Gawker
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portfolio
All Joanne Lipman Knows Is It Wasn't Her Fault
What's deposed Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman been up to since her magazine folded, besides lying about not reading this website? Partying, vacation planning, and blaming others! More »
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Comment by SkimLatte: And all this time I assumed she actually looked like the woman on that Portfolio cover. 3 Responses | Other threads
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portfolio
Joanne Lipman's Dream That Could Not Be
A year before Portfolio's launch, the magazine produced mock-ups, obtained by the New York Observer. The titles are awful, but the cover lines reveal a compelling vision editor Joanne Lipman couldn't pull off. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Richard Lawson: Funds & Ammo? Cash Fancy? Layoffs Home Journal? 2 Responses | Other threads
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op-ed
Inside Fort Polio: A Former Staffer on What Went Wrong
Paul Smalera, a Portfolio staff writer who was laid off before it shut down today, argues that it was hubris and an obstinate editor — not the economy — that doomed Conde Nast's business mag. More »
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By Paul SmaleraComment by microtony: Using the word "insouciance" more than once in an article is unacceptable. 2 Responses | Other threads
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magazines
Tiniest Condé Nast magazine ever: the 106-page April Portfolio.
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disasters
How Barack Obama Got Snared In Portfolio's Crazy-Making
Joanne Lipman, the diva editor of Portfolio, is becoming known for her disastrous cover decisions. The worst, perhaps, involved the president and Annie Leibovitz. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Moriturus: The article that accompanied the picture was one of the better analyses of the real estate meltdown, written by the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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magazines
Another Irrelevant Portfolio Cover Coming
What is wrong with Joanne Lipman? Does the Portfolio editor detest business journalism? Is she trying to finally get fired? There must be some reason she's putting Sarah Palin on next month's cover. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Choire: I'd love to see a transcript of his solicitations of Palin. Of course Palin is way down the social ladder... 2 Responses | Other threads
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recessionomics
Cash-Bleeding Mag Editor Recommends Buying a House
Yes, sure, ok, Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman. You go on TV and claim this year is shaping up as an extraordinary time to buy a home. That's a fine and sensical thing for the editor of a finance magazine to be saying. More »
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By PareeneComment by badasscat: It probably is a good time to buy a house if you have the money and/or can get credit, which... 4 Responses | Other threads
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magazines
Sun Setting on Conde Nast's Fancy Culture
Conde Nast, magazine publisher of the gods, is in trouble. Many of its most famous magazines are losing critical amounts of advertising. How bad are things? So bad that Conde is actually making some changes!
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Comment by Colonel Mustard: Since nobody at Conde Nast eats anything other than celery anyway, they could probably eliminate the cafeteria all together and... 4 Responses | Other threads
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media
Conde Editors Get Their Precious Domain Names Back
Last month Cityfile unveiled, oh, a hundred or so domain names of famous New Yorkers' names that it had bought, just because it could. Conde Nast immediately marshaled its team of high-powered attorney warriors! More »
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Comment by seyswho: I don't understand this. You don't have exclusive rights to a website just because it has your name in the... 4 Responses | Other threads
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sam zell
Sam Zell To Newspapers: Stop Acting Like Punks
Embattled Porfolio editor Joanne Lipman interviewed embattled Tribune publisher Sam Zell recently, in a dynamic meeting of the embattleds! Zell is a well-known asshole, but kind of lovable too (if you don't work for him), because he tells the hard truth no matter what. He admits that newspapers' business model was screwy and outdated. He admits that newspapers will never again be able to "break news" in print on a regular basis. He talks shit to Arthur Sulzberger. And he charmingly scoffs at the expensive pursuit of Pulitzers by newspapers that can't even cover daily news in their own cities: More »
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Comment by tunamelt: he charmingly scoffs at the expensive pursuit of Pulitzers by newspapers that can't even cover daily news in their own... 4 Responses | Other threads
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si newhouse
How Long Will Si Newhouse Support Portfolio's Editor?
