PRESSING AHEAD: Bernard Arnault might feel that no press is bad press, but journalists at Paris' business daily La Tribune don't share the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton boss' opinion. La Tribune, which Arnault owns (he wants to sell it and buy rival Paris paper Les Echos from Britain's Pearson Group plc), devoted its entire front page Monday to the headline: "Mr. Arnault, let's divorce with dignity." Inside, in a double-page spread addressed to readers, the loss-making paper demanded Arnault give it a say in the process of finding a buyer so as to guarantee job security and editorial independence. La Tribune employs some 300 people. Candidates to buy La Tribune were asked by Lazard, which is handling the sale, to make definitive offers by Monday evening. Acrimony over Arnault's divestment has been flying since he said he would dump the paper in favor of Les Echos, which Pearson Group, owner of the Financial Times, is selling to concentrate on its core title.
— Robert Murphy
REGROUPING: Time Inc. keeps shaking up its magazine operations as it seeks the magic formula. On Monday, the publisher grouped Entertainment Weekly and its Web site, ew.com, into a cluster with People, people.com, People en Español and Style Watch called the Time Inc. Entertainment Group. Paul Caine, group publisher of The People Group, was promoted to president of the division. Dave Morris, president and publisher of EW, will leave the company after 21 years. Coincidentally, EW and People's public relations and finance teams have been working together for more than a year.
Speculation about changes at EW have swirled as the magazine has faced challenges in terms of advertising and circulation. Pages through September fell 9.1 percent from the same period last year, and 7.6 percent in the first three quarters of 2006 compared with the prior year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Total paid and verified circulation fell 1.2 percent to 1.8 million for the first six months of 2007 (newsstand sales, about 2 percent of EW's total circulation, fell 19.5 percent during the period), according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Under Caine, People's pages are flat at 2,712. Morris' replacement, who will report to Caine, is expected to be named shortly.
— Stephanie D. Smith
— Robert Murphy
REGROUPING: Time Inc. keeps shaking up its magazine operations as it seeks the magic formula. On Monday, the publisher grouped Entertainment Weekly and its Web site, ew.com, into a cluster with People, people.com, People en Español and Style Watch called the Time Inc. Entertainment Group. Paul Caine, group publisher of The People Group, was promoted to president of the division. Dave Morris, president and publisher of EW, will leave the company after 21 years. Coincidentally, EW and People's public relations and finance teams have been working together for more than a year.
Speculation about changes at EW have swirled as the magazine has faced challenges in terms of advertising and circulation. Pages through September fell 9.1 percent from the same period last year, and 7.6 percent in the first three quarters of 2006 compared with the prior year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Total paid and verified circulation fell 1.2 percent to 1.8 million for the first six months of 2007 (newsstand sales, about 2 percent of EW's total circulation, fell 19.5 percent during the period), according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Under Caine, People's pages are flat at 2,712. Morris' replacement, who will report to Caine, is expected to be named shortly.
— Stephanie D. Smith
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