The Web may be the future for magazine publishers, but for now their focus is on steady, reliable revenue. With cuts going down all over the industry, it appears much of the magazine world is
responding by shoving their online people off the boat first.
For instance, when Fortune's parent company Time Inc. mandated layoffs, Fortune execs decided the bulk of its editorial
cuts would come from the Internet. At Forbes, there have also been massive layoffs from the Web side, including Forbes Auto and Forbes Traveler, with a full integration of the print and Web coming
in the new year. At Condé Nast, the operating policy basically reads: revenue first, Web later.
The printed page, the luxury object, is still where you find the money these days. "We
work in the high-end market," says a Conde Nast insider. "We're going to stick to it and we might be the last one standing, but that's our philosophy. The Web isn't really a priority."
advertisement
advertisement