Business

Two vets ditch W magazine as Tonchi arrival looms

It wasn’t a great week for Stefano Tonchi, the incoming editor-in-chief of W — but at least he won’t be known as the editor-in-chief of D”W”I.

Tonchi was charged with driving under the influence last January, after he was stopped in Los Angeles.

He was acquitted yesterday, said his attorney, Mike Cavalluzzi. Tonchi pleaded guilty to running a red light and paid $435 in fines.

Meanwhile, W’s already decimated editorial staff got a little thinner in advance of his arrival, which is scheduled for April 12.

Senior Fashion Editor Camilla Nickerson turned in her resignation, as did Creative Director Dennis Friedman.

Friedman had hoped to ascend to the top spot after Patrick McCarthy‘s ouster, so his departure was no surprise. Nickerson’s was considered a major blow.

“The first thing he should have done was get on the phone and tell her she was needed at this magazine,” said one source. “She’s considered a genius in the fashion world.”

Nickerson spent 13 years working for Anna Wintour at Vogue, and sources say Wintour was upset when McCarthy poached her.

Blues-week

Newsweek staffers, who have endured downsizing and circulation cuts, got another jolt this week.

Having relocated from West 57th Street to Hudson Street last year, they are now being moved into offices of sister company Kaplan, at 887 Seventh Avenue, a half-block from their old digs.

“For journalists, its like being shifted from one prison to another prison and you’re just glad you’re not shifted to death row,” said one insider.

The move spurred a fresh round of rumors that Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Jon Meacham will be leaving.

“He can’t be happy about what is going on,” said one source.

Newsweek is implementing a three-year plan meant to bring it back to profitability.

The strategy was cooked up by Newsweek President Tom Ascheim and presented to Meacham early last year. He signed on after looking at the losses Newsweek was racking up, sources said.

The title lost more than $20 million last year, and is dropping circulation and trying to get subscribers to pay more.

Speculation about Meacham’s departure reached a frenzy several weeks ago, when he was revealed to be the co-host of a new PBS show called “Need to Know.”

Meacham, who last year won a Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling biography of Andrew Jackson, “American Lion,” does not have a contract. He is also working on biographies of Thomas Jefferson and George H.W. Bush.

“I have no plans to leave,” he told Media Ink.

iPredictions

With Apple’s iPad launching tomorrow, there’s lots of chatter about the impact it might have on magazines.

Rory Maher of TBI Research predicted in a report this week that the iPad could generate $2.8 billion in subscription revenue if Apple can sell 16 million units in the first year.

Oddly, he then concludes that even that gusher “won’t save the magazine industry.”

Maher made the mistake of using revenue figures from the Publishers Information Bureau. Last year, PIB said the industry had $21.1 billion in ad revenue, a $4.5 billion drop from 2008.

But PIB uses the non-discounted ad rates in its calculations, ignoring discounts that advertisers get. Most executives say half the PIB number is a more realistic revenue estimate.

That puts ad revenue for 2009 at $10.6 billion and the falloff at $2.25 billion. The circulation boost Maher predicts from the iPad would more than make up for that.

But Maher also expects readers to pay $15 a month for digital magazine subscriptions — probably a very high estimate.

One industry executive said that e-readers could one day be re sponsible for half of maga zine subscription reve nues.

He said he was hoping to be able to charge about $50 a year for his publica tion.

“If we get 300,000 e-subscribers, that’s $15 million in incremental revenue,” he said.

keith.kelly@nypost.com