Pitchfork Axes Employees Amid GQ Magazine Merger: Report

We will soon be bidding goodbye to Pitchfork as they will be merging with GQ Magazine after a huge layoff in the Condé Nast company.

Pitchfork will be axing employees following the merger, which also includes the exit of Pitchfork editor-in-chief Puja Patel.

Pitchfork Axes Employees For GQ Merger

For those who do not know, Pitchfork is the subsidiary magazine of Condé Nast particularly covering music; while GQ, on the other hand, covers fashion, style, and culture for men, as opposed to Glamour Magazine which specializes in all things women.

According to a Variety report, Pitchfork will now be merging with GQ Magazine, in an unprecedented move, as mentioned in Anna Wintour, Condé Nast's Chief Content Officer, memo.

"Today we are evolving our Pitchfork team structure by bringing the team into the GQ organization. This 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," Wintour said in the memo.

Wintour also added that while both publications have "unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism," they are "excited" for the "new possibilities" together, adding that there are many people from Pitchfork leaving the company.

Meanwhile, a Condé Nast representative did not divulge how many people from Pitchfork are being laid off. Semafor's Max Tani first reported about the changes in the organizational structure of Pitchfork on Twitter/X.

Pitchfork, GQ Merger 'Sexist'?

Pitchfork Features editor Jill Mapes vented out on social media following the announcement of the layoffs.

"I've referred to my job at pitchfork as being on a ferris wheel at closing time, just waiting for them to yank me down. after nearly 8 yrs, mass layoffs got me. glad we could spend that time trying to make it a less dude-ish place just for GQ to end up at the helm," she tweeted.

Maps seemed to take a jab at the fact that Pitchfork, whom they tried to make a "less dude-ish place" is now being taken over by GQ Magazine, a men-centered magazine.

Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch announced the layoffs last 2023, attributing the reason to cost-cutting. They revealed in November 2023 that they will be laying off 5% of the total manpower count or around 300 heads.

Tags

Pitchfork, GQ