Silicon Alley Insider - FishbowlNY

Partytime With The Atlantic

Amanda Ernst — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Last night, members of the New York media gathered to toast The Atlantic and the incredible year the publication — and its parent company — have had.

There was plenty to celebrate. This year, the title reported a 16 percent increase in advertising revenue, thanks to a 115 percent increase in digital revenue. Events and subscription revenues also saw a boost, with digital subscription revenues climbing 158 percent. What’s more, 2009 saw the launch of the company’s new digital property, The Atlantic Wire, as well as politics, business and food channels on TheAtlantic.com.

“We had such an incredible year,” publisher Jay Lauf told us last night.

And there were plenty of people on hand last night to celebrate that year with Lauf and The Atlantic‘s president Justin Smith, including Glynnis MacNicol and Rachel Sklar of Mediaite.com, All Things D‘s Peter Kafka, John Carney of Silicon Alley Insider, New York Times reporter Brian Stelter and PRNewser editor Joe Ciarallo.

More pictures after the jump

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As Nielsen Sells Titles, Editor & Publisher, Kirkus Reviews Fold

Amanda Ernst — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:33:00 +0000

Along with the news this morning that The Nielsen Co. had sold off a number of brands including The Hollywood Reporter came the very sad news that the company was shuttering newspaper trade publication Editor & Publisher, as well as book review journal Kirkus Reviews.

We’re not sure what will happen to the staffs of these pubs, although Silicon Alley Insider has an internal memo. ~~Our calls to Nielsen have not yet been returned.~~ (See below for an update.)

Have any information? Send us an email or leave a tip in the box at right.

Update: A Nielsen spokesman confirms that the two pubs will be closing at the end of the year. Fewer than 20 people should be affected by the closures.

Nielsen Sells 8 Brands, Including Mediaweek, to e5 Global Media –Mediaweek

Nielsen Finally Sells Adweek And THR, Shutters Editor & Publisher –Silicon Alley Insider

Previously: Investor Group Buys Eight Nielsen Brands

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Layoffs Underway At The Associated Press?

Amanda Ernst — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:50:00 +0000

Rumors of more layoffs at the Associated Press have been swirling for a number of weeks, as the news organization moves towards its goal of reducing its global payroll by 10 percent.

After buyouts and additional layoffs during the year, we were hoping it wouldn’t come to this. But today Gawker is hearing that layoffs have started at the AP today — and as many as 70 or 80 staffers could get the boot.

AP spokesman Paul Colford declined to comment on the rumors today. But if you know anything, send us an email or leave a tip in the box at right.

Update: Silicon Alley Insider‘s Erin Carlson, a former AP staffer herself, has lots of dirt from anonymous tipsters: the layoffs are said to include a veteran national writer in New York, at least eight editorial assistant positions across bureaus including Albany, Denver and Kansas City, and there have been additional layoffs in Washington, D.C. and on the West Coast. Gawker has a running tally.

AP Layoffs Coming Down Today? –Gawker

Earlier: Next Up On The Layoff Watch: AP

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Forbes Layoffs Decimate Staff

Amanda Ernst — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:35:00 +0000

The bloodshed has begun in earnest at Forbes on this cold, rainy day: 100 employees were let go from the billionaire listing magazine, including Lauren Sherman, the girlfriend of Silicon Alley Insider writer Dan Frommer:

Some of our friends and former colleagues were let go as well. We knew they were coming, but we didn’t realize how deep the staff cuts would be. Although we’re hearing that close to 100 people have lost their jobs company wide, David Carr reported that between 40 and 60 editorial staff members would get the axe. Those sort of cuts are huge in a staff of only 200. Who is left?

Know anyone else who got a pink slip from Forbes today? Send us an email or leave a note in the anonymous tip box at right.

UPDATE: We reached out to Forbes‘ senior VP of Corporate Communications Monie Begley to see if she would confirm any of the rumors about the number of people laid off there. “Forbes will not be confirming the number of layoffs that have occurred this week,” Begley said in a statement. “It is a very sad day at the company and a sad day for our colleagues and friends.”

Another Update: Our sister blog MediaJobsDaily did some digging and found some names of those let go by Forbes today. In addition to Sherman, London bureau chief Anita Raghavan, associate editor Chana Schoenberger, deputy chief of reporters Andy Stone, assistant editor Klaus Kneale and reporter Anna Vander Broek are also said to have gotten pink slips. We’ve also heard sad news about reporter Lauren Streib, who has worked on link-bait Forbes lists like the recent Top-Earning Dead Celebs List.

More names: We’ve been hearing more names of people cut from Forbes: ForbesLife editor-in-chief Gary Walther; longtime Billionaires List contributor Tatiana Serafin; Richard Morais; Zack O’Malley Greenburg; Jack Gage; John Chamberlain and Bill Heuslien. Keith Kelly is also reporting that Los Angeles bureau chief Scott Woolley, senior editor Bernard Condon and Jonathan Latimer, head of business development, were given the axe.

Earlier: Breaking: More Layoffs Hit Forbes

–Additional reporting by Drew Grant

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Portfolio.com Also Being Severely Scaled Back?

Glynnis — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:38:58 +0000

This must have been what it felt like to work on Wall St. a few weeks ago. After announcing company wide cutbacks this morning, followed by news that both Men’s Vogue and Portfolio were going to be scaled back there are rumors that Conde Nast is going to cut the portfolio.com website down to virtually nil. Peter Kafka at Media Memo is reporting that the website staff of roughly two dozen will be cut down to as little as three and that the decisions as to who will go and who will stay will be made over the next few days. Reports Silicon Alley Insider: “It’s a bloodbath,” we hear, “But a very slow and polite one.”

No doubt there are a lot of financial intricacies at work here that we have no idea about, but why you would want to cut the website of a publication geared to covering all aspects of the business industry during a financial crisis is really beyond us. Seems like the website was Portfolio‘s best, strongest chance at relevance. Stay tuned.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Carney to Leave Dealbreaker for New Silicon Alley Insider Financial Site

Glynnis — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:55:44 +0000

FBNY has just been informed that John Carney (known around these parts as our numbers man) will be departing Dealbreaker at the end of the week to launch a new financial news site with the folks that produce Silicon Alley Insider. Carney had this to say via email:

I’m leaving DealBreaker at the end of this week. It’s been a great two-and-a-half year run. I’ve decided to join the team led by Henry Blodget that produces Silicon Alley Insider. I’ll be editing and writing their new financial news site, which is now called ClusterStock (although that may be changing). It will carry on in the tradition of DealBreaker, with a blend of humor, gossip, commentary and breaking news. It’s a new era on Wall Street and I’m headed to a new site to cover it.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

AOL Weblogs: Getting the Milk for Free?

Glynnis — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:03:09 +0000

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that a number of bloggers over at AOL’s Weblogs Inc. are currently working for free (or free gratis for all you Deadwood fans). Seems that AOL has overspent this year and needed to pull back this month (bloggers are always the first to go!) in order to keep within budget. However, some of its writers apparently decided to carry on with their duties sans paycheck, which is a loyal decision to be sure, and yet it also sets a dangerous precedent; as we all know, why should anyone pay when they can get the milk, or blog, for free.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.