Condé Nast paying editors’ mortages
Posted by
Jeffrey Blyth
on 10 April 2006 at 10:00
Tags: Journalism, Magazines, United States
One of the best-kept secrets in American publishing is how Condé Nast keeps its editors, top executives and even some of its writers happy. The answer: In addition to paying top salaries and good expenses, the senior staff enjoy one other big perk: help with their home mortages.
Tina Brown and her husband Sir Harry Evans are among at least 20 beneficiaries of the housing perk which was seen the publisher of Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Glamour, Gourmet, Details, Condé Nast Traveler and numerous other magazines shell out millions over the years.
It helps explain why Condé Nast editors, in the main live in expensive apartments and homes, and are renowned for their parties. That, it’s said, is what company chairman Si Newhouse likes to see. He likes his top executives to be part of the New York social scene.
The New York Observer, which detailed the practice last week, claims that it has been going on for years.
Others reported to have had help with their homes include Anna Wintour, David Remmick of The New Yorker and Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair. Even the former editor of the short-lived Cargo magazine, Ariel Foxman, had help buying a co-op in New York’s Greenwich Village.
One of the earliest beneficiaries, according to the Observer, was Alexander Liebermen, the former (and famous) art director of Vogue who rose to be editorial director of Condé Nast.
New York City records cited by the Observer show that sometimes the company provides the money for the home mortgage, other times it arranges for the financing with an independent financial company — but usually on better terms than are normally available. There is anything illegal about this, the paper notes. But as Condé Nast is a privately owned company, there are no shareholders to complain about the largesse, and no other media company is known to be so generous.
Occasionally there are problems. Two years ago, Anna Wintour’s former nanny was awarded over $2 million damages because she became ill after workmen used a noxious paint thinner to remove red paint that animal rights protestors (who persistently harass the editor of Vogue because she refuses to ban fur ads in her magazine) had poured on the steps of the Wintour home. Whether Condé Nast footed that bill no-one has said. As company spokeswoman Maurie Perl put it: “As a privately-held company we do not discuss our policy�?.
But, as the Observer noted, the policy is not limited to top names. Back in 2001 Ms Perl’s own mortage on a Manhattan co-op was guaranteed by the company.
Tags: Journalism, Magazines, United States
