• Crain’s New York Business, Monday, September 14, 2009 10:21 PM

Consultants from McKinsey & Co. have wrapped up their summer-long review of Conde Nast. Now COO John Bellando is asking editors and publishers to set aside time for meetings to go over next year's budgets.

A senior executive says the magazines could be asked to reduce spending by as much as 25%. The McKinsey findings may be tapped for ways to achieve the reductions. The assumption behind the cuts is that advertising is not going to rebound any time soon.

"They're not going to expect you to grow your way out of current economic [difficulties]," the executive says, referring to the feeling in the past among senior Conde Nast management that the ad recession would be short-lived. "You're going to have to make your business work the way things are now." The expectation is that the reductions this time around will be deeper and more painful than any Conde Nast has ever experienced.

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