After weeks of guessing on how top executives would react to the McKinsey consultants' cost-cutting advice, Conde Nast plans to announce this morning that it will close four magazines, including company icon Gourmet -- which has been published since 1940.
According to the New York Times' "Media Decoder" blog, the company also plans to close two bridal magazines -- Modern Bride and Elegant Bride -- in addition to the relatively new Cookie parenting magazine.
For some time now, everyone's been waiting with baited breath to see what the top-level powers at Conde Nast would decide to do after the McKinsey consultants they'd hired had given some tough advice on cutting costs at the luxury-focused brand. Car services, paid lunches, lavish expense accounts -- everything has been on the chopping block, and while some suspected closings were still a possibility before the end of 2009, the shuttering of a legendary magazine like Gourmet will surely send shockwaves thoughout the company and the industry.
Despite the fact that Gourmet had been losing ad pages throughout the year, Gourmet's editor-in-chief, Ruth Reichl, is a much-beloved figure in the food world and within the company for her decadently simple approach to presenting food. As The Times' points out, many were betting that Conde would choose to close their food-focused glossy, Bon Appetit.
Cookie also enjoys the kind of youthful, cult status once assigned to Domino (which also closed this year), whereas the two bridal magazines are offshoots of the larger Brides, also owned by Conde Nast.
