Following in the grand tradition of every other magazine in the past three months, Time Out New York is trying to scrounge up a little extra scratch to stay afloat, and will be auctioning off a portion of its stake for $40 million.

TONY investors say the magazine is still doing fine, and they are merely trying to get a return on their investment. Which would be believable if it wasn't 3 months to the day when the Time Out staff promised all their freelancers they'd be paid…in 90 days.

So now that TONY paid all their writers, they're in the red? Too bad the copy is one thing that's not expendable in the industry.

Though this was the week in which many Time Inc. and AMI staffers were forced out of jobs, it is important to remember that the media industry is still full of people who quit their jobs.

And since people are never happier for their co-workers than when they finally decide to break out of the hell hole that has become their lives, we would love to give a shout out to the following industry insiders who have chosen to break free. (Not to mention freeing up some jobs for the rest of y'all.)

• Katie Couric left NBC. [As reported everywhere except the moon]

• Stephanie Leifer left the fun job of "comedy developer" at ABC. Yeah, good luck to the next person who lands that one. [Mediaweek]

• Nancy Sidewater left her position as managing editor of Time Out New York. [Gawker]

• Gregg LaGambina stepped down from his position as editor Filter magazine. [Fishbowl NY]

• Time correspondent Viveca Novak is one of the few who took a buy-out from Jim Kelly and "voluntarily left." [NYO]

• And the Village Voice investigative reporter Jennifer Gonnerman has left to, what else, write a book. [NYO]

Did you jump ship before your boss handed you a plastic bag? Is your cube mate finally putting down the Voodoo doll of Jann Wenner? Let us know. We've quit the service industry, but we still love tips — nobody's paying us not to gossip.

Update: E.J. Kessler, political reporter for The Forward will be joining the New York Post. After Passover, of course. [The Forward]

Only days after pissing off a bunch of Native Americans, Time Out New York’s Editor In Chief, Joe Angio resigns from the mag. Apparently, these two tidbits have nothing to do with each other.

Angio called the timing of the controversy and his resignation a "bizzare convergence."
"I'm stepping down, but it has nothing to do with the 'squaw' controversy."

Instead, the chief says that he’s leaving to work on some weird ass Melvin van Peebles film about watermelons. Well, any excuse sounds better than “I’m leaving because everyone thinks I’m a racist fuck”.

TIME'S UP NEW YORK [Keith J. Kelly, NYP]