As sure as the Christmas tree is about to rise in Rockefeller Center, the publishing industry’s own harbinger of the season, the Condé Nast annual holiday luncheon, took place at the Four Seasons Restaurant yesterday.
The mood was clearly a little more subdued than in previous years — maybe because several rounds of budget cuts cost 60 persons their jobs, or maybe it was because of the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy.
(At least one of the editors in attendance, Lucky’s Brandon Holley, lost her primary residence in Brooklyn, while at least one other, Self’s Lucy Danziger, absorbed serious storm damage to a summer home.)
If not exactly jolly, the chief editors, publishers and top executives were at least thankful. And the return of the luncheon for the second year in a row seemed a major upgrade from the corporate cocktail party that had replaced it for a few years after the Great Recession.
Bob Sauerberg, president of Condé Nast, said that recent numbers show that the publisher, while down slightly in ad pages for the year, had actually increased market share against its biggest rivals, who fell harder.
“It was a good year, not a record year,” he said of the profit picture at the privately held company. Digital and Web activity now accounts for about 15 percent of overall revenue and is growing at a double-digit pace, he said.
CEO Charles Townsend is battling a bad case of shingles and so did not stay for the entire luncheon, but he did stick around long enough to run a tribute video to S.I. Newhouse Jr., the octogenarian chairman. “I’m going to have my chicken pot pie in the basement,” he joked as he exited early.
The video “was a moving tribute to a great publisher,” said New Yorker Editor David Remnick.
Si has been gradually ceding many of the day-to-day responsibilities to others, including Townsend; Sauerberg; Steve Newhouse, his nephew and president of Advance.Net; and Jonathan Newhouse, who runs Condé Nast International in London.
Jonathan Newhouse was a last-minute addition to Table 8, where he broke bread with Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive and Joe Simon, head of digital for Condé Nast. His overseas calendar usually kept him away.
In the early ’90s, it was widely expected that Jonathan would return to run the domestic Condé Nast empire, although in recent years the rapid growth of international — as domestic growth flattened out — seems to have made it a less-appealing prospect.
A transition to Jonathan is now not so clear-cut, and most believe he now prefers to stay in Europe.
In past years, Si would give his own view of the state of the industry and the company, and maybe give an update on the move to a new HQ or other newsworthy insights. This year, the taciturn Si let Townsend do the talking.
Still, it was Si’s luncheon, even if he didn’t make an address to his assembled elite. His top power table contained Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Remnick and Women’s Wear Daily’s longtime editor, Ed Nardoza, as well as Dan Peres, editor-in chief of Details, and Monica Ray, the head of consumer marketing who was raided from Time Inc. two years ago.
Peres’ seat at the Si table suggests the magazine is safe for the foreseeable future, after a year in which its ad pages inched up by 1 percent.
The chairman usually avoids lunching with the condemned.
The appearance of Ray at the table suggests Condé Nast turned back an overture from Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang to lure Ray back to the job that has been empty since April.
Many were looking to see where the one-time digital golden boy Scott Dadich, would be seated.
Only last Friday, he was unveiled as the new editor-in-chief of Wired, in something of a surprise, replacing the talented longtime editor Chris Anderson, who was leaving the printed word behind to run a robotics company.
Typically, the newest chief editor gets to sit at the right hand of Si — but Dadich was seated a few tables away with Editorial Director Tom Wallace.
“I didn’t feel like I was in Siberia at all,” said Dadich when queried on his seating. “I had a great time.”
In early 2010, he had arrived from Wired in San Francisco, where he had been the creative director, to become the Condé Nast digital guru with the title vice president, editorial platforms and design.
One admirer, Evan Smith, famously told the Observer that his digital expertise and wizardry made Dadich a cross between “Jesus and Pelé.”
Some said Dadich was becoming somewhat bored as the period of innovation has leveled off.
Dadich denies it. “My job has changed and continued to evolve, but there’s been new challenges at every turn.”
His elevation to the editor-in-chief job is one of the few instances where a creative director ultimately lands the top editorial job.
Graydon Carter, the Vanity Fair editor-in-chief, was a no-show. This time, it was an excused absence. He hosted a private dinner in London on Monday honoring Kate Moss, the December cover girl.