A long Times profile yesterday of Conde Nast chairman Si Newhouse describes him as a shy, unassuming man who putters around the office quietly in an old sweatshirt. This can lead to a pleasant work environment, but also some surprises: "Despite the influence he wields, Mr. Newhouse so defers to his editors and dislikes confrontation that a number of them have said over the years that their first indication of trouble came when he fired them." Notably, the piece gives no indication at all that Conde Nast is nervous about the struggles of its $100 million business magazine, Portfolio. But does that mean its editor, Joanne Lipman, is really safe? More »
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Comment by HOPSCOTCH: You have SI's 100% support until the moment you don't. more » | Other threads
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conde nast
The Most Fractious Media Company In America
The Hollywood rumor about rivalry between two Condé Nast editors—passed along by former New York Times reporter, Sharon Waxman—sounds incredible. Why would Graydon Carter, the behemoth of Vanity Fair, bother to ice out his colleagues at Joanne Lipman's Portfolio? More » -
porfolio
Clockwork
We hear that Portfolio senior editor Bob Roe (formerly of Sports Illustrated) was let go today! Editor Joanne Lipman didn't like him! But we're told Roe was "popular and highly skilled." Anyone?
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By PareeneComment by onetimeagain: Portfolio is dead. Bob Roe was the last truly talented editor there. With her firings and craziness and general incompetence,... more » | Other threads
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joanne lipman
No Guests At Portfolio's First Birthday
Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman is to ring the stock market's opening bell tomorrow morning at 9.30am, to mark the first anniversary of the Conde Nast business magazine. It's a distinct honor for Portfolio, or would be—but for one detail. Lipman will be kicking off trading not on the real floor but on the Nasdaq electronic exchange. The ceremony will take place at the Nasdaq's unpopulated "market site" round the corner from the magazine's offices—before an audience of bewildered Times Square tourists. (Easy dig: they may represent the confused business title's target demographic.)
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By Nick DentonComment by janine: They're not NYSE-listed, why would they get to go downtown? NYSE are much greater sticklers for companies to be related... more » | Other threads
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portfolio magazine
Power: Jacob Lewis Has It, Joanne Lipman Doesn't
Portfolio's Joanne Lipman must be chafing at the New York Observer's flattering profile of her managing editor, Jacob Lewis. For sure, John Koblin's piece is the first positive coverage of the business magazine in a while. But almost every passage, while praising the new managing editor's calming influence on the troubled Conde Nast title, is an implied criticism of Lipman's management style. More »
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By Nick DentonComment by HumpintoPlease: @mrs_hevesi: You tell 'em, lady! Check out the lastest special issue of Forbes with the Cleavon Little look alike. I can't wait... more » | Other threads
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portfolio
It's Always The Cover-Up That Gets You
Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman should learn rule number 63 or web publishing: by deleting a blog post, one only draws greater attention to it. On Friday, the Conde Nast magazine's media industry terrier, Jeff Bercovici, wrote a typically niggling piece for Portfolio's website about best-selling fabulist, Malcolm Gladwell (displayed after the jump). According to Bercovici, the Tipping Point author is the bane of the fact-checking department at his day job, as a writer for the New Yorker, another title owned by Conde Nast boss Si Newhouse. There was nothing that controversial about Bercovici's item: Gladwell has himself drawn attention to his mockery of orthodox journalistic practice. But the post disappeared from Bercovici's Portfolio blog over the weekend.
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By Nick DentonComment by rosaluxembourgeoise: @rosaluxembourgeoise: "contact him for comment". more » | Other threads
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from the mailbag
Portfolio Editor Taken To Point Of Ecstasy By Boss
An online staffer has written in with a fairly lengthy account of the continuing discontent inside Condé Nast business magazine Portfolio. The anonymous tipster said that "every last person at the magazine" except new managing editor Jacob Lewis is lined up against editor Joanna Lipman, deputy editor Amy Stevens and senior editor Kyle Pope. (And the ungrateful hacks wonder why they are being pushed out the door!) But the anger may only be strengthening Lipman's position. Condé Nast patriarch Si Newhouse has a big fan in Lipman, who recently told staff her initial meeting with the Advance Publications CEO left her "so happy she could have been hit by a truck." Now Newhouse is said to have embattled Lipman's back. Email from the Portfolio.com insider after the jump. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by onetimeagain: I also am one of the many who left. I have no animosity toward anyone there and hope that Joanne... more » | Other threads
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rumors
Contracts For 'Portfolio'?
