Things had been relatively quiet, but now we know it was the calm before the storm. Today saw the loss of music magazine Blender, and all across the industry, staffers got all sorts of unpleasant memos announcing layoffs, buyouts, and pay cuts. Read the list of the bereaved, after the jump.
• Earlier today, we reported that the New York Times was reducing its employees’ salaries. But that measure was apparently not enough: The Times is also laying off 100 staffers on the business side. [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• Blender magazine has died, though its website will live on. Blender’s editor-in-chief, Joe Levy, is now Maxim magazine’s editor-in-chief. [Ad Age via Vulture]
• The Washington Post is offering another round of voluntary buyouts. Interested employees must be over 50 with a minimum of five years of work experience behind them, as if this were an invitation to some sort of retirement home. [Politico]
• In related news, the Washington Post has the scoop on how the Washington Post “will follow a money-losing 2008 by losing ‘substantial money’ in 2009 and will continue to cut costs.” [WP]
• Google is cutting 200 employees, concentrated in the company’s sales and marketing teams. On the Google blog, Senior V.P. Omid Kordestani said, “we over-invested in some areas in preparation for the growth trends we were experiencing at the time.” [Google Blog]
• Today was the Christian Science Monitor’s last day in print. Editor John Yemma says the Monitor is now “a dynamic online newspaper on all days.” [Christian Science Monitor]
