It's most likely a forced resignation, as Foster was dismissed at Men's Health from his the number seven slot (about nine months into it) shortly before being giving the top job at Men's Journal. Rumor says Jim Kaminsky, former editor at Playboy, will take over Foster's role at least until Jann has another change of heart. Again.

Update: Foster's goodbye note:

Thanks for everything. I can't tell you how proud I am of all that we've accomplished, and how much I've enjoyed working with each of you. I truly hope I get the chance to work with each of you again. Please stay in touch — you can reach me at [redacted].

Good luck!
TF

I decided to do something a little different this month, instead of our usual drinks party. How about a discussion among six top editors.. with a drinks party afterward (ostensibly to discuss what we've learned—or just for the hell of it!)?

Editors on Truth Serum [Media Bistro]

• Jann Wenner fires Men's Journal deputy editor Ben Court. Also, newsstand is down 40 percent since Wenner took over as editor-in-chief. [Jossip]
  
• College tours, WB style. [IvyGate]
  
• Catch up on all those YouTube videos everyone's been talking about. [BWE]

"The reason they've had so much trouble is because Jann's in charge," said a source close to Wenner, who believed the media executive is using the same tactic he's applying at Rolling Stone. "Rolling Stone is largely nostalgic, and he's got the same touch on the pages of Men's Journal. As a result, it's an older, duller and more b- or c-[list] kind of magazine."

That seems a little unfair to us. We saw a recent issue at our last visit to the gerontologist and found it perfectly delightful.

Memo Pad: Drop the Pen, Jann... [WWD]

Earlier: Gawker's Coverage of Men's Journal

Managing editor Leslie Lewis, by an 11-percent margin.

This tracks with a number of emails we received, too, including several that turned Caruso's version of the tale on its head: Rather than Lewis's departure being integral to the mag's success, several tipsters say, she was the competent vet who kept things going at the mag, and Kent Brownridge wouldn't let Caruso fire her because he knew she was needed. Then again, other recent emailers suggest Josh Dean, Mark Horowitz, and Tom Foster, who's now the editor of the magazine. So who knows.

But we're sticking with Lewis.

Earlier: Gawker's coverage of Michael Caruso.

There's wisdom in them thar crowds, though, and so we bet you'll be able to help us figure out the answer.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Poll closes at the end of the day.

Earlier: Gawker's coverage of Michael Caruso

The full expense guidelines — and we assume they're the guidelines for Rolling Stone and Us Weekly, too — are after the jump.

MEN S JOURNAL EXPENSE GUIDELINES

Please read this carefully. The MJ Finance Department requires that the following guidelines be adhered to in submission of your invoices. Exceptions to the below are rarely granted, and must be made before incurring an expense.

———————————————————————-

Travel: All accommodation and transportation arrangements (including changes) must be made through our Travel Department. Upgrades on airfare and car rental are not reimbursable. When renting a car from Avis or National, do not elect insurance or fuel service option. If renting in a foreign country, please ask if insurance is necessary.

Hotels: You are responsible for paying your hotel charges with your credit card even though the company may guarantee your room with its corporate credit card. The original hotel ledger receipt must be submitted along with the credit card receipt. You are responsible for either informing the Travel Dept. in advance so that they may cancel the reservation on a reserved room or canceling it yourself to avoid no-show charges. No-show charges will not be reimbursed.

Phones: For long distance calls, only a phone card or personal land line calls will be reimbursed. Cell phone calls will only be reimbursed if authorized before use and itemized on cell phone invoice. Reimbursement requests for phone or cell phone calls must be accompanied by a copy of the phone bill with the calls highlighted. Use of hotel phones for long distance is not reimbursable.

Tips: Non-receipt tips (e.g. baggage, bellhops, etc.) may not exceed $10 per overnight per person. Tips on meals will be reimbursed up to 15 percent.

Cars: The company will reimburse either business use of a personal car at the rate of 36 cents per mile or gas charges for use of a personal car, but not both. The company reimburses parking and tolls while traveling. Overnight and long-term parking at local airports is reimbursed only when personal auto is the most cost-efficient means of transportation to and from the airport. Receipts are required.

Taxis: A receipt must accompany all taxi fare. Please use only yellow cabs in New York City.

Meals and other expenses: In cases where any charges exceed $10, items must be paid for by personal credit card. A receipt will be required for reimbursement for all expenses, including those under $10. If a vendor does not accept credit cards, clearly note it on receipt. Restaurant stubs will not be reimbursed. Personal meals should not exceed $80/day. Credit card statements may be substituted for lost receipts.

NON-ALLOWABLE EXPENSES Hotel gym, personal items (e.g. toiletries, dry-cleaning and wash, sundries), hotel mini-bar, traffic violations, lost or stolen goods, formalwear rental, stationery and office supplies, magazines and newspapers, movie tickets, movie rentals, AOL account reimbursement, cell phone monthly charge reimbursement, spa treatments, babysitters.

SUBMITTING THE EXPENSE REPORT FORM Out-of-town expense reports must be submitted within 30 days after completion of assignment (credit card or phone bills can be submitted later).

