• by Ray Schultz , January 22, 2024

Pitchfork will be merged with Condé Nast men's magazine GQ, resulting in an unspecified number of layoffs. 

Anna Wintour, the chief content officer of Condé Nast, announced the change in a staff memo last week. But Wintour was criticized for not taking off her omnipresent sunglasses during the termination meeting. 

“One absolutely bizarro detail from this week is that Anna Wintour — seated indoors at a conference table — did not remove her sunglasses while she was telling us that we were about to get canned,” according to an X post by former Pitchfork staff writer Allison Hussey, reported by Variety. “The indecency we’ve seen from upper management this week is appalling.”

“Both Pitchfork and GQ have unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism, and we are excited for the new possibilities together,” Wintour said in her memo, according to The New York Times. But Wintour added, “With these organizational changes, some of our Pitchfork colleagues will be leaving the company today.”

One victim was Puja Patel, editor of the Pitchfork site since 2018, according to the Times. 

Condé Nast announced in November that it would be laying off 5% of its work force, or about 270 employees.