Another round of shakeups has rocked Time Inc.
Barbara O’Dair was ousted as the managing editor of Teen People late yesterday.
She is being replaced by Amy Du Bois Barnett, the editor in chief of the African- American women’s magazine Honey.
Also, People en Espanol replaced Angelo Figueroa with Richard Perez-Feria, who was editing the San Fanmcisco-based 7X7 magazine.
Figueroa will become editor at large at Time Inc. while O’Dair was booted to Time Interactive.
Barnett is the first black woman to head a major magazine at Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine publisher.
O’Dair had taken over from founding editor Christina Ferrari two years ago. At the time, the teen market was hot. But it has been all downhill from there as a number of titles folded, one-time powerhouse Seventeen hung up a for-sale sign as profits slipped and YM said it overstated circulation numbers.
The market is only growing more competitive with Teen Vogue entering the fray this year from Conde Nast.
Teen People lost ad pages and circulation over the past two years.
In the six month period ending December 31, Teen’s People’s circulation slumped 2.2 percent to 1,603,138 while the newsstand portion – where editors are deemed to have the most impact – tumbled 8.3 percent to 511,910. Ad pages for the full year 2002 slumped by 4.4 percent to 1,005 pages.
O’Dair and Barnett could not be reached for comment.
It’s the second editorial upheaval in five days at the company. Late last week, the company told Real Simple managing editor Carrie Tuhy that she was being booted upstairs. Tuhy has yet to show up at Time Inc. since to finalize the deal, which was apparently done over her objections.