At least someone is doing well in the cratering media landscape. Forbes reported late Friday that McKinsey & Company--the surprisingly young, "kind of hot" consultants who recently cut a swath through Conde Nast--are headed over to The Wall Street Journal, and then on to the rest of Dow Jones. Forbes tells Read More
Just eight years after Si Newhouse spent tens of millions to move Condé Nast into 4 Times Square, he was ready to move out.
In the first week of October 2007, Mr. Newhouse signed a deal with the real estate developer Douglas Durst to build a new tower for his company over a platform Read More
The 180 bodies lost this week at Condé Nast, in the wake of the execution of Gourmet, Cookie and two bridal magazines, comprise the greater part of the damage that we’re going to see out of 4 Times Square, CEO Chuck Townsend told The Observer.
“This was the big news,” said Mr. Townsend. “I Read More
When Condé Nast chief executive Chuck Townsend announced the deaths of Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, he gave hope to readers and staffers alike that some semblance of the magazines might live online. The changes will “enable us to pursue new ventures,” he wrote in his internal memo. “In the coming weeks, we Read More
While Conde Nast begins to grapple with the recommendation of those surprisingly stylish McKinsey staffers, A.I.G. is throwing them out.
McKinsey was preparing a plan for the financial giant that was titled, rather cryptically, "Project Destiny," but the company's C.E.O., Robert Benmosche, decided that the company has too many advisers already.
"I am busy getting Read More
Now that those McKinsey-branded packets have been given to nearly every publisher and editor at Condé Nast, when will the inevitable layoffs begin?
It depends on who your boss is.
“The general consensus is, ‘Let’s get it over with,’” said an editorial-side staffer who will have to draw up pink slips at one magazine. Read More
After a summer of mad speculation at 4 Times Square, Condé Nast editors and publishers are beginning to finally learn what life is going to be like in a post-McKinsey world. In the last few days, Condé Nast executives armed with McKinsey-branded binders have started to deliver budget targets for 2010 to editors and publishers. Read More
Over the next week, Condé Nast execs will begin meeting with editors and publishers at 4 Times Square and handing them their 2010 budget targets. It won’t be pretty. McKinsey consultants are expected to be present for these meetings, said one well-placed source.
Either way, the summer of guessing games for publishers and editors is about Read More
"It's like the first day of school here!” said one Condé Nast staffer, surveying the scene at 4 Times Square on Tuesday afternoon. “Today is quite the fashion show. The building is buzzing. I have to say, everyone looks amazing. I saw this one girl get off on the Teen Vogue floor who was wearing Read More
As McKinsey & Company makes its way through an 11-week tour of Condé Nast, consultants have been taking an early look at Anna Wintour’s Vogue and Klara Glowczewska’s Condé Nast Traveler, The Observer has learned.
Sources tell us that those two magazines have been getting a close examination in order to potentially serve Read More
Three weeks after McKinsey & Company slipped its foot into the door of the emerald tower, Condé Nast staffers continue to ask what fresh hell they find themselves in.
“I saw Graydon in the cafeteria this week!” said one business-side insider, last Friday. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen him in my life Read More
In the week-old, McKinsey-fied world, folks at Condé Nast remain jittery.
The consulting firm has already set up shop and will spend the next few weeks working around summer vacations to schedule interviews with editors, managing editors and publishers. Recommendations from the consulting firm are expected to begin in October, a well-placed source said. Read More
The casual, take-it-as-it-comes attitude that’s prevailed over Condé Nast during the past 10 dark months vanished from the atmosphere somewhere above 4 Times Square this week.
The shift in mood started late Monday afternoon when Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend sent out a companywide memo that said, rather coldly, that the consulting firm McKinsey & Read More
Eric Wolff went to work for the consulting firm McKinsey & Company after graduating from college in the spring of 2005. As he described it at the time on his Facebook page, he spent the following summer reading books that “warn of the inadequacy of the American Dream, and how it tempts generally good, intelligent Read More
The friend, Laurie Blitzer, who was running the nonprofit division for the firm at the time, obliged. Read More
