Business

Carol Smith returns to magazines as Harper’s Bazaar publisher

Carol Smith, the former publisher of Elle, has landed at Harper’s Bazaar, the Hearst fashion title, after a brief stint at Conde Nast’s Bon Appetit.

Smith, who is now publisher and chief revenue officer at Harper’s Bazaar, was credited with reviving ad pages at Hachette Filipacchi-owned Elle and expanding its following through a partnership with “Project Runway” during her eight years with the company.

She left for Conde Nast last year after Hachette started cutting costs ahead of its eventual sale to Hearst.

But she seemed to lose an internal tug of war when sister food mag Gourmet was brought back to life as a Web property and assigned to others. She was also seen as an odd choice for the food title and six months after joining to much fan fare, she was ousted.

In her new post, she reports to Michael Clinton, Hearst’s president of marketing. It’s the first big outside hire since David Carey replaced Cathie Black last year as president of the magazine publisher.

Harper’s Bazaar has been hurting of late, dropping 11.3 percent in the first quarter to 370 ad pages.

In the shake-up, Smith replaces Valerie Salembier, a close friend of Black’s, who now moves to the more troubled and less prestigious Town & Country. That title has been attempting to reinvent itself with Jay Fielden as the editor-in-chief, the third editor in less than a year.

Jim Taylor, who had been the publisher of Town & Country is leaving the company. Town & Country was down 1.3 percent in the first quarter to 209.96 ad pages.