Managing Through Not-So-Pleasant Change

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July, 2001

Magazine publishing has always been a challenging business, even when the economy is buoyant. But when those plentiful advertising dollars suddenly become scarce and the circulation part of the equation offers no relief, managerial missteps can lead to disaster.

Future Network PLC could well be the poster child for the preceding maxim. The British company founded by Chris Anderson began life as a publisher of computer magazines before branching out into the electronics, automotive and even needlecraft fields. Anderson, however, still wanted to conquer America, and with the immediate and unprecedented success of Business 2.0, he thought he had his vehicle. But as FOLIO: contributing editor Greg Lindsay found, a corporate hubris ran smack into an unforgiving economy. Future, mired in debt, had to sell off its one-time crown jewel, Business 2.0, for $68 million; just seven months prior, Mortimer Zuckerman was able to get $342.5 million from Gruner Jahr USA for Fast Company.

Now, with Anderson seemingly sidelined from the company, it's up to CEO Greg Ingham and U.S. president Jonathan Simpson-Bint to salvage the company. And they're going back to the future to accomplish this difficult task by pinning much of their hopes on a computergaming magazine-the official publication of the upcoming Microsoft X-Box. "Future's Last Hope" begins on page 26.

This unforgiving economic environment has meant that publishers have had to dust off their managerial handbooks to relearn how to make substantial cuts. Thanks to the bull market that prevailed for most of the nineties, publishers have not had to face such stark decisions in nearly a decade. Unfortunately, few publishers have been able to sidestep those tough calls this year. And with no relief in sight and budget season upon us, magazine companies may be forced to hack away once again. Senior editors Sarah Gonser and Jillian Ambroz spoke to industry executives, consultants and victims of layoffs to formulate a guide to making the right cuts-ones that will excise fat, not cut muscle and bone. "The Science of Cutbacks" begins on page 32.

LORNE MANLY,

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR