Conde Nast Publications is closing Gourmet, the nation's oldest food magazine, and three other money-losing titles as the high-end publisher tries to weather a devastating advertising slump.
In addition to Gourmet, which had a circulation of 980,000 last year, the publisher is closing Modern Bride, Elegant Bride and Cookie, a parenting magazine. Earlier in the year it killed publication of Portfolio, a business magazine, and Domino, a lifestyle title.
For those in the food world, the closure of Gourmet is a bit like waking up to find the old Life magazine had closed shop.
"It's certainly the grand dame of food magazines," said Tim Ryan, the president of the Culinary Institute of America. "We'll never see the likes of a Gourmet magazine in that form again."
Since 1999, Gourmet has been headed by Ruth Reichl, a doyenne of the food world and former New York Times restaurant critic. Reichl ushered the magazine firmly into the 21st century, overseeing launches of award-winning Web sites and television series.
More than just a cooking magazine, Gourmet explored the culture -- and increasingly the politics -- of food.
"We're all stunned, sad," Reichl wrote in a post on Twitter.
In a staff memo, Charles Townsend, the chief executive of Conde Nast, said that the closures were necessary "to navigate the company through the economic downturn and to position us to take advantage of coming opportunities."
Consultants from McKinsey & Co. have been helping the publisher, known for elegant publications and high costs, identify ways to cut its expenses. Despite Gourmet's large audience, the magazine has suffered one of the worst ad declines of any popular title. Its number of ad pages was down 50 percent in the second quarter from the year before, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.
Conde Nast, run by billionaire S.I. Newhouse Jr., publishes such magazines as Vogue, The New Yorker and Wired and is a unit of privately held Advance Publications Inc. The company's remaining 19 magazines also include one on food, Bon Appetit.
Conde Nast spokeswoman Maurie Perl said Conde Nast doesn't plan to close more magazines.
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