THE April issue of Condé Nast Portfolio has set a record but not one that anybody at the magazine wants to brag about.
Insiders say the issue, with 106 total pages and only 21 ad pages, is the slimmest monthly issue ever published by the glitzy publishing house run by S.I. Newhouse Jr.
And achieving that feat was a battle right to the finish: The January issues of Lucky and Gourmet, the February issue of the now-defunct Domino, and the March issue of Bon Appetit each totaled a paltry 108 pages.
Portfolio’s April issue is barely above the 98-page minimum count needed to be able to glue the cover in place, in a format known in the industry as “perfect bound.”
Some sources said that the April issue was held up later than usual to try to scare up a few more ad pages, but Publisher William Li said that wasn’t the case.
“We always close late,” he said. “We’re on the same schedule as Vanity Fair because we are so news-sensitive.”
He also pointed out that the April issue closed in January, “when everyone [was] panicked.”
Li insisted the May issue will be fatter, but because it hasn’t closed yet he said he couldn’t give an exact tally. He also noted that on a percentage basis, Portfolio is only in the middle of the pack in terms of industry declines.
Regardless, with a very lean and mean summer ahead, insiders said they would not be surprised if Portfolio posted more substantial declines.
That’s because Condé Nast, as part of its massive cost-cutting measures, has made 102 pages the new minimum size level for its monthly titles. That’s down from its previous minimum of 116 total pages.
Controversy is also swirling inside Condé Nast’s headquarters over Portfolio Editor Joanne Lipman‘s selection of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and former vice presidential nominee, for its cover. It follows a December cover story on American Apparel boss Dov Charney, and both have been criticized as soft features at a time when the financial markets and the economy are in crisis.
“It’s beyond eye-rolling at this point,” said one insider.
Lipman defended her decision to put Palin on the cover.
“Our Palin cover story, about how she is blocking the Alaska gas pipeline, has been all over the news,” she told Media Ink. “Palin in fact held a press conference [Wednesday] responding to our piece. Palin and her relationship to Big Oil is a huge business story, one that we’re proud to have broken first.”
She also insisted “[Portfolio’s] financial reporting has been ahead of the curve and second to none.”
Lipman said the cur rent issue also has a terrific profile of doomsday economist Nouriel Rou bini, who’s earned the nick name Dr. Doom, a finance column on a new way to stress test the mar kets and an in- depth look at how the financial crisis has hit college endowments.
But that’s unlikely to quiet her in-house critics.
“People genuinely wanted it to succeed, but now it’s to the point where people are resentful,” said an insider. “We’re laying people off while we’re funding this magazine.”
The latest layoffs at Condé Nast came Wednesday morning at Condé Nast Media Group, which is led by Richard “Mad Dog” Beckman.
The unit chopped 20 employees, or about 15 percent of its overall workforce, which now totals an estimated 115 people, though Condé Nast wouldn’t confirm that figure.
Now for some good news. The Adweek/Mediaweek Hot List is going to appear on Monday, and we hear The Economist will land on the top of the list.
Elle, the Hachette Filipacchi-owned fashion magazine, lands in the No. 2 spot, while People, the Time Inc. powerhouse, nails the No. 3 spot.
On the small-magazine hot list (under $60 million in ad revenue) The Week, the sole US magazine still owned by British publishing maverick Felix Dennis, tops the list, followed by Joe Mansueto‘s Fast Company and the only Condé Nast bright spot, Golf World, is expected to be in third place.
Bob Safian of Fast Company will be hailed as the Top Editor. Mary Ann Bekkedahl, an executive vice president and group publisher of Rodale, will be singled out as the top publishing executive of the year.
And while the American Magazine Conference slated for Boca Raton, Fla. in October was canceled due to the economy, the industry still plans to honor its best magazines at the annual National Magazine Awards.
In the list of nominations released earlier this week, The New Yorker, edited by David Remnick, scored 10 nominations, including general excellence, reporting and feature writing.
GQ was nominated for eight awards, including reporting, the most in that magazine’s history.
Adam Moss and New York pulled in six nominations and Esquire is up for five, as is National Geographic.
Reader’s Digest, under Peggy Northrop, snagged its first nomination in 20 years for general excellence in the over-two million circulation category, battling Martha Stewart Living, National Geographic, Real Simple and Time.
Best Life, which Rodale is shutting down with the April issue, received its first nomination, for “magazine section.”
Twenty-six winners will be recognized at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall on April 30.
Can we take any more good news? The Kelly Gang, which includes media types with the surname Kelly, pulled in close to $60,000 to benefit the Doe Fund, at its sixth-annual charity fundraiser. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly presented the Gang’s Man of the Year honor to Doe Fund founder (and past NY Post Liberty Award Winner) George McDonald.
Steve Millington, the general manager of Michael’s Restaurant, took a turn on the stage playing guitar, spelling the Paddy on the Railway folk combo before the NYPD Emerald Society Pipe and Drum corps took center stage.
Author Mary Pat Kelly, a co- founder of the Gang, auto graphed more than 50 copies of her new novel, “Galway Bay,” which is a fictional version of her own Kelly clan’s journey from Galway, Ireland, through New Orleans to Chicago, where one of her ancestors estab lished one of the first urban Irish-American political machines. The book, from the Grand Central imprint of Hachette Books, is already on the regional bestseller list of the Boston Globe.
Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore created a stir last week when she told the London Daily Telegraph that the company was mulling ways to charge people to access its online content.
“Who started this rumor that all information should be free and why didn’t we challenge this when it first came out?” Moore was quoted as asking. “I say this in college classrooms and they start to throw their shoes at me. I say, ‘Kids, your food is not free and your cars are not free, your clothes are not free. Good information costs money. Someone has to pay the Baghdad bureau.’ ”
This week, John Squires, the executive vice president of Time Inc., shed a little more light on the how and why of the plan, which seems to shy away from a strict pay-for-play scenario.
“We’re not going to gate off our content,” said Squires. “We’re not going to a totally paid model.”
Yet, he added, “We have to acknowledge that online advertising is slowing. We have to have a more active exploration of how consumers can pay for some content.”
He said the final outcome is likely to involve a hybrid of some free content and some addi tional, paid content.
“We are thinking more aggressively about areas of our sites [that] consumers will pay for,” said Squires.
The company pulls in 27 million unique viewers a month through sites including People.com, SI.com, Time.com and CNNMoney.com.
He said the first paid products could roll out by “the fall of this year.” keith.kelly@nypost.com