Conde Nast CEO: Family is involved in key decisions

Condé Nast, the publisher of

Vogue,


Vanity Fair,

the

New Yorker

and other magazines, will invest $500 million in digital properties,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

Condé Nast’s revenue declined by 30% from 2007 through 2009, according to the report. Its parent company, Advance Publications Inc., is owned by the Newhouse family.

In a interview with the

Journal,

Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend said he sees licensing as an untapped source of revenue. “The licensing business is a complete change of attitude for the Newhouse family,” Townsend told the

Journal.

Townsend also said that 83-year-old chairman Si Newhouse Jr. is involved in the company “at his own pace.”

“He’s chairman of the family board of directors that presides over Condé Nast. [Townsend’s top lieutenant, Bob Sauerberg] and I run the business. When it gets to balance sheet decisions, the family’s involved.”

Townsend also said that “the management structure is in place” to continue. after Si Newhouse’s departure.

“You don’t replace Si Newhouse. But we will survive that transition very comfortably because the whole company is structured to do just that.”

(Source:

Wall Street Journal,

May 31, 2011.)