Time Inc. is bracing for another round of cutbacks.
Sources say the layoffs will be most severe in the division that includes Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Time and Money, and will be carried out before the Thanksgiving break.
Since many of the old-line titles at Time Inc. are covered by union contracts with the Newspaper Guild, the company will likely have to offer voluntary buyout options as part of the downsizing.
Time is running out if it hopes to complete the layoffs and write off the costs in the fourth quarter.
Ann Moore, CEO of Time Inc., personally took over supervision of that unit when she assigned its former group head and executive vice president, John Squires, to the new digital publishing initiative. He is charged with working on getting magazines onto e-readers.
Time Inc. axed about 600 people last year, and is down to about 9,000 employees worldwide.
The guessing game inside the company says that this round of cuts will not be as deep as a year ago.
But, as one insider said, “It changes week to week and nothing is final yet.”
Condé cuts
At 4 Times Square, the Condé Nast carnage, which began on Oct. 5 with the axing of 180 people and closing of four magazines, stretched into its fourth week.
Staffers were laid off from the edit side at Details and the business side at Teen Vogue.
At Details, Executive Editor Greg Williams was among two people let go by Editor-in-Chief Dan Peres.
Laura McEwen, the publisher of Teen Vogue, delivered the bad news to six members of the business staff.
The total number of people axed at Condé Nast this year has now surpassed 450 people.
The founders of aggregation site Reddit, which Condé bought three years ago for an undisclosed sum, are also leaving the company. Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian said in a blog post that their contracts are up and they want to pursue other things.
Holt grabs
Steve Rubin, who was the longtime publisher of Doubleday and left his job as publisher-at-large of Doubleday’s parent company, Random House, after just seven months, is landing at Henry Holt as publisher.
Rubin was known as a free-spending exec when he was at the Doubleday imprint.
His authors included “The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown, John Grisham and later, George W. Bush, whose memoirs he helped negotiate for the Crown imprint of Random House when he was the publisher-at-large.
Few, if any, of the writers are expected to follow him to his new imprint at Holt, which has a reputation for being a more thrifty culture, less interested in big-ticket authors.
Holt prides itself on discovering “literary sleepers,” noted one observer.
“The question is, will he change the culture or will the culture change him?” said one source.
Most are betting on the latter. “Just by hiring him, they are likely to bring themselves to the attention of more agents and authors,” said the source.
Talks with at least one other publisher, where Rubin was angling for his own imprint, stalled.
To get the job, he is essentially taking on half of Don Farley‘s duties. Farley, who is based on the West Coast, will continue to be in charge of children’s publishing. Rubin will take over the adult trade.
Rubin could not be reached for comment. His boss, John Sargent, CEO of parent company Macmillan Inc., did not return calls.
People slips
People enjoyed 2 million in newsstand sales with its Jaycee Dugard issue — including the first recent pictures of the girl who was held captive for 18 years — but followed that with one of its worst-selling issues of the year.
Sources say the Nicole Richie baby cover now on sale is estimated to have newsstand sales of just over one million this week. That keeps People at the top of the celebrity weekly category, but not by much — and it lags its usual average of about 1.4 million a week.
People is said to have paid in mid-six figures for the photos.
Sources say In Touch was right behind it, with sales of about 800,000. Michael Steele‘s first issue as EIC of Us Weekly sold 710,000. Star had about 450,000; Life & Style 430,000 and OK! just under 400,000.