde Nast start-up in September 2006.

It was in Dec. 2005, while at The Times, that Mr. Eichenwald wrote an award-winning investigative piece on online child-pornography that continues to generate controversy. This past March, The Times revealed that Mr. Eichenwald paid $2,000 to the story’s subject Justin Berry—which although repaid, violated the paper’s ethics guidelines, according to executive editor Bill Keller. And two days ago, The Times reported that Mr. Eichenwald made additional payments totaling $1,100 to Mr. Berry via PayPal, under pseudonyms.

Back in February 2007, Mr. Eichenwald was very excited about his new position at Portfolio, telling The Observer that “very few startups have the kind of bankroll behind it that this one does."

Regarding the simultaneous print and online launch, he added: “Portfolio is a magazine being born in the 21st century. Any magazine coming out now cannot look at the Web as just something to put an article on; it has to be viewed as part of the whole.”

When contacted by The Observer today, Mr. Eichenwald declined to comment.

It’s been a tumultuous week over at 4 Times Square

On Tuesday, The Observer first reported on the firing of deputy editor Jim Impoco—regarded among staffers at the magazine’s number two, next to editor Joanne Lipman. The widely-admired Mr. Impoco brought in many of the magazine’s top staffers, and his firing occurred at a difficult moment, right as the magazine shifts to a monthly schedule.

Mr. Impoco was an advocate of an investigative piece on terrorism that Mr. Eichenwald wrote for the first issue, but which was held by Ms. Lipman.

Although Mr. Eichenwald wrote another piece for the forthcoming September issue, the terrorism story remains held. Several Portfolio staffers, who read the terrorism piece, praised it, and told The Observer that they did not know a specific reason why Ms. Lipman would not run it.

A Portfolio spokesperson had no comment.

UPDATE: Portfolio staffers now tell The Observer that was Mr. Eichenwald was on leave at the time of his resignation. A Portfolio spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters. 

Condé Nast's bulky Portfolio makes a lightweight debut.  read more »

Just weeks ago, Portfolio staffers could only communicate under double super secret background (Matt Cooper, natch).

But as this weekend's storm reached Biblical proportions in New York City--Genesis? Yikes!--came the first glimmer of Portfolio.com.

And now with today's print launch, the Conde Nast, no-talking-in-the-cafeteria gag order has been briefly lifted, letting in a gaggle of media reporters: Kit, Irin, Friedman, and Keith Kelly. Dylan is around, too, but only as a talking head for ABC News.

All this and there's not even a glitzy launch party to reward hard-working media reporters. Instead, the Portfolio gang will toast one another tonight at the Beaver Bar.

What goes into Portfolio’s new business journalism?  read more »

Veteran art director Robert Priest has just been named design director for Portfolio, the forthcoming Condé Nast business magazine. He had been working as a consultant for the publication, which is scheduled to launch in spring of 2007.

Priest, the founder of Priest Media, has previously worked at Condé Nast's GQ and House & Garden. In his role as consultant, he was responsible for the leaning-F "Portfolio logo on the magazine's prototype covers.

"Robert Priest is the Michaelangelo of magazine design," Portfolio editor in chief Joanne Lipman wrote via e-mail when asked about Priest's hiring. "He's done brilliant work on publications ranging from Esquire & GQ to H&G and Newsweek. We are extremely lucky to have him."

Priest did not return a call seeking comment.

-Michael Calderone

The empty real estate near the top of the Wall Street Journal masthead got some new tenants yesterday, as five editors were bumped up the org chart. The moves fill spaces left by departed deputy managing editors Stephen Adler, Joanne Lipman, and Byron Calame.

Adler and Lipman's departures--for Business Week and Conde Nast--had left Marcus Brauchli the perceived frontrunner to replace managing editor Paul Steiger when he reaches retirement age in two years. In apparent affirmation, Steiger has upgraded him to deputy managing editor.

Steiger's memo follows:

I'm pleased to announce the appointment of Dan Hertzberg as senior deputy managing editor and of Alix Freedman, Marcus Brauchli, Edward Felsenthal and Raju Narisetti as deputy managing editors.

These appointments ratify the expanded responsibilities that all five have already taken on during the past year.

Dan will continue to be responsible for the U.S. bureaus and news and page desks, and to take charge in my absence.

Alix will continue to direct our final reading and other programs to assure that the paper is as accurate and fair as we can make it. In addition, she will lead a small group of top editors to accelerate our progress toward a higher proportion of exclusive and analytical coverage.

Marcus will continue to direct the global news desk, maximizing the quality of all our global editions and increasing the cooperation, collaboration and integration on news coverage between the print Journals and our online and wire affiliates. Edward will continue to oversee the Personal Journal, Weekend Journal, and Pursuits sections and their staffs, to focus on efforts to continue the success of Weekend Edition, and to seek other ways to extend the Journal franchise.

Raju, based in Brussels, will continue to direct all Journal reporting teams and coverage from Europe and the Middle East and to serve as editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe. John Bussey, based in Hong Kong and currently a deputy managing editor, will continue to direct all Journal reporting teams and coverage from Asia and Latin America and to serve as editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia.

Please join me in wishing Dan, Alix, Marcus, Edward, Raju and John every success in their assignments.  read more »

Best regards, Paul Steiger

As journalism jobs go, what could be more fun than writing or editing for the "Weekend Journal"?  read more »