The carnage at Condé Nast entered its third day yesterday with another big surprise: the ouster of 12 people on the ad-sales team of Brides magazine, which appeared to have escaped the knife.
The Brides’ axings help to make room for the ad team from mom magazine Cookie, one of four titles shut this week.
Job cuts are proving to be a nearly daily ritual for the glitzy magazine publisher, which has fallen on hard times due to the ad-spending meltdown. Additional cutbacks are expected in the days ahead as each Condé title unveils its plan to wring out cost savings of at least 25 percent.
Yesterday was the last day for most of the 180 people at Cookie, and three other mags: Gourmet, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride.
Former Cookie publisher Carolyn Kremins, was reassigned to Brides on the same day that Condé CEO Chuck Townsend pulled the plug on Brides’ in-house rivals. She is taking her ad team with her.
Because Brides was expected to eke out a small profit this year, those who lost their jobs yesterday were particularly caught off-guard.
“This was a little unexpected,” said Bonnie Hutchinson, Midwest ad director, who received word of her firing in a phone call five minutes before The Post contacted her. “I’m going to go home and recover for a few days and then brush myself off and look for a new job.”