Things were apparently peacefully settled between longtime Vanity Fair Editor-in-chief Graydon Carter and Condé Nast CEO Charles Townsend.
Sources tell us that the two have hammered out Carter’s new contract. It is believed to be a three-year deal for about $2 million per — the same as he was said to be earning in his most recent contract that ended last month.
There was no signing bonus, sources whisper.
Originally, Carter’s high-profile entertainment industry lawyer, Allen Grubman, was pushing for a significant six-figure “signing bonus.”
While the bonus was off the table, Carter, under the new deal, is promised an accommodation and potential loan forgiveness when he eventually exits, one source said.
Carter has taken advantage of no-interest and low-interest loans from the Newhouse family over the years.
The negotiations were closely watched because the octogenarian chairman and family patriarch S.I. Newhouse, Jr., who once handled all negotiations with top editors, had handed off the job to Townsend for the first time.
Townsend was reluctant to dole out anything lavish, sources said.
McKinsey, the consulting firm called in to suggest cost cuts, is still hovering in the building.
Most new expenses are centered on developing products such as the digital video channels via the Condé Nast Entertainment Division that now has six magazines (including VF) up and running.
On the print side, Vanity Fair was down 7.2 percent in ad pages through its July issue and newsstand sales were off 11 percent in the first half.
And there was also grumbling in the hallways that Carter was spending an inordinate amount of time tending to the three restaurants — the Waverly Inn, Beatrice Inn and the Monkey Bar — where he has ownership stakes.
On the other hand, Condé Nast did not want to lose the editor who helped make the magazine a driving force in Hollywood with its Oscar- night party and its much watched New Establishment issue.
A Condé Nast spokeswoman declined to comment but referred to Townsend’s previous statement on the negotiations.
Townsend said he “expected to be working with Carter as editor of Vanity Fair for years to come.”
Carter could not be reached.
Perel exits
David Perel, a 22-year veteran of American Media who was most recently the editor-in-chief of Radar Online, resigned as of last Friday.
Perel’s career at AMI included editing Star and two separate stints as editor of the National Enquirer.
Dylan Howard, who had been at the financially struggling online media site Buzz Media — since renamed Spin Media — returned to Radar about six months ago and is now the editor-in-chief of Radar Online.
Perel insisted it is transition that he sought.
“I left American Media and Radar Online to do my own thing,” he told Media Ink. “I’ve wanted to do other things for awhile.”
He said he has some partners lined up and plans to start acquiring websites to “build them up.”
AMI CEO David Pecker told Media Ink that Perel has a one-year consulting agreement with the company.
Rough Patch
A few years ago, hyperlocal media was all the buzz in the digital world. But few seem to have solved the riddle.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong revealed in a call with analysts on Wednesday that he planned to shut down as many as 300 of the 900 local sites in the Patch network, which is bleeding red ink.
Jim Romenesko’s website was reporting that up to 500 Patch employees are expected to be fired today as a result of the closures.
That would mean about half of the 1,000 editorial staffers are getting the ax.
Calls to Armstrong and AOL were not retuned.
It has been tough sledding for many other hyperlocal sites as well. The Daily Voice, headed by Carll Tucker with wife Jane Bryant Quinn, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early May and laid off 50 staffers.
The Long Island newspaper Newsday abandoned a digital incursion into Westchester in late June and laid off the two dozen journalists it had hired.
Oddly, the only one who seems to have had great success in the hyperlocal realm is Gannett, the nation’s biggest newspaper chain with nearly 90 papers mostly in mid-sized to small cities and towns.
Gannett CEO Gracia Martore, who is buying Belo’s TV stations for $2.2 billion, said that even as publishing ad revenue slumps, circulation revenue at the local publishing operation was up 11.4 percent in the second quarter — the fifth consecutive quarter of circulation revenue growth.