Conde Nast shuts down four magazines, including Gourmet

As part of its survival-mode restructuring campaign, Conde Nast announced today that it is shutting down production of four of its magazines, including big name brands Gourmet and Modern Bride, as well as Cookie and Elegant Bride. There have been rumors about Gourmet's demise for almost a year now, and in the first half of this year its ad pages had fallen by almost 50%.

So what becomes of Gourmet honcho Ruth Reichl? Maybe she can don the drag again and usurp Sam Sifton as the new NYT restaurant critic for a second tour of duty?

Here's a sad note: There's still a pop-up on the Gourmet site asking if you want to subscribe. And where will I go to find absurdly complicated, poorly designed recipes?!

This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2009.