Janice Min, the editor of US Weekly, told her staff at Wenner Media in a letter that she is leaving the magazine after six years in the top editorial slot.
“In short, I decided it was time to try something else in my life, do a little Gosselin detox and occasionally go out on Monday nights,” Min wrote. “There are no immediate plans, except to enjoy the month of August, take some tennis lessons, and maybe finally edit my wedding album.”
She’s the second high profile celebrity magazine editor in a week to make a bold career move. Last Friday, Min’s predecessor at US Weekly, Bonnie Fuller, announced that she was abandoning efforts to launch her own startup and instead going to lead HollywoodLife.com, the celebrity and entertainment site owned by Jay Penske's Mail.com Media Corporation.
Min’s contract at US was said to expire at the end of the month. In her letter, Min pointed out that the magazine’s rate base – now 1.9 million – is nearly double what it was when she started.
But what she didn’t mention is, like most consumer magazines, US’ ad pages have been in a sharpening decline for more than a year. Through June, ad pages for US were down 9.8 percent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau -- that, after an 8.1 percent decline in 2008.
To be fair, US’ ad slump has been less pronounced than most. Ad pages for consumer magazines nearly 28 percent during the first half of the year.
Here are US’ annual ad pages during Min’s tenure:
2009 | *826.33
2008 | 1,791.45
2007 | 1,949.21
2006 | 1,931.18
2005 | 1,802.19
2004 | 1,638.21
2003 | 1,283.99
* Through June
SOURCE: PIB
As for Min’s next move, who knows? An "insider" told the New York Post yesterday that Min is "in Los Angeles right now on vacation and taking meetings with TV executives looking for her next gig." PaidContent’s Rafat Ali speculated via Twitter that she may be headed for a reunion with Fuller at Mail.com, although the uncertainty she expressed in her memo sounded sincere.
The full text of Min’s letter, via Mediaite:
Dear US Staff,
After six years as the editor of US Weekly, I am leaving. In short, I decided it was time to try something else in my life, do a little Gosselin detox and occasionally go out on Monday nights. There are no immediate plans, except to enjoy the month of August, take some tennis lessons, and maybe finally edit my wedding album.
With more certainty, I can say that it has been an immense privilege working with every last one of you here. What we’ve done with this magazine is unprecedented — you have helped make US Weekly into one of the greatest success stories in publishing history. Back in 2003, the year many of you started with me, the magazine’s rate base was 1 million; now it is nearly double that at 1.9