WE HEAR that Portfolio is pushing its staff writers into contracts. As it stands, writers at the magazine are considered full-time and get appropriate benefits. That would change if they became independent contractors who regularly write for the magazine. [Boy would it ever!–day ed] Rumor has it that senior writers Sheelah Kolhatkar and Kevin Gray have already been talked to and the magazine is trying to get rid of office space. Jesse Eisinger probably won't get screwed because he's a real financial writer and also subject to Joanne Lipman's adoration. Update: a tipster writes in with more details, after the jump. More »
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By rebeccaComment by raincoaster: @ifstone: Where do you think they got the idea? more » | Other threads
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magazines
The Evolution of Portfolio's Covers
Portfolio magazine's highly conceptual covers were commercially foolish, but rather brave. The cityscapes and factory floors of the Conde Nast title's first four issues paid homage to an earlier, more confident era of magazine publishing, in which editors could survive a bad month on the newsstand. And then, spooked by low sell-through numbers, Joanne Lipman panicked. January's Spy vs Spy cover could have been borrowed from the defunct Business 2.0; February's How Fat Won, illustrated by an overloaded burger, is a bogus trend story more often found in Newsweek. The latest shows a man's black shoe treading on a woman's red stiletto reminiscent of nothing more than a classy fetish magazine. Provocative? Pathetic? Discuss.
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By Nick DentonComment by TerseNursePornstein: Pathetic, but maybe not for the reason you'd have expected. The choice of shoe is a huge misstep, largely because... more » | Other threads
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joanne lipman
Look Who's Toxic Now
Congratulations, Portfolio, on that lovely advertising spread for Apple's ultra-thin laptop on pages 2 and 3 of last month's issue. Whatever anybody's said about the magazine's editorial leadership, nobody doubts the Conde Nast title's appeal to advertisers. Ah, but then, again, there's that editorial leadership. Flick forward to Portfolio's feature on corporate polluters: Apple is among the magazine's 'Toxic Ten'. First of all, the magazine was ridiculously unthinking to include any computer company along with industrial giants such as Alcoa. More damning: Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman also forgot one of Conde Nast's golden rules: give an advertiser the opportunity to pull out of an issue containing a critical article. It's both polite, and politic. Apple is said by insiders to be furious, as is Portfolio's outgoing publisher, the normally unflappable David Carey, a rising star on Conde Nast's business side, and someone the embattled Lipman needs on her side. ENLARGE» More »
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By Nick DentonComment by namesake: Good for Portfolio! They're showing some journalistic integrity -- the magazine went forward with an unflattering story about Apple without... more » | Other threads
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portfolio
When In Doubt, Attack!
Well, this is one way for Conde Nast to display its determination to make Portfolio a success. The business magazine's editor, Joanne Lipman, may have lost the confidence of her staff; and the title sells well under a fifth of the copies sent to newsstands. But conglomerate Conde Nast, which has committed $100m in one of the biggest magazine launches in recent years, is launching Portfolio in the UK. Lipman may be sacrificed, but too much money and prestige is invested for Conde Nast to allow the magazine to fail.
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By Nick DentonComment by donmiguel: Every time I try to ponder Portfolio I fall into a deep sleep. more » | Other threads
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fort polio
For Big Spenders, By Big Spenders
Dana Thomas' gig at Portfolio sounds wonderfully cushy. The former Newsweek writer, now European editor at Conde Nast's business title (she asked for the title because it sounded "very grand"), went on a "couple-thousand" shopping spree after she signed her contract, according to the New York Observer. We suspect, however, that Joanne Lipman's extravagant magazine, which is funded to the tune of $100m, will waste more on the forthcoming opus by Jay McInerney. More »
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By Nick DentonComment by IHateWhatYouHaveOn: It's only good to be the European Editor if she gets paid in euros. more » | Other threads
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fort polio
When Even The Contributors Are Critics
Joanne Lipman may be deaf to warnings from her colleagues. (The embattled Portfolio editor ran a poorly-sourced rehash of a 21-year-old story in the latest issue of the Conde Nast business magazine, despite protests from fact checkers and editors.) But that doesn't stop others from volunteering advice. The brittle editrix approached Michael Kinsley, editor of The New Republic in its heyday, about a freelance piece. She got something else. Says Kinsley: "I was talking to Joanne Lipman—who I'd never met—and she talked to me about writing a piece and I said I’ll write you a memo about what I think of the first few issues and what problems you have; I could just be another voice. I’m sure more criticism is just what’s she's in the mood for." And I'm sure that Lipman even more delighted by Kinsley's willingness to share their private conversation with the New York Observer.
