That Jane publisher Carlos Lamadrid even got to run a Publisher’s Letter is, perhaps, only slightly less shocking than learning the magazine was meeting its ad page goals before Conde Nast shuttered it. After all, isn’t waving around your business achievements to readers who don’t give a crap that “ad pages are up more than 20% for the first half of 2007 and we show no signs of cooling down” the territory of Jason Binn? But there he was, in what turned out to be Jane’s last issue, touting the achievements of the magazine. Who was he trying to convince? Certainly not readers (see previous sentence). Perhaps advertisers. Or, more worthwhile, Si Newhouse, who’s the only fella determining whether one of his magazines is worthy of hitting newsstands again.
If you thought things couldn’t get worse for Jann Wenner, then, well, you’re really kidding yourself — and you have no business speculating about media personalities. When he’s not watching his book division crumble or moving couches about the office, Jann is standing on the sidelines, virtually helpless as Men’s Journal crumbles to its knees.
The men’s fitness lifestyle book already lost Michael Caruso to paycheck envy (he’s the fifth editor in as many years) and now it’s in need of a publisher, thanks to Fairchild’s poaching of Carlos Lamadrid for Jane.
Jane Pratt’s former haunt is itself going through the grind and refilling its masthead, but with Lamadrid gone at Men’s Journal, Wenner’s essentially operating a nameless, faceless title. Which, as you might suspect, is a tough sell to advertisers.
But hey, at least the desks at 1290 Sixth are spotless.
‘Jane’ Raids ‘Men’s Journal’ For New Publisher [AdAge]
Earlier: Michael Caruso not fit enough for Men’s Journal
Related: Jann Wenner