Oprah Spin-Off Bites the Dust

The newsstand is getting thinner. Hearst Magazines, which shut down Cosmogirl last month and Quick & Simple over the summer, has decided to fold O at Home, the quarterly extension of O, The Oprah Magazine. According to a Hearst press release at Portfolio (which also let many staffers go last week), the final issue will be winter 2008, on newsstands Nov. 25.

WWD, a Conde Nast title, reported on the bleak outlook at its parent company, as well as offered a roundup of the latest clenching throughout the industry.

"Every publisher is dissecting its cost structure and stable of titles, from Hearst Magazines to Hachette Filipacchi Media and Time Inc. to Rodale. And in recent days, American Express Publishing, whose titles include Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure and Departures, said it would cut 22 jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce. Hearst quietly began going "floor by floor" to cut costs, notably at the upscale Harper's Bazaar and Town & Country."

The past two weeks have been flat-out bad. Culture + Travel announced it would close up shop, and among other Conde Nast news, the majority of the staff at Men's Vogue was re-absorbed into Vogue classic and will now come out twice a year, rather than 10 times a year.

Even the smaller niche magazines are hurting. Gawker reports that the titles at M. Shanken Communications -- the publisher of Cigar Aficionado, Wine Spectator and Food Arts -- lost people, too.

See also: Major Toymaker to Cut 1,000 Jobs