We told you last week about major layoffs at Time Inc.’s Southern Progress Magazines and it looks like they may have been an early warning sign for larger cuts to follow. The NYT is reporting that Time Inc. has plans to cut 6% of its workforce, the equivalent of 600 positions and “revamp the organization in a way that could radically alter the culture at the company.” Apparently none of the titles are being cut, however an already planned overhaul by Ann S. Moore, Time Inc.’s chairman and chief executive had to be sped up to cope with the fast-changing media environment. Says Moore:

This is a challenge, unlike any we’ve seen before…And after much careful study and consultation with many of you who run our businesses, I have concluded that it is no longer possible to operate our company with the same decentralized management structure that served us so well during our many years of sustained growth.

As Gawker’s Ryan Tate points out perhaps this shouldn’t come as such a shock considering the big cuts the magazine has had to make in the last few years, though in the current media environment it’s hard not to perceive it as the latest, loudest death knell to the end of print magazines. Further details regarding the changes and reorganization to come, after the jump.

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— DIANE CLEHANE

It was a tasty tossed summer salad of movers, shakers — and football players at Michael’s today. Now that the power set has to cram in five days of plotting into a truncated work week — Why miss out on a Friday afternoon in the Hamptons if you don’t have to? — the dining room was buzzing. We noticed diners were opting for deep conversation over table-hopping today so there must be plenty of big doings afoot.

I was lunching today with my new friend, Denise Cobb, who just arrived from Naples, Florida for a few days of fun. This weekend she celebrated with her good pal Desiree Gruber at her baby shower at the rooftop garden at the Gramercy Park Hotel and is planning to go to Judge Judy‘s housewarming for the mega-mansion she had built — in just four months! — in Greenwich. “She’s really proud that she could get the builder to work so fast,” reports Denise. Fear is a great motivator, I suppose. Who would dare incur the wrath of Judge Judy? I love to watch her cut delinquent dads off at the knees on her television show, don’t you? After our lunch, Denise was off to visit with our mutual pal Carol Brodie, who is newly installed at Faberge and has big things in store for the iconic house. Denise and I are collaborating on a top secret project for Gulf Shore Life with editor-in-chief David Sendler. You’ll be the first to know all the details, I promise.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. New York Jets D’Brickshaw Ferguson, Leon Washington and Nick Mangold with some handlers and managers we didn’t recognize.

2. Peggy Siegal channeling Jackie O in a stunning white sheath, great earrings and her new ‘do with a dark-haired young power gal “in training” so we’re told…

3. Susan Zirinksy, whose show 48 Hours Mystery on Saturday nights on CBS is one of my favorite guilty pleasures with Mattea Gold.

4. John Huey and a bespectacled gent whose face we recognized but whose name escapes us…

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On the menu today: a tasty stew of media moguls and television titans with a dash of talking heads to spice things up. After making the rounds and checking in with some of our favorite regulars, we were thrilled to chat with our good pals Today’s Meredith Vieira and Al Roker. The always affable Ms. Vieira (who we’ve not seen at Michael’s before) and Mr. Roker told lunchtime chronicler Diane Clehane that plans are in the works for the show to travel to China this summer to do some segments as a walk up to next year’s blowout Olympic coverage in Beijing. “Meredith is going to be skateboarding on the Great Wall,” joked Al. Somehow, we wouldn’t put it past Today.

Here’s the rundown on the rest of the crowd:

1. The Early shift: Charlie Rose and Neal Shapiro; late shift: Cheri Kaufman of Kaufman Astoria Studios.

2. Nightline‘s Cynthia McFadden (sporting a great tan), Silda Wall Spitzer (wife of Governor Spitzer) and her director of Children for Children Margo Jones.

3. Mayor Joe Armstrong (who was happy to show us that Jimmy Buffett signed his “boot” — which doubles as a vase — on his last visit while Joe was away). Joe was dining with two lovely ladies: Dr. Sarah Simms Rosenthal and Jane Hartley. When we complimented Dr. Simms Rosenthal, an Ali McGraw lookalike, on her stunning summer ensemble, she told us she’s actually turned last year’s dress into a fabulous white embroidered skirt which she was wearing with a classic black T-shirt. Tres chic!

4. Time Inc.’s John Huey.

5. Gerald Schoenfeld, chairman of the Schubert Organization.

6. Fashion central: Cece Cord, Cameron Silver, owner of Decades, the haute Los Angeles boutique, Becca Cason Thrash and IMG’s The Daily Jim Shi. (Thanks for filling us in, Jim!)

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On the menu at today’s lunch: a tasty stew of pop culture icons, publishing legends and power brokers — with a side of TV’s young-ish guns. There must have been big things afoot. Instead of the usual glad-handing and table-hopping, most diners were deep in conversation and slipped in and out without much fanfare. We barely recognized Dan Abrams, who had exchanged his clean cut pinstripes for a four o’clock shadow and a tieless khaki suit. We had to look twice when a downright subdued Tina Brown almost slipped past us. Then we settled in and watched the show:

Table 1. The top power spot was occupied by some interesting and intriguing folks today. The early show: Howard Rubenstein and guests. Now that we’ve been doing this for a while, we’ve noticed that the master of spin likes to dine, dish and be on his way before most of the other movers and shakers have had a chance to order their Fiji waters. Second shift: Judge Robert Keating presiding over a table full of jovial guests. Here’s an interesting bit of NYC trivia: the bow-tied jurist set up the first Midtown Community Court in Times Square in 1993 when the tourist trap was attracting a whole different type of thrill seeker. His forward-thinking move helped to all but eliminate the low level crime that was so rampant during the mid eighties and early nineties. Remember those dark days?

