Issue 60 of Scrapbook Inspirations (on sale 13 November 2009) will be the last monthly edition of the magazine.
As the Christmas issues hit the newsstand we can expect a slew of closures to be announced. Another Merry Christmas for the magazine industry!
From the Guardian:
Reed Business Information is to make 18 staff redundant as part of a restructuring that will include the closure of 130-year old Contract Journal.
This follows the pattern of death by a thousand cuts for RBI.
Just when you thought that RBI were getting dull again, up pops this from Press Gazette:
Ian Smith, the chief executive of business publisher Reed Elsevier, has resigned with immediate effect after little more than eight months in the post.
Reed Elsevier announced that Smith resigned “with mutual agreement” and has stepped down today from the company’s board.
Elsevier chief executive Erik Engstrom has been appointed as his replacement.
A company spokesman told Reuters that Smith had been the wrong man for the current economic climate. “Ian and the board decided it wasn’t the right role for him in the current economic circumstances… There is no disagreement on strategy.” [my emphasis]
I love it when everyone agrees about everything, don’t you?
Italy magazine – “Your Bridge to Italy” – has gone ‘online only’. Ciao!
A totally unsubstantiated rumour (my favourite kind) pops into the inbox. Apparently a publisher of puzzle titles is having a wee bit of trouble making its sums add up. More details welcomed from anyone with inside information.
A neat little summary in PaidContent on some of the bigger publishers’ financials.
Another email from our person on the inside regarding the sweetness and light that currently surrounds ‘our’ industry body…
“The announcement of the impending departure of Chief Operating Officer Sarah Tunstall after barely 15 months in the job gives us another glimpse into the increasingly surreal world of the PPA. Not that Ms Tunstall’s departure was unexpected, given her role as wing-man to former PPA Top Gun Jonathan Shephard. (He, you will recall, was shot down in flames last month following 18 months of re-structuring PPA in the image of his former domicile, The Independent Schools Council.) Even the wily Tunstall would (more…)
The departure of Centaur’s chairman and the company’s rejection of a bid from Critical Information Group may well be entirely unrelated, but it’s clear that the company probably won’t see out much of 2010 with its current ownership arrangements.
CIG apparently describes itself as “a company formed to acquire and consolidate media companies and businesses”.
I wonder how many more jobs will be ‘consolidated’ out of Centaur if and when CIG move in?
A lovely email from the fragrant Eric Verdon-Roe arrives in Private Frazer’s inbox:
Dear PPA member,
I am contacting you today in order that you are aware of a news story published in the print version of this week’s issue of Media Week, which stated that certain PPA members were to “sever ties” with the organisation. The story relates to ongoing negotiations PPA is conducting with APA and AOP.
The publication has since acknowledged that the story in print is incorrect [...] Subsequent liaison … resulted in an amended version of the story being published online (http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/945573/AOP-loosen-ties-PPA/)…
Talks are progressing with both APA and AOP but the situation is not yet fully resolved. We will provide a full briefing at the earliest possible opportunity.
It seems a little over the top to feel you have email the entire PPA database to deny a story in a magazine that few of us bother to read, so let’s see what comes out in the next couple of weeks. Even with the PPA sanctioned amendments to the Media Week article it seems quite clear that AOP is seeking to distance itself from its host. (“The two bodies are negotiating over plans for the AOP to have control over its own finances and corporate governance.”)
Given the PPA’s troubles, is this the AOP making sure it won’t get dragged down with the ink on paper guys?
