Business

Ailing Condé looks to China for growth

Enter the Beijing Apple.

With the gloss off the US ad scene, mag giant Condé Nast is looking to China, hoping to drum up business in the fast-growing nation.

The push to the East is happening at a time when cuts are digging deep at Condé — from the closure of Gourmet and parent mag Cookie to double-digit job losses at its Midtown offices.

“In emerging markets like China . . . the magazine business and magazine development continue to go very strong,” Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Condé’s international arm, said in China over the weekend.

Newhouse — who is the cousin of Conde Nast’s legendary octogenarian publisher Si Newhouse — spoke to a small group of reporters in Beijing to mark the launch last month of the mainland China edition of GQ magazine.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Newhouse said the success of Condé Nast’s magazines in China, which include Vogue, Self and Modern Bride in addition to GQ, has boosted the company’s global circulation over the past five years.

Still, Newhouse warned the pace of the expansion will likely be slowed by the need for approval from China’s central government for each title it adds.

“I know at least one magazine which was forced by the government to stop publishing,” he said. “Some publishers are not strictly meeting these requirements. They are, in my opinion, at risk to run into legal problems.”

So far, though, there’s not a lot of money to be made. “We are looking at five to 10 years down the road” before becoming profitable, said Cao Wei Ming, managing director of Condé Nast China.

Publishers aren’t the only US-based companies who are stalking Chinese consumers in a bid to offset the stagnation at home. Retail chains from Wal-Mart to Best Buy to Calvin Klein have opened hundreds of stores on the mainland, chasing the country’s freer-spending middle class.