On both of the magazine’s sites, the following statement appears:

In the upcoming weeks, Brandweek.com [or Mediaweek] will become part of the new, completely redesigned Adweek.com. You’ll still get the brand marketing news you seek out here, but in an enhanced site with an unmatched user experience. Look forward to exclusive content, more video and new interactivity – coming soon!

Despite that exclamation point, Media Decoder says the changes will sadly bring some layoffs.

A moment of silence for the fallen trade pubs, please.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The report stated that the investors behind Prometheus were looking for a 50 percent premium on the initial price paid for the company. As with any rumor, there were conflicting views, as a spokesperson for the investing company told the Post that the company is not being sold.

Now, Richard Beckman, CEO of Prometheus, has spoken up on the issue via a company-wide memo, which was obtained by The Cutline.  Not only does Beckman deny the sale, he states that it is looking to expand.

It’s wise to view anything Beckman says with a bit of skepticism. The guy’s nickname is Mad Dog, and as we can all remember from college, things named Mad Dog shouldn’t be trusted.

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But the big news – if Case is correct – is that print issues of Brandweek and Mediaweek are on their way out. We’ve been expecting this to happen since both magazines lost staffers and operated under one team overseen by the polarizing Michael Wolff. You could also argue that the magazines seemed to overlap coverage a lot, but still, each time print disappears, a journalist loses his wings.

Or something like that.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

More details about the campaign, which will promote the magazine medium, will be introduced next month, with the publishers featuring ads in their titles starting in April.

Meredith’s Jack Griffin told Mediaweek:

“The message is this: Industry leaders are joining forces to solve problems. I think it’s an opportunity to speak up at a time when the media landscape has gotten very confusing, and I think the campaign asserts the intrinsic value of the magazine medium.”

This agreement is different from the magazine consortium between four of those publishers and News Corp., Next Issue Media, which have combined forces to launch some sort of digital e-reader format.

Read more: Magazine Marketing Pact to Roll Out in April

Previously: New Publisher Consortium Gets A Name

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But Meredith Corp. and Hearst Publications both weathered the recession and drop in ad sales fairly well, and therefore make some of the best candidates for the experiment. According to MediaWeek, Hearst will be publishing a “bookazine” called Light & Delish, based on recipes from their foodie Web site Delish.com. Meanwhile, Meredith just released its second MixingBowl.com print magazine last week.

But with the relatively low costs of putting something online versus putting it in print (and considering that neither of these publications are relying heavily on advertisers, but are consumer-driven and crowdsourced), what’s the point of putting these food projects to print? Says Light & Delish project editor Susan Schulz:

“It’s a way to repackage content in a way that’s meaningful to the reader…We’re sitting on such great content. We’ve found success and repurposing it on the Web, and there are other ways to repurpose it. We’re always looking for revenue streams — and low-cost revenue streams.”

So before you submit your next recipe to your favorite cooking site remember: it just might end up as an ad-hoc profit-maker for a media company.

Read More: Hearst, Meredith Try Web-to-Print Titles –Mediaweek

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Today’s report in Mediaweek adds that Condé may be taking it one step further in seeking a new life for its now-defunct titles, Cookie, Domino and Gourmet, in the form of things like branded kitchen appliances. In this respect, execs have been reportedly telling staffers to look to rival publisher Meredith Corp. for inspiration; the Midwestern company has been pumping out Better Homes & Gardens-branded products for years.

But, of course, don’t expect any products connected to Condé Nast brands to cheapen its namesake –that’s a fear Si Newhouse has always had, which has kept the publisher out of licensing deals before. Thoughtfully chosen, high-end partnerships are probably where this company will end up, much like last month’s tie-in with Vogue and e-commerce site Gilt Groupe. But even if Condé can squeeze some money out of its dead titles’ brand names, those products can’t make up for the magazines we miss so much.

Condé Nast’s Cultural Shift –Mediaweek

Previously: Conde Keeps Gourmet Alive In App Form

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Farrar, who had worked at the company for 20 years, was named president in 2007, and had served as COO before that. He helped oversee the sale of several brands, including Mediaweek and Billboard to newly created e5 Global Media in December.

Nielsen told Folio that is has no plans to replace Farrar, although he will stay on for a transition period, overseeing the company’s remaining publications that are not associated with a trade show. Andy Bilbao, senior vice president of brand media, will then take over those duties once Farrar departs, with senior vice presidents Joe Randall and David Loechner have been picked to lead the newly-created Nielsen Expositions group for the company’s trade shows.

Update: A Nielsen spokesperson tells FishbowlNY: “Having managed the trade show business through the economic downturn while also divesting most of the company’s publications, Greg has accomplished his goals at Nielsen and decided it is the right time to seek greater opportunities.”

Farrar Leaving Nielsen Business Media as President –Folio

Previously: Investor Group Buys Eight Nielsen Brands

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

According to the report, the 2007 agreement between the guild and the magazine publisher said writers would not be forced to write for sites like People.com, and if they did their workload would be “adjusted accordingly.” People writers in the Los Angeles bureau felt their superiors were in violation of the agreement, and arbitrators agreed, although they did not award back pay to the writers who put in extra time on the site.

It seems silly, at a time when print and online coverage seem like one and the same for so many magazines and newspapers, to argue over whether writing for the Web is part of what a writer is getting paid to do. But we applaud the guild for standing up for writers’ rights to get paid for the work they put in, because so many writers today are paid so little (especially when they work on the Web) but go above and beyond without even thinking of asking for additional wages.

