The Ogilvy Group cut about 10% of its staff across multiple units. Insiders estimate the number of layoffs as high as 300. The cut affects the North American offices of Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy Interactive, OgilvyAction and other units. The agency's client list includes IBM, American Express, Kodak, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Lenovo and Morgan Stanley. In the last year, Ogilvy has seen many of its major clients slash spending and shift dollars into disciplines handled by other roster shops. The cut comes as Miles Young moves to New York to assume worldwide CEO duties from longtime CEO …

It is entirely plausible that the old media will die more quickly than people expect. At some point soon, for example, the print edition of The New York Times, and with it the newspaper as we know it, will likely no longer exist. What would a post-print Times look like? Forced to make a Web-based strategy profitable, a reconstructed NYT Web site could start mixing original coverage with Times-endorsed reporting from other outlets via aggregation. Remaining NYT reporters could use their considerable savvy to mix their own reporting with others, giving us a more integrative, real-time …

President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS. He is expected to accept the offer. Obama said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice. The Michigan-born son of parents who were born in India, Gupta hosts "House Call" on CNN. His appointment would give the administration a skilled television spokesman. Gupta was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. During …

OK magazine recently rolled back a price increase, but it's adding to its masthead. Marc Eisele from Tennis Week is being hired as managing editor. Roberta Caploe, from Ladies' Home Journal, is being named senior executive editor. Michelle Edgar, from Women's Wear Daily, is the new beauty director. OK has felt the economic downturn, but has outpaced its rivals. Ad pages grew 28.6% in 2008, which was down from 44% in 2007. Under general manager Kent Brownridge, the celeb weekly recently undid a 50-cent increase and in late 2008 it skipped three issues.

After 12 years at Time magazine, deputy managing editor Adi Ignatius has left to take the post of editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review. Before becoming deputy managing editor, Ignatius was responsible for Time's business and international coverage. He replaces Thomas Stewart, who left HBR last June. Along with the top hire, HBR magazine is set to launch a tiered subscription offering including an online-only option with full access to the magazine's digital archive. The magazine also plans to unveil a redesign of its Web site, hbr.org, in the next few weeks.

With media under pressure, direct-response advertising is finally getting some respect. Clients often pay much lower rates for DR TV spots than traditional spots. The catch is that DR spots don't get booked until traditional advertisers have had a chance to buy them. "The [broadcast media buyers] who get all the Super Bowl tickets are definitely calling us now, because clients are worried and they want to be paying the right price to get the right return," says Lynn Fantom, CEO of IPG direct response agency ID Media. DR advertisers upped spending 27% in the first nine months …

Despite the recession, USA Network nailed down its third consecutive ratings victory in 2008. It averaged 1.34 million adults 25-54, an increase of 9% versus 2007. In prime time, it averaged a record 2.86 million viewers, a 7% improvement over its year-ago delivery. The net also served up 1.32 million viewers 18-49, another 7% increase. Each of the three deliveries stands as historic high-water marks for ad-supported cable, per Nielsen. ,br> As has been the case for the last three years, TNT and ESPN took the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in prime-time viewers. Among the losers, …