In a memo to staff sent Tuesday, recently appointed Vanity Fair editorial director Mark Guiducci shared his plan to reshape the Condé Nast publication’s coverage strategy.
Guiducci, who took over as Vanity Fair’s global editorial director on June 30, told staffers that the publication will be focusing more on entertainment, culture, “money, politics and style” moving forward. As a result, Vanity Fair will be scaling back its “news aggregation, reviews and trade coverage” output.
The publication plans to abandon its “siloed vertical structure,” and phase out its business, politics and technology vertical The Hive. In addition to The Hive, Vanity Fair will also be phasing out its film, TV, and entertainment industry news vertical Hollywood Daily.
“Today, we will start working toward our new editorial strategy, gradually sunsetting our siloed vertical structure to focus on Vanity Fair as a whole,” Guiducci wrote in his memo. “We will no longer think of something as a ‘Hive post’ or a ‘HWD post.’ We will treat each story as a Vanity Fair story.”
As part of the editorial shift, Guiducci announced the opening of multiple new positions at Vanity Fair, including a global creative director to oversee the publication’s “visuals and design across all editions and platforms,” two new senior editors, new producers, three new Hollywood, Washington and style correspondents and “an entirely new social team.”
A number of Vanity Fair employees will reportedly be let go as a result of the Guiducci-led changes.
Before he took over as Vanity Fair’s global editorial director, Guiducci worked for five years as the creative editorial director of Condé Nast sister publication Vogue. His appointment was preceded by former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones‘ April announcement that she was leaving the magazine. Later that same month, longtime executive digital director Michael Hogan announced that he would be vacating his role at Vanity Fair as well.
You can read Guiducci’s full memo to Vanity Fair staffers below:
Hello everyone.
Over the past six weeks, we have talked a lot about focusing on the intersections between Vanity Fair’s core subjects — Hollywood, the arts, money, politics, and style — in modern ways, from newsletters to TikTok to new platforms that don’t yet exist.
Today, we will start working toward our new editorial strategy, gradually sunsetting our siloed vertical structure to focus on Vanity Fair as a whole. We will be moving away from news aggregation, reviews, and trade coverage. We will no longer think of something as a “Hive post” or a “HWD post.” We will treat each story as a Vanity Fair story.
This does not mean we are becoming less ambitious. The opposite is true. Transformations are not without difficulty, but I’m thrilled to say that we are hiring for a number of new positions. They include a global creative director to oversee visuals and design across all editions and platforms. They also include two senior editor positions and three new correspondents, each focusing on Hollywood, Washington, and Style, as well as producers and an entirely new social team. We will continue to add roles.
As we look ahead to the Hollywood Issue, my first, we are working on a redesign of the magazine that will influence the look of Vanity Fair on every platform, including our live events, from the Oscar Party to our presence at film festivals.
I’m also thrilled to announce that Claire Howorth will be stepping into the role of Deputy Editor, overseeing our stories everywhere that they may live. In this role, Claire will guide our day-to-day assignments, from quick turn reporting to longform narrative features to live events coverage.
I’m also happy to announce that Daniel Kile will become VP, Global Content Strategy. Video, social, operations, audience development, and events teams will report to Daniel, who will also work closely with departments across the building, from Revenue to Product and Technology. In this role, Daniel will also be collaborating with Simone Marchetti and our global HOEC as we look to grow Vanity Fair internationally.
My favorite thing about the past six weeks has been meeting each of you 1:1 and seeing firsthand the immense talent here at Vanity Fair. I also know that these weeks have been busy, often exhilarating, and I appreciate everyone who has stepped up.
Today and always, I want to encourage all of you to come to me with your ideas and questions. My door is always open. Most importantly, thank you for welcoming me to the team.
Mark
Editor’s note: The original headline of this story incorrectly stated that Vanity Fair plans to scale back political and business coverage in its redesign. The headline and story have been corrected.
