PC Magazine publisher Ziff Davis wants you to know that it's not the economy, stupid, that's behind the transition from paper to web-only for its computer title.
"Moving our flagship property to an all-digital format is the final step in an evolutionary process that has been playing out over the last seven years," said Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young.
Seven people were laid off as a result of the switch.
First of all, isn't it a little anachronistic for a computer magazine to exist in well, magazine form? This isn't exactly the Christian Science Monitor we are talking about.
Secondly, if this transition really has been in the works for so long, you would think that the PC people would have been able to find a way to spare the layoffs. Or maybe by "playing out over the last seven years," Jason Young is talking about the state of the world's financial market, as it relates to obsolete magazines about computers.
Mega publisher Ziff Davis will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today, in some convoluted manner that we won't pretend to understand, but it'll keep the company up and running while investors fight for pennies. [PC]
• Rob Shuter just won't quit. And as long as he's working the spin, he won't get fired either. [Radar]
• So, it turns out that Anna Nicole Smith's son died of "unnatural" causes. We suggest everyone flush their TrimSpa immediately. [TMZ]
• Zach Braff uses slow celeb gossip days to promote his new movie. Which looks like the only thing is should be kissing is Garden State's ass. [AP]
• Yep, Dakota Fanning is still terrifying. [Mollygood]
• It's always after your dead that everyone pulls out the euphemisms. Like "empire." [NYT]
It's 1pm, and do you know where Sync's staff is? At a meeting, where they're being told the magazine is folding. No buyout from Hachette Filipacchi or Conde Nast .. just layoffs.
A moment of silence as we mourn for all the digital cameras and Japanese cell phones that will go unreviewed.
Immediate Update: A call to Sync (yes, we sometimes push the telephone buttons) yielded this: A temp answering the phone to say, "Yes, everyone's in a meeting, and I can't locate anyone." Uhm, perhaps they're .. at the meeting? We're awaiting meeting-in-progress Blackberry missives for updates.
Update Two: Meeting is over and staffers are meeting with HR. Because somehow, somewhere, there's a Ziff Davis intern spot open.
Update Three: Did you really need confirmation? Yeah, yeah, the whole lot of 'em are out of jobs. [Media Week]
Earlier: Save Sync
Excuse us, rich magazine publishers: Your help is needed. You see, publisher Ziff-Davis is looking to pass off its gadget-worshipping Sync to a loving new home. And if they don't find a willing adoptive family, they're going to shut down the magazine.
We know, the horror: One less mag-for-men off the newsstands. Whatever will you self-deprecating men do with only Maxim, FHM, Stuff, GQ, Esquire, Cargo, Men's Health, Men's Journal, Men's Vogue, Best Life, Details, Giant and King to choose from?
Granted, we've picked up Sync exactly twice, and one of those times was because we had to move it to get to Blue, but still — it's a cause worth supporting. Otherwise we might have to start reading gadget blogs and, quite frankly, we're just better than that.
Out of Sync [WWD]
• This year's World Series pulled in the lowest TV ratings in baseball history, but critics are blaming the fact that there were only four games, not the more reasonable "nobody even knows where Houston is." [AP]
• If by "comeback" you meant "dismal return to the spotlight," then fine, you've got Martha Stewart's situation correct. But your newfound enlightenment didn't keep her stock from slipping 16 percent yesterday, with Apprentice ratings in the tank even though magazine ad pages are up. Factor in reality guru Mark Burnett's once-fat payment package and you've got a hella lot of pissy investors. [NYP]
• Grab your seats for the battle between Conde Nast's Peter Armour and Ziff Davis' David Rock as they duke it out for a seat on the Audit Bureau of Circulation's board. Armour was sitting comfortably until Rock fired off an email campaign declaring the Nasty isn't much involved in the magazine biz, and we all know how Conde Nast thinks about email. [WWD]
• Oh cute, Adam Moss is publishing a mini magazine within the pages of New York all about real estate. Even cuter? He named it Vu, as in "6 rms riv vu." And people wonder why men aren't reading magazines anymore! [WWD]
• Some blogs post "bad information"? That's news to us. [Forbes]
