Exclusive: Condé Nast prepared for Wintour to go, but she's not leaving yet, CEO says
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Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch at Media Trends Live. Photo: Vita Phoenix/Edin Studios on behalf of Axios
Condé Nast is preparing for the inevitable day when Anna Wintour steps aside — but she isn't going anywhere yet, CEO Roger Lynch said Thursday at Axios Media Trends Live.
Why it matters: Wintour has been the defining face of the legacy media company for more than three decades, shaping not only Vogue but the entire portfolio of brands.
What they're saying: "We've been working on plans for years, but she's not leaving anytime soon," Lynch said.
State of play: Earlier this month, Condé Nast named Chloe Malle as its new head of editorial content of Vogue U.S.
- The appointment comes after Wintour announced in June she would step back from day-to-day managing of the fashion magazine. Wintour still serves as global chief content officer.
- In June, Wintour named Mark Guiducci, Vogue's former creative editorial director, as Vanity Fair's first global editorial director.
- Both of these promotions cement Wintour's influence as she appoints loyalists who can continue to carry her editorial vision forward.
The big picture: Condé Nast has been trying to reinvent itself as more than a magazine publisher. It restructured its global operations and invested more in big events like Vogue World. This week, it announced VETTE, a platform where creators sell products through their own online stores like LTK.
- "How big could it be? Don't know," Lynch said. "I imagine it'll be quite big for us."
Yes, but: The company faces intense competition for attention and ad dollars from social platforms and other new media brands like Puck and Air Mail, two newsletter startups founded by Vanity Fair veterans Jon Kelly and Graydon Carter, respectively, that are now set to combine.
- Condé Nast, like other publishers, is grappling with the decline in search traffic due to AI. Wired, its tech outlet, recently hosted an event where Wintour and other media executives shared frustrations with AI. Even so, the company has signed an AI licensing deal with OpenAI.
The bottom line: "We're not anti-AI. In fact, I think AI has got a lot of use cases — not in creating content for us, but a lot of use cases in our business, so we want to support that innovation, but we desperately want to support a fair ecosystem" for content creators and others, Phelps said.
Go deeper: Anna Wintour to step back from running Vogue U.S.
