Yeah, no kidding. I haven't been listening this week either. I heard it on the Sean Hannity show. He had Matt Drudge on as a guest and he talked about Rush.
He also broke this story. Apparently some big left wing person had her magazine go under. Breaks my heart. LOL
I wonder if they sold stock in the company. Could this be another Enron??
NOT...<vbg>
observer.com
Chalking it up to 9/11, Bad Economy, Talk Stops: Magazine Closes After Two and a Half Years
by Gabriel Snyder
Tina Brown's Talk Magazine is closing. Talk Media announced late on Friday, January 18 that the monthly magazine would be suspended immediately.
Talk Media said that the decision to suspend the magazine was made following discussions between Talk Media and its partners, Hearst and Miramax films. All of the magazine’s employees – approximately 100 – were terminated with two months severance.
Talk Media will retain its books division, which has been successful in its brief history.
The magazine, however, was a different story. The closing of Talk comes after months of speculation about the magazine’s financial health and reports that Hearst was seeking to end its relationship with the Talk, which published its first issue in September 1999 following a celebrity-filled party on Liberty Island.
In recent weeks, both Ms. Brown and Talk Media president Ron Galotti made attempts to secure another partner for the publication. Among the potential partners Talk Media spoke with were Hachette Filipacchi, Hollinger International and Wenner Media.
But no new partner was found. Sources said the decision to close Talk down was made late this week, and that Ms. Brown and Mr. Galotti were told of that decision Thursday night, when both the editor and the president were in Los Angeles attending a party the magazine threw at the Mondrian hotel to celebrate the Golden Globe awards.
Ms. Brown and Mr. Galottti flew back to New York on Friday to deliver the news to the magazine’s staff.
In a statement released late Friday, Ms. Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker who left that magazine to launch Talk in August 1999, said: “It cannot be anything but sad for all of us.”
Ms. Brown went on attribute Talk’s decline to a severe downturn in the magazine advertising market. “Unfortunately, we simply had to be realistic about the fact that 2001 and 2002 to date represent the worst period in memory for general interest magazines.”
Ms. Brown delivered the news of the magazine's closing to her staff at a 4:30 P.M. meeting on Friday in Talk Media’s Chelsea offices. Also in attendance were Mr. Galotti and Cathie Black, the chief executive of Hearst Magazines, and Miramax executive vice president Charles Layton. Harvey Weinstein, the co-chairman of Miramax Films, was not at the meeting.
"We're so sorry," a teary Ms. Brown told her staff.
Mr. Galotti, who also shed some tears, told the staff: "We'll be here all night and we're staying up all night if you want to talk to us."
In her address to the staff, Ms. Black began by mentioning how the September 11 terror attacks had led to an advertising shortfall.
"Damn September 11th!" several Talk sources recalled Ms. Black as saying.
During Ms. Black’s comments, sources said, Talk editorial director Maer Roshan interjected and asked if the magazine could put out its March issue, scheduled to have rock star/actress Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean on its cover.
“We have two days before we put out the next issue,” Talk sources recalled Mr. Roshan as saying. “Can't we put out the next issue?"
Mr. Roshan, it appeared, did not see the publication’s demise coming. As rumor of the closure swirled Friday afternoon, a source said, Mr. Roshan was “going around to everyone and saying, ‘It’s happy news! It’s happy news!’”
When a report arrived on Matt Drudge’s Drudgereport.com that a closure was imminent, Mr. Roshan could be heard to say “If this is actually true and they didn’t tell me, I’m never talking to any of them again!”
After the meeting, magazine staffers were split up into two groups to discuss their severance packages. Afterwards, there was talk of going out somewhere to drink. But photographers had already begun to gather outside and the staff was told not to leave the building.
Though rumors about Talk’s possible closure had been circulating for months, growing in intensity in the past week, many of the magazine’s staffers were startled by the sudden closure. Many staffers held out hope that a new investor would arise to help save the troubled publication.
Two weeks ago, Ms. Brown was spotted lunching with Barry Diller, the chief executive of USA Networks. And on Jan. 9, Ms. Brown visited Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone, US Weekly, and Men's Journal, at his New York offices for lunch. Previously, Ms. Brown and Mr. Galotti had also met with executives at Hachette Filipacchi Magazines.
And, up to the very end, Talk kept up appearances that it had a bright future ahead of it. In its final weeks, the company threw two parties. On Wednesday, Jan. 9, the magazine feted Andy Berman, who was featured in its last issue, at exclusive night club Suite 16. Ms. Brown, who tagged along with Gotham publisher Jason Binn, then headed to a party at Spa for the movie I Am Sam, a film featuring the magazine’s current cover subject, Sean Penn.
And, a few days the final announcement, Ms. Brown and Mr. Galotti headed to Los Angeles for the Golden Globes Awards and a weekend of parties, including Talk’s own fete.
Like many things Ms. Brown has done, the Talk party carried some controversy with it. For years, the biggest party at the Golden Globes had been held on Friday night at the home of Michael Medavoy, chairman of Phoenix Pictures, a film company, with sponsorship by Vanity Fair. To compete, Ms. Brown arranged to throw the Talk party on Thursday at the home of Ron Burkle, a billionaire businessman with Hollywood ties. But after Mr. Medevoy's wife Irena protested to Mr. Burkle, a source close to the situation said, the party had to be moved to the Mondrian Hotel on Sunset Boulevard.
The party was something of a dud, according to one source who attended. By 9:00 the party lacked any major stars but was instead filled with wanna-bes, a “number of chirpy young blondes who show up whenever there is a party.”
“I was shocked,” said the source who briefly attended. “[I] walked through the door and there was no Tina. Usually she plants herself right in front of the door so she can see everyone who comes in. I was very surprised she wasn’t there.”
“I didn’t really see any of those guys that you always see whenever these guys throw a party,” the source said. “It was like the life had gone out of the whole place. I stayed twenty minutes and left, thinking ‘This must be it.' and it was.’”
-- with reporting from Sridhar Pappu
You may reach Gabriel Snyder via email at: gsnyder@observer.com. |