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By Nick DentonComment by rugrat: These jabs at Lipman are so lame that I'm starting to feel embarrassed for you for reporting them all the... more » | Other threads
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fort polio
Why Joanne Lipman Should Go
The February issue of Portfolio, which just hit newsstands, has a superficially fascinating account of fugitive fraudster Robert Vesco, who ran Bernie Cornfeld's bogus mutual fund in the early 1970s, and then escaped to Cuba. Except the profile, based on a poorly-sourced book by a Fox News correspondent called James Rosen, is as hollow as the investment empire Vesco ran. For Conde Nast's embattled business magazine, which staffers jokingly call Fort Polio, the article is an embarrassment; for the title's wobbly editor, Joanne Lipman, who forced through the piece against the objections of her colleagues, the publication is an indictment. How flawed is the piece? Here's how. More »
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By Nick DentonComment by pointadd: Rugrat is missing the point, which has become evident in the many horrifying stories coming out of Portfolio: while there... more » | Other threads
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magazines
Fort Polio
Joanne Lipman's Portfolio has not had the impact it hoped on the business conversation, but the unhappy Conde Nast magazine is certainly making a contribution to the journalistic lexicon. When the editor's not in earshot, staffers have been known to deliberately mangle the name of the embattled magazine: referring not to 'Portfolio', but to 'Fort Polio'. If only such wit made it into the magazine. But Portfolio's editor is notorious for shooting down ideas before she understands them.
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By Nick DentonComment by squinchy: I know it ... and I hate it. Sorry but who wants to read a story that revisits the Agee/Evans... more » | Other threads
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armchair magazine management
Joanne Lipman's Replacement At Portfolio
Let's be generous and accept Memo Pad's word that Portfolio is selling 15-18% of the copies it ships to newsstands. (We'd heard some issues had registered as low as 12%). That's still deeply embarrassing for Conde Nast, which has committed $100m to the new business title, the biggest magazine launch in years — and maybe one of the last before print enters its final decline. One Portfolio writer says of the magazine's numbers: "Well, that's not that much lower than Cargo." Yes, but Cargo's dead. More »
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By Nick DentonComment by greenisgold: Sell through is definitely closer to 12% -- and dropping. Nevertheless my money is on Joanne staying at Portfolio at least... more » | Other threads
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herogram
Conde Nast's David Carey
The bespectacled magazine publisher, who ran the New Yorker's marketing and ad sales before being roped in to help Joanne Lipman launch Portfolio, has done better than merely surviving the new year's massacre at Conde Nast. He's now the leading candidate to replace Chuck Townsend as chief executive of the elite magazine group. Nobody wins corporate infighting without making critics but, if Carey has them, we can't find them. "Everyone wishes there was some dirt on David Carey, but there ain't," says one Conde exec. The Portfolio publisher doesn't even get the blame for the business magazine's troubled launch. More »
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By Nick DentonComment by maddalen: If he's the same guy I knew way back when (1980's) at the now defunct magazine Financial World, he was:... more » | Other threads
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journalisms
'Portfolio' Editor Thinks Media Reporters Are Full Of "Nonsense"
At midnight, Conde Nast Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman sent out an email about the editor of their website leaving. Her message? Don't believe the things media reporters write! Isn't it cute when journalists go management and turn on the press? More » -
crisis at 4xs
Will Portfolio.com Free Itself From Joanne Lipman?
It's apparently been the best-kept secret in town that Chris Jones, the managing editor of Portfolio.com, gave notice a full month ago—the staff were supposedly only told yesterday. And now, says WWD: "high-level discussion is said to be under way about divesting [Portfolio editor Joanne] Lipman of oversight of the Web site, with a possible new reporting structure to Portfolio.com's general manager, Ari Brandt, on the business side. (Like Jones, Brandt came from Yahoo!, where such reporting structures are in place.)" Well sure—we hear that meetings with Lipman can be so trying that people stomp out of the building for a breath of fresh air afterward. Plus! Bonus blind item for ya! What Portfolio editorial employee was spotted hanging around outside an old boss's office last week, eagerly waiting for a chance to talk privately? -
rip it up and start again
Keith Kelly: "CONDÉ Nast Chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. sat down Wednesday with Portfolio Editor-in-Chief Joanne Lipman to take a very serious look at every page in the upcoming November issue of Portfolio, his $100 million pet project. When the meeting was over, a flurry of Newhouse-dictated changes ensued, and that had some staffers concluding that Si was not happy with the original incarnation of Portfolio issue No. 4." Shockingly, Condé spokesfolk deny it. [NYP] -
silence is a dangerous sound
The third issue of Portfolio—on newsstands this week!—will not feature an editor's letter from Joanne Lipman. Someone tell Graydon Carter that this is a really good idea. [WWD] -
choices
Dan Golden has announced he would rather work for Joanne Lipman at Portfolio (as a senior editor) than Rupert Murdoch at the Wall Street Journal. (Well, he was in the Boston bureau, and we'd work for Bonnie Fuller or Satan to get out of Boston, so.) Two related things: First, we heard a big editor at the WSJ quit right after the Murdoch and Col Allan visit last week. Second, wow, isn't Portfolio on a major lockdown right now? Not a PEEP out of that place in weeks! [Romenesko] -
whatever rupert wants
'Wall Street Journal' To End Pursuits
In a few minutes, Wall Street Journal employees will be herded into a meeting where, we understand, they will learn that the Saturday "Pursuits" section—baby of left-for-Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman—is being rebranded as a Saturday edition of the Friday "Weekend" section. We hear that there are plans afoot to use the "Pursuits" rubric as the title for the new T-style magazine section that Rupert Murdoch mentioned wanting to see. This is all preliminary, but if it is, in fact, the case, it's hard not to see it as one more indictment of Lipman, who never properly articulated the section's raison d'etre before decamping to Conde Nast.
