| Parent company | Advance Publications |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1909 |
| Founder | Condé Nast |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | Condé Nast Building, New York City |
| Key people | Charles Townsend, CEO Robert Sauerberg, President John Bellando, COO/CFO Louis Cona, CMO Jill Bright, CAO Joe Simon, CTO Thomas J. Wallace, Editorial Dir |
| Publication types | Magazines |
| Official website | www.condenast.com |
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps for mobile and tablet devices. The company, headquartered in New York City, was founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast and has been owned by the Newhouse family since 1959. S.I. “Si” Newhouse Jr. is the chairman and CEO of Advance Publications, Charles H. Townsend is Condé Nast’s chief executive officer and Robert A. Sauerberg is Condé Nast’s president.
Condé Nast is largely considered to be the originator of the “lifestyle magazines”, a type of magazines focused on a particular class or interest instead of targeting the largest possible readership.[1] Its magazines focus on a wide range of subjects, including travel, food, home, culture, and other interests, with fashion the larger portion of the company's focus. More recently, Condé Nast has expanded its offerings to include marketing services and consumer-focused products such as apps and licensed merchandise. In 2010, GQ became the first Condé Nast title available on the iPad.
Condé Nast International Ltd., which publishes international editions of the U.S. titles, was incorporated in 2005. (Operating as a subsidiary of Advance Publications, this division publishes more than 126 magazines and 104 websites, representing 24 markets around the globe.)
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Condé Montrose Nast launched his magazine empire in 1909 with the purchase of Vogue, which was first created in 1892 as a New York weekly journal of society and fashion news.[2] At first, Mr. Nast published the magazine under Vogue Company and didn’t incorporate Condé Nast Publications until 1923.
Mr. Nast, a St. Louis-born publisher, had a flair for nurturing elite readers as well as advertisers and upgraded Vogue, sending the magazine on its path of becoming a top fashion authority. Eventually, Mr. Nast’s portfolio expanded to include House & Garden, Vanity Fair (briefly known as Dress and Vanity Fair), Glamour and American Golfer. The company also introduced British Vogue in 1916, and Condé Nast became the first publisher of an overseas edition of an existing magazine.
Mr. Nast remained committed to publishing the highest-quality magazines, and in order to ensure the finest printing for his magazines opened a state-of-the-art printing press in 1924. It eventually grew to become one of the finest manufacturing plants in the country (until it closed in 1964 to make way for more centrally located sites capable of producing higher volumes). Adherence to those high standards continued even during the Great Depression, when Condé Nast introduced innovative typography, design and color. Vogue's first full color photograph was featured on the cover in 1932, marking the year when Condé Nast began replacing fashion drawings on covers with photo illustrations―an innovative move at the time.[3] Glamour, launched in 1939, was the last magazine personally introduced to the company by Mr. Nast, who died in 1942.
In 1959, Samuel I. Newhouse, known as “Sam,” bought a controlling interest in Condé Nast, merging it with the privately held holding company Advance Publications. His son, S.I. Newhouse, Jr., known as “Si,” became chairman of Condé Nast in 1975.
The Newhouse era at Condé Nast launched a period of acquisitions (Brides was acquired in 1959), overhauls of existing magazines (after being shuttered in 1936, Vanity Fair was revived in 1983) and the founding of new publications (Self was launched in 1979). And during the years following Samuel’s 1979 death, Condé Nast continued to control an impressive roster of publications, maintaining its image as a premier publisher.
In June 1999, Condé Nast moved from its 350 Madison Avenue address to 4 Times Square,[4] which at the time had been the first skyscraper built in New York City since 1992 and boasted a Frank Gehry cafeteria. The move was also viewed as a contributor to the transformation of Times Square.[5]
In August 1999, Condé Nast purchased Fairchild Publications[6] (now known as Fairchild Fashion Media), home to W and WWD, from the Walt Disney Company.
On October 5, 2009, Condé Nast announced the closure of three of its publications: Cookie, Modern Bride, and Elegant Bride. Gourmet ceased monthly publication with its November 2009 issue; the Gourmet brand was later resurrected as "Gourmet Live," an iPad app that delivers new editorial content in the form of recipes, interviews, stories and videos. In print, Gourmet continues in the form of special editions on newsstands and cookbooks.
Other Condé Nast titles were shut down as well. The company folded the women's magazine Jane with its August issue in 2007 and later shut down its website. One of Condé Nast's oldest titles, the American edition of House and Garden, ceased publication after the December 2007 issue. Portfolio, Mademoiselle and Domino were folded as well.
Condé Nast has also made some notable acquisitions. On October 31, 2006, Condé Nast acquired the content aggregation site Reddit, which was later spun off as a wholly owned subsidiary in September 2011. On May 20, 2008, the company announced its acquisition of another popular technology-oriented website, ArsTechnica.com.
In July 2010, Robert Sauerberg became Condé Nast’s president, ushering in a new era less reliant on print adverting and increasingly focused on the development of digital platforms, innovative products and new marketing services to generate revenue. In May 2011, Condé Nast was the first major publisher to deliver subscriptions for the iPad, starting with The New Yorker; the company has since rolled out iPad subscriptions for nine of its titles. In the same month, Next Issue Media, a joint venture formed by five U.S. publishers including Condé Nast, announced subscriptions for Android devices, initially available for the Samsung Galaxy Tab.[7]
In June 2011, Condé Nast announced that it would relocate its headquarters to One World Trade Center in 2015.[8]
In September 2011, Condé Nast said it would offer 17 of its brands to the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s answer to Apple’s iPad. [9]
| Date | Company | Business | Country | Value (USD) | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 30, 1987 | Signature Magazine[note 1] | Magazine | United States | — | [10] |
| November 30, 1988 | Woman[note 2] | Magazine | United States | $10,000,000 | [11] |
| June 25, 1990 | Cook's[note 3] | Magazines | United States | — | [12] |
| April 22, 1992 | K-III Magazines-Magazine Sub[note 4] | Subscriber lists | United States | — | [13] |
| April 20, 1993 | Knapp Communications | Magazines | United States | $175,000,000 | [14] |
| June 12, 1998 | Wired Magazine[note 5] | Magazines | United States | $90,000,000 | [15] |
| December 1, 1999 | Fairchild Publications[note 6] | Magazines and newspapers | United States | $650,000,000 | [16] |
| September 5, 2001 | Johansens[note 7] | Accommodation guides | United States | — | [17] |
| February 28, 2002 | Modern Bride Group[note 8] | Magazines | United States | $52,000,000 | [18] |
| March 28, 2002 | Ideas Publishing Group[note 9] | Publishing | United States | — | [19] |
| July 11, 2006 | Lycos Inc-Wired News[note 10] | Online news | United States | $25,000,000 | [20] |
| July 20, 2006 | Nutrition Data | Internet service provider | United States | — | [21] |
| October 31, 2006 | Online News | United States | — | [22] | |
| April 23, 2008 | SFO*Media | Web sites | United States | — | [23] |
| May 20, 2008 | Ars Technica | Web sites | United States | — | [24] |
| Date | Company | Business | Country | Value (USD) | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 29, 1988 | Wagadon[note 11] | Magazines | United States | — | [25] |
| January 19, 1994 | Wired Magazine | Magazines | United States | — | [26] |
| January 17, 2001 | Ideas Publishing Group[note 12] | Publishing | United States | — | [27] |
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