2. Peter Brown and Time‘s Michael Elliot. The jet-setting Mr. Elliot tells us he is currently based in New York but is splitting his time between Time‘s London office (where he edits the Europe, Middle East and Africa editions) and Hong Kong (for the Asia edition).

3. 60 Minutes‘ Steve Croft and MTV’s John Sykes.

4. Wayne Tabach.

5. Time Inc.’s John Huey with a cool, Grace Kelly-ish blonde we didn’t recognize.

6. MSNBC’s general manager and legal eagle Dan Abrams with Good Morning America‘s newish news anchor Chris Cuomo. Good to see you Chris, after your close call in Iraq …

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If you’re into this sort of thing, some fascinating meta-media notes on Joe Hagan‘s piece on Time magazine in this week’s New York mag:

Editor Richard Stengel tells Hagan he wants Time to be a bit more like the Economist. Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey does not: “Well, that’s not the magazine we’re making. To say that we’re going down that road is not where we’re going.” Stengel later amends his description.

Stengel calls new Time columnist Joel Stein “a god to people in their twenties and thirties.”

Huey on his Time legacy: “Ex-CEOs don’t mean spit. And neither do ex-editors-in-chief.”

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In next week’s New York magazine, pg. 46:

The Time of Their Lives (p. 46) by Joe Hagan

John Huey and Richard Stengel, besieged by economic forces pulling one of journalism’s most storied institutions toward obsolescence, are blowing up Time magazine in an all-out effort to save its life.

Hagan, you’ll recall, was called “something of a snake” by ABC’s Charles Gibson last summer. Hagan quoted Gibson in a New York article criticizing Brian Williams‘s trip to Africa with Bono.

EARLIER:

January 18, 2007
To: All Time Inc. Edit Staff
From: John Huey
Re: Staff Announcement

Earlier today, Time Inc. announced layoffs that will eliminate significant numbers of editorial jobs across many of our titles. This is obviously a painful time for everyone-most especially those who are leaving their jobs involuntarily—but also for those who are staying on and saying goodbye to colleagues whom they value, even cherish. In her talks within the company and with the press in recent months, Ann Moore has articulated the challenges that face our industry and our company, and she has made the convincing case that what we are doing now is essential to ensuring that our future will be as bright as our past. It’s important that we on the editorial side fully understand what that means—and what it doesn’t mean.

First, let me stress that these layoffs are not about performance of the individuals involved; the layoffs are about the restructuring of our editorial staffs as we move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content creation. That means redesigning and rethinking much of what we do to ensure we are as efficient as possible. In some cases, that requires reassigning responsibilities among staffers. And unfortunately, in some cases that requires a leaner workforce.

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The scene at 55th and Fifth resembled something of a men’s club today where the power suits — and ties — ruled. Media machers including Time Inc.’s editor-in-chief John Huey, ad man Jerry Della Femina and the sartorially splendid Gay Talese (who got our attention when he removed his coat and fedora to reveal an eye-catching rust velvet blazer, coordinating vest and yellow tie) broke bread with their equally powerful pals in a dining room. It should be noted, though, that Mr. Huey evened things out a bit by lunching with power gals Martha Nelson of The People Group and “People’s” style director Susan Kaufman. Hope to see more of our favorite gals (Barbara and Diane, where are you?) next week.

We’re were thrilled by how chatty the crowd was today. We made the acquaintance of tech scribe Tucker Hall, who was seated a few stools down from us at the bar, when we overheard him telling a pal that “There’s some blog on mediabistro that writes about the lunch crowd.” His lunch date, Harper Collins editor Peter Hubbard, made our day when he told us that “Lunch” is a must-read around the office. Thanks guys!!

Here’s who we spotted today:

1. Super spin meister Stu Zakim and a host of media movers and shakers who must have had a lot to talk about between bites of their burgers and fries including Business Week‘s Jon Fine (who happens to be the husband of our founder and CEO Laurel Touby), Radarmagazine.com’s Jeff Bercovici, ABC’s Jeffrey Schneider and Patrick Reilly of SIRIUS.

2. Mr. Huey with Ms. Nelson and Ms. Kaufman, who said she was dazzled by divorcee’s Reese Witherspoon‘s (she’s recently spilt from hubby Ryan Phillippe) startlingly young, hip appearance on the red carpet at the Golden Globes. We agree!

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong — fresh off jury duty — with publishing legend Gay Talese and Newsweek‘s new number two man, Dan Klaidman. The newly minted managing editor comes from the magazine’s Washington, D.C. bureau.

4. Peter Brown & guest.

5. Designer Arnold Scassi, Parker Ladd and an unidentified friend.

6. Debbie Fine and Estee Lauder’s vice president of global communications, Sally Susman.

7. Ed Adler.

8. New York Social Diary’s David Patrick Columbia and Alice Mason.

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