Martha Stewart Lays Off 70 Staffers On The Heels Of Hurricane Sandy
In PR practice, very bad news is usually dropped on a Friday so that no one will care by next Monday — which is probably why the announcement that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) would be shutting down two of its hit magazines, and laying off 70 staffers, came on the Friday right after a devastating hurricane that caused $50 billion in damage.
Adweek reports that the media group had been forced to lay off 12% of its company due to its struggling magazine portfolio and competition from trashy upstarts Food Network Magazine and that tramp Every Day With Rachael Ray. Hence, Everyday Food and Whole Living got the axe, with Everyday Food being downgraded from a standalone monthly to an occasional supplement to the flagship magazine Martha Stewart Living. All told, MSLO will save between $30 and $35 million per year thanks to the cuts, while 70 people will gnash their teeth and burn Martha Stewart in effigy.
The worst part: the cuts were “announced as employees were forced to work from home as Hurricane Sandy flooded their office building on Manhattan’s West Side.” That is cold, Martha. Rachael Ray would have the grace to at least fire them on Halloween, when everyone is wearing cute costumes.
[Adweek va Grub Street]
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I subscribed to Everyday Food for awhile, but none of the dishes were really innovative or interesting. Additionally, most of the recipes were just a tad too advanced for many beginners, leaving it with a very narrow marketing niche: the intermediate cook with bland tastes. Meh.
Still, it was raw to let those folks go after the disaster. She could have kept everyone on through the new year, so they had time to prepare their finances. I used to respect Martha, but this hurts her, in my eyes, which–admittedly–she could not give a flying fig about my opinion–understood.