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By abalkComment by stella_was_a_diver: @Hagan: But is the crossword safe??? PLEASE tell me that the crossword's safe!!!!! more » | Other threads
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five year plans
Let's Play Editorial Shuffle!
Today on the New Republic website, retired blogger Elizabeth Spiers reviews the second issue of Portfolio. Spiers finds the title pretentious and lacking in substance. Her suggestion? Replace editor Joanne Lipman with former New Yorker head Tina Brown, who will bring both flash and purpose to the title. Surely Tina, who is currently sitting on her ass awaiting royalty checks from that Princess Diana book, would go for it. But what would happen to poor Joanne? We've come up with a plan that requires a little editorial shuffling throughout the media world, but ends up with everybody comfortably ensconced in positions for which they might be better suited!
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bad spin
Why People Care About 'Portfolio'
Today endlessly irksome media columnist Jon Friedman writes: "It's still hard to believe that a monthly, which has published a total of two issues, can seem so important. Yet Portfolio has taken on the aura of a big-budget Hollywood production, where pandemonium appears to be everywhere. Unfortunately, the magazine raises comparisons with "Heaven's Gate" and "Gigli." ("Do you even remember the latter's plot line?" Friedman asks. Sadly, some people do.) Friedman trots out Portfolio's publisher David Carey and Conde publicist Perri Dorset to dismiss the hubbub and claim that everyone's just talking about their stories. And, for real? It's "hard to believe" that this magazine—for which Conde Nast crowed about spending $100 million and poached nearly every business journalist with a pulse and maybe one standout clip—"can seem so important"?
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Comment by Dusty in the Wind: So should I not feel so bad no is replying to my pitch inquiries over there? more » | Other threads
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napoleon complexes
Will Jim Impoco Return To The 'Times'?
We hear that New York Times Business honcho Larry Ingrassia is trying to lure fired Portfolio deputy editor Jim Impoco (whose bio is still on Portfolio's website) back to his old Times home in Biz. That would be an interesting, if not entirely unpredictable, turn of events. (Where is there to work, anyway?) And they have something in common. When Ingrassia left the Wall Street Journal for the Times, one of the great benefits for him was getting away from Lipman. More »
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Comment by Trackback: FINANCE • The nation's largest mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial, almost out of credit. Oh. No. [NYP] • Recent hedge-fund woes... more » | Other threads
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issues
The War At 'Portfolio'
The new Portfolio hits the racks today. Before we get to the actual magazine, you'll have to console yourself with gossip about Portfolio, most of it centered around EIC Joanne Lipman's recent firing of second-in-command Jim Impoco. The Observer and the Post, obviously suckling at the teat of different sources, bring you the different perspectives. More » -
portfolio in crisis, day three
Joanne Lipman's secret editorial plan to save Conde Nast Portfolio from the crisis that she doesn't yet know that it's totally in: Unpaid 36-hour-a-week college internships for researcher-bloggers. HAHA. NO. We'd laugh if it wasn't so sad that a bunch of talented people gave up other jobs to go work for the right magazine at the right time run by entirely the wrong crazy person. [Craigslist]
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By ChoireComment by Tiraspol Groom: @BrianVan: Wait, are you telling me I shouldn't take that job at Bloomberg Markets Magazine? But I wanted to afflict... more » | Other threads
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crazy stuff
What kind of Conde Nast magazine editor fires her number two, just as the magazine is about to go monthly? The Joanne Lipman kind! The Portfolio staff, we hear, are pissed about the loss of Jim Impoco. He's probably not too thrilled either. No one returned calls, etc. [NYO]
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By ChoireComment by hercules q. einstein: I used to work with Jim Impoco at US News & World Report. He was a bit impressed with himself... more » | Other threads
joanne lipman
New York, 9:06 AM
Fri Jul 10
45 posts in the last 24 hours
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