News announced on day of journalists’ strike in Italy.
Condé Nast has announced the closure of WIRED Italia, the Italian-language edition of the prominent technology publication, as part of a broader restructuring of the publishing group.
WIRED is an American magazine and digital publication launched in 1993, focused on how emerging technologies affect business, science, culture, and politics.
The move was set out in a statement by Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch, who said the Italian edition of WIRED “has not kept pace with growth in our other markets”, including in the US, UK, Middle East, Japan and Mexico.
Lynch acknowledged that WIRED “remains a strong global brand” but said the Italian operation would cease.
The closure of WIRED Italia, which was established in 2009, forms part of a wider set of cuts.
SELF magazine, which has been online-only since 2017, will also close down, with health and wellness content integrated into other Condé Nast titles such as Allure and Glamour.
Glamour’s publishing operations in Germany, Spain and Mexico will also be wound down.
Lynch wrote that WIRED Italia, SELF and the affected Glamour markets together account for a little over one per cent of the group’s total revenue, adding that they “remain unprofitable” and that continuing to run them “limits our ability to invest in the ideas and areas that will drive future growth.”
Lynch also announced that the company’s technology division would be restructured, “reflecting the rapid advancement of AI and its impact on our ability to innovate and build products faster.”
He described the decisions as difficult but insisted they were not a reflection of the quality of the work produced. “None of these are easy decisions, nor are they a reflection of the quality of the work, or the commitment from our teams,” he wrote.
The announcement of the closure of WIRED Italia coincided with a national journalists’ strike in Italy called over the failure to renew the national collective contract, which has been expired for a decade.
Photo WIRED Italia – Facebook
