Intelligencer

Pas Jolie for Time Inc.’s Wretches

Checkbook scoop “sad.”

By Gabriel Sherman
Published Aug 10, 2008

People magazine scored a big win when it landed North American rights to the first pictures of Brangelina’s new twins, splitting the $14 million price tag with London’s Hello! But the coup only frustrated employees at Time Inc.’s less fecund titles. Last year, the company cut about 300 jobs, with more layoffs to come (fourteen of seventeen employees at Fortune Small Business were booted last month). “It’s sad is what it is,” says one laid-off Time staffer. Wonders another, “Why didn’t they spend this money on our bureau?” Meanwhile, business is declining; the company reported a 9 percent drop in second-quarter advertising revenue on August 6. A Time Inc. spokesperson dismissed the complaints: “Each title decides how to allocate their resources individually based on the desires of their readers, how to best further their editorial vision and to best grow their business.”