Conde Nast to Lay Off 70 to 80 Employees

Magazine Publisher Conde Nast is expected to lay off between 70 and 80 employees over the next two weeks, primarily from its ad sales division. This would be its first round of major layoffs since 2012.

A report released by The Wall Street Journal on tuesday suggests that Edward Menicheschi who was promoted in late August from Vanity Fair publisher to chief marketing officer and president of Conde Nast’s media group may be at least partly responsible for the layoffs. The paper explains that "the print advertising market has been tough so far this year," and adds that Conde has been "increasing its focus on digital ad sales and products." Conde Nast, currently employs approximately 1,000 in its corporate offices in New York, which means the layoffs represent less than 10% of that workforce.

The company, which is owned by Advance Publications, has been cleaning up its books lately by taking a number of retrenchment steps, spinning off Lucky magazine into a joint venture with Beachmint, selling off its unprofitable trade publication division, including Women's Wear Daily and Footwear News, to Penske Media for $100 million and combining Bon Appétit and its Epicurious food website under one management team.

A Condé Nast spokesperson declined to comment.