Glamour, Wired take latest hits

Glamour and Wired yesterday became the latest Condé Nast magazines to lay off staff amid severe cost-cutting at the glitzy publisher, which so far this year has axed nearly 400 jobs.

The layoffs yesterday marked the start of the third week of the carnage at Condé Nast, which began Oct. 5 when the company announced it was closing four magazines and eliminating 180 positions.

Since then, there have been rolling cutbacks at each title, as the editors and publishers scramble to slash budgets by 25 percent for fiscal 2010. The biggest hits since the Oct. 5 massacre came last week, when 19 people were axed on Thursday from the Golf Digest group and 17 were bounced on Wednesday from Brides magazine.

Vogue, reputedly the most profitable magazine in the company, last week sacked three editorial people and four from the business side.

Vanity Fair Publisher Edward Menicheschi on Friday axed five people on the business side, but Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter has yet to lower the boom on the editorial side.

Earlier this year, Condé eliminated 130 jobs when it shut down Condé Nast Portfolio and Domino. This time, at many as 260 people have been ousted, according to estimates.

One insider said that by year end, Condé Nast’s workforce could be down by as many as 500 people.