When WSJ editor Tina Gaudoin was appointed in 2008, we remarked that it didn’t seem like she was cut out for the job. Not because she didn’t have enough luxury journalism experience — she had oodles of that — but because she didn’t have a “ridiculously over-the-top personality and outrageously self-demanding personal (and sartorial) daily regimen.” In our experience, that’s what you need to run a high-end glossy. It doesn’t work when you are a normal person, as Gaudoin proved herself to be when she gave up the editorship of the British women’s mag Frank to “have a second baby and spend more time with her then 2-year-old son” in 1998. And now, we learn from WWD, the real world has intruded on Gaudoin’s career once again.
She’s leaving WSJ., the Journal’s glossy luxury title, for “personal reasons,” and will return to London to rejoin her husband in August. “It was just not sustainable,” she told WWD. “It’s been a great privilege to work here and it was a hard decision for me.” This won’t affect the future of the title, her bosses say, and she’ll stick around to help pick her successor. “WSJ. is a phenomenal success, which is why we have increased both the print run and the frequency of the magazine,” said Journal top editor Robert Thomson. “Feedback from readers has been very positive and our plan is to continue to increase the frequency in coming years.” Let the guessing game about who will take over the gig begin! Let’s start by naming all the people who didn’t get the top job at rival T, which Sally Singer snagged earlier this month. Horacio Silva and Anne Christensen, all eyes are on you …
WSJ.’s Gaudoin Resigns [WWD]