Receipts must be submitted in original form. Photocopies, faxes or copies received with credit card billing are unacceptable.

While Caruso turned Men's Journal into a successful and profitable magazine, this success was despite and limited by the obstacles placed in his way by Wenner, including the material diminishment of Caruso's responsibilities and/or authority under the Agreement. By way of example, Wenner denied Caruso the ability for about six months to fire one staff member whose removal was integral to the success of Men's Journal. Additionally, various decisions made by Caruso that were squarely within the purview of his authority were second-guessed and overruled by Wenner's management, to the detriment of both Caruso and Men's Journal. [Bold added.]

The dude's removal was integral to the success of the magazine. Wow. One individual man was keeping the magazine down. And yet still Jann wouldn't let Caruso sack him. (He must have been awfully fun to look it.) Who was it? You're smart people, folks; give us your best guesses.

Earlier: How the Other Half Lives: Michael Caruso Edition

It's a rare window into precisely what a top editor get paid — even if it's merely the editor of an also-ran men's mag published by a notoriously tight-fisted private company. So let's take a look.

First, the basic stuff:

• A base salary of $400,000 annually.
• A signing bonus of $25,000, to be paid within 10 days of the contract's execution.
• Reimbursement for "necessary and reasonable" business expenses. "The foregoing shall include air travel for business purposes at business class level (for international flights and flights of at least three (3) hours), to the extent available, and hotel accommodations for business travel at the same lvel as the Publisher of the Magazine and the Company's other magazines.
• Four weeks of vacation.

And then there's the "Incentive Compensation Plan":

• Up to $40K bonus per year for boosting circ.
• Up to $40K bonus per year for boosting ad sales.
• A bonus scale for performance on MRI qualitative research, in which the EIC was to be paid $10,000 for a first-place finish, $7,500 for a second-place finish, and $5,000 for each third-place finish in category "% of Readers Who Rate Magazine One of My Favorites" among MJ, Esquire, Outside, Men's Health, GQ.
• $10,000 for each National Magazine Award win; $5,000 for each nomination.
• $10,000 for making Ad Age's Hot List "big list"; $5,000 for making a "mini list."
• $10,000 bonus for coming in under budget.

After the jump, the nitty-gritty of the "Incentive Compensation Plan" and all its "bounties."

The 37-page complaint ... alleges Caruso's departure from Wenner Media last October was not voluntary but, rather, a firing motivated by, among other factors, age discrimination. (Caruso, who is 44, was replaced by 32-year-old Tom Foster, who allegedly told others Wenner had been looking for younger editors.) Under the terms of his employment agreement — attached to the complaint as Exhibit A — Caruso was entitled to his base salary of $400,000 for one year after termination, providing he was not dismissed for cause.... Finally, the complaint asks for compensatory damages of $1.5 million and punitive damages of $3 million.

We've always sort of wondered why people continue to go work for Jann Wenner, knowing that they'll most likely just be fired within a few years. But now that we know you get paid for a year after being fired, well, suddenly, it all makes sense.

Memo Pad [WWD]

Michael Caruso v. Wenner Media LLC
2/22/2006 06-102525

Complaint for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violation of labor law. The plaintiff was fired from his position as editor-in-chief of the magazine Men's Journal because the defendant wanted to replace him with someone younger. The plaintiff's replacement told him specifically that the defendant was looking to hire younger employees. $5 million.

Earlier: Caruso Leaves Men s Journal in Printer Scandal

Three weeks after Michael Caruso rappelled down from his editor-in-chief post at Wenner Media's Men's Journal, and after a hunt in which none of the prominent editors contacted was willing to take the job, Jann Wenner has solved his problems by naming Tom Foster, an MJ vet who is currently features editor of Men's Health, editor of the magazine — and appointing himself editor-in-chief.

We now eagerly await MJ's review of the next Stones album.

Men's Journal Vet Tom Foster Named Editor; Jann Wenner Reinstates His EIC Title [Mediaweek]
Related: Memo Pad [WWD (second item)]

It was not until late in the evening on Tuesday that General Manager Kent Brownridge addressed the staff.

Caruso had long since packed and many of the senior staffers had left as well.

"He was addressing mostly low level clerical people and assistant editors," said one source.

"He didn't seem to know who most of them were."

A GM doesn't know his own underlings? Shock! Awe! But wait, it gets better:

One source said he urged the staffers to read The New Yorker to find out what an 'A' magazine was all about.

We'd love to see a Men's Journal inspired by the New Yorker. Perhaps an article on a quaint nobody in Brooklyn who re nergized his life with a hike along Costa Rica's rugged coastline.

Second-Class Citizens [NYP (2nd item)]
Earlier: Caruso Leaves 'Men's Journal' in Printer Scandal

Meanwhile, we have it under good authority that around the time of Jann Wenner's most recent desk-checking insanity, Jann himself did a brief scan of the office and decided that things looked too cluttered. Specifically, he had a problem with the printers — too many! Too unseemly! And so, a hefty percentage (maybe even 50%) of the printers were removed from offices of print publications.

And there you have all the answers: Caruso left because Jann took away his DeskJet.

Michael Caruso Exits Men's Journal [Mediaweek]