As Semafor's Max Tani reports, Condé Nast is restructuring the editorial operations of Pitchfork by "bringing it into the GQ organization," resulting in the exit of editor-in-chief Puja Patel and other staff members.
The parent company, which acquired the music publication in 2015, announced the news in a note from Anna Wintour sent to staff today. It explained that the decision was "made after a careful evaluation of Pitchfork's performance and what we believe is the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive within the company," noting that both publications "have unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism."
The parent company, which acquired the music publication in 2015, announced the news in a note from Anna Wintour sent to staff today. It explained that the decision was "made after a careful evaluation of Pitchfork's performance and what we believe is the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive within the company," noting that both publications "have unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism."
Tani followed up his sharing of the note in another post, adding that, although Pitchfork will continue publishing, its "future seems unclear in the medium/long term."
Pitchfork is going to continue publishing, but future seems unclear medium/long term. I'm told this was a business side decision, advertising is stronger at other Conde brands like GQ. But don't have much more info yet…
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) January 17, 2024
For the last five years, Patel has been Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief — the first woman ever to hold the title. Jillian Mapes, Evan Minske, Marc Hogan, Allison Hussey, Matthew Ismael Ruiz, Matt Dombal, Hattie Lindert and many more staffers have confirmed that they were laid off from the publication on social media.