People.com Guild Employees Claim Win in Labor Case –Mediaweek

Related: Pay The Writer? Now With This Technology!

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The New York magazine site announced yesterday that Claude Brodesser-Akner, a media and entertainment reporting veteran, would be joining the team of its Vulture blog. Brodesser-Akner has been covering the industry since 1996, working for Mediaweek and Variety, editing our sister site FishbowlLA and creating the weekly public radio show “The Business.” He also helped launch TMZ.com and served as the Los Angeles bureau chief for Advertising Age. He was most recently a contributor for Wired.

This latest hire is part of NYMag.com’s plans to expand its entertainment and culture coverage, led by former Entertainment Weekly editor Josh Wolk, who joined the site in November.

Previously: Entertainment Weekly Editor Joins NYMag.com

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Beckman moved from his position as president of the Condé Nast Media Group to Fairchild last March, a move that was seen by many in the industry as a demotion. Condé Nast has yet to name a replacement.

Update: The Hollywood Reporter writes today about the new CEO of its parent company: “Beckman said his career and passion have focused on music, entertainment and media, ‘making this collection of brands particularly alluring to me.’ He added: ‘I look forward to developing these valuable brands and improving and extending them in the years to come.’”

Read more: Beckman Resigns as Fairchild CEO –WWD

Conde rainmaker Richard Beckman eyes exit –New York Post

Previously: Richard Beckman Named President, CEO of Fairchild, Investor Group Buys Eight Nielsen Brands

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This report adds intel that the publication is set to launch in June, and it will be led by WWD‘s editor Ed Nardoza and publisher Marc Berger, the former Men’s Vogue publisher who was brought on as publisher of Footwear News, another Fairchild trade pub, in June.

Mediaweek was also unclear how the new magazine would differ from DNR, which Condé folded into WWD just over a year ago. If it turns out to be a weekly, the new pub will likely be the same as the shuttered 115-year-old trade magazine, but if it turns out to be a monthly, it will look more like Menswear, DNR‘s sister pub that also closed up shop in 2008.

Read more: Condé Nast to Launch Fashion Trade Pub –Mediaweek

Previously: Year-end Condé Nast News

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The new company, called e5 Global Media LLC, is said to have paid $70 million for the publications and events, which include the ShoWest and other trade shows. Pluribus was founded by James A. Finkelstein, whose family owns the “Who’s Who” series of books; George Green, the former president of Hearst Magazines International; and Matthew Doull. The New York Post‘s Keith Kelly reported today that another rumored partner in the deal, Rupert’s son Lachlan Murdoch, was replaced by former Bear Stearns chief Alan Schwartz, who runs Guggenheim. Finkelstein will serve as chairman of e5, the company said.

Meanwhile, Nielsen maintains that it will remain committed to its remaining brands. “Divesting these titles allows Nielsen to focus its investment on its core businesses and those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth, including our leading trade show group,” Nielsen Business Media president Greg Farrar said.

Full release, after the jump

Billboard buying group changes –New York Post

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You’d never know it from the cuts across the board being made at publishers like Time Inc. and Forbes Media, but some of these companies’ titles are seeing a upswing in their readership. Lucia Moses of MediaWeek reported this week that Fortune, The Economist, Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. and Forbes have all seen an increase in readers, ironically because of all the financial terror that has caused their publishers to make cuts in the first place.

So while audiences bemoan Rupert Murdoch‘s pay wall plans, following The Wall Street Journal model, the paper itself has seen an 11.6 percent growth in overall readership from last year. And while Fortune may be cutting as many as 40 staffers over the next several weeks as part of Time Inc.’s reduction plan and Forbes let go 100 employees just last month, the two magazines have grown to 4.1 million (9 percent increase) and 6 million (11.5 percent) in total readers, respectively. And with the current trend seeing unemployment still on the rise among executives, you can bet one place they won’t be cutting back: their subscriptions to business magazines. Maybe next year’s jump in readers will be big enough that these titles can actually hire back some of their emaciated newsroom.

Read More: Report: Business Magazines See Uptick in Readership

Previously: First on FBNY: Time Inc. Shutters Custom Pub Fortune Small Business, Forbes Layoffs Decimate Staff, Time Inc. Closes Door on Buyouts Today, WSJ Looks To Claim Title Of Number One Paper In Circulation

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The reported buyer of this slew of trade pubs is James Finkelstein‘s News Communications Inc., which owns the Who’s Who books and Washington, D.C. pub The Hill.

As all media companies have struggled recently, it’s been a particularly difficult year for business-to-business trade publishers, with many, including Nielsen, folding publications and some even filing for bankruptcy. And as Waxman reports about Nielsen’s pubs:

“Individuals knowledgeable about the state of the trades said that all of Nielsen’s entertainment titles were suffering. ‘Billboard is doing so-so, Adweek is not doing well at all, and THR is not great,’ said this former senior Nielsen executive. ‘The B-to-B market has just collapsed.’”

But will this sale mark the end of these publications lives? Or will it give them a hope at survival?

Hollywood Reporter Set to be Sold to ‘Who’s Who’s’ Finkelstein –The Wrap

Related: Nielsen Folds Radio & Records

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Last night, the new media company held a launch party at New York’s social bar. Pictures after the jump.

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