Domino Is Dead; Conde Crumble Continues
The raft of rumors we received this morning have been confirmed: Conde Nast is folding Domino magazine. It won't be the last to go.
Domino didn't have as bad a financial 2008 as many of its Conde peers, but the company didn't like its outlook. The publisher didn't bother trying to save face with talk of reduced publication frequency or a continued web presence. The statement sounds like complete capitulation:
"This decision to cease publication of the magazine and its website is driven entirely by the economy," Mr. Townsend said. "Although readership and advertising response was encouraging in the early years, we have concluded that this economic market will not support our business expectations." Domino was launched in April 2005. The magazine's current ratebase is 800,000.
Maybe Domino editor Deborah Needleman's frantic crowing over her association with White House designer Michael Smith was a sort of last grab at publicity.
The Conde recession body count so far: the death of Men's Vogue and DNR (and House and Garden, in 2007), heavy cuts at Portfolio, and layoffs just about everywhere, including Wired and Condenet.
Who might be next to go? It depends on how deep Si Newhouse is willing to dig into his pockets to shore up losses in this bleak ad market. The super prestige titles like Vogue and the New Yorker are probably safe, but others have reason to fear: Details, Cookie, one of the bridal titles... we'll find out soon enough.