Soundbite: Condé Nast Is The New General Motors

“Although the privately held Condé Nast isn’t as financially distressed as the bankrupt General Motors, and although the magazine business couldn’t be more unlike the car business, the two distraught companies share woes.

Both succeeded in segmenting the market with semi-independent divisions that were once unique and distinct but that have since faded into one, much to the confusion of consumers. Both have dramatically dumped once-valuable properties. Both have allowed divisions to operate like independent fiefdoms at the expense of the company’s greater financial good. Both have established cultures of privilege for top employees, and both appear to have woken up to their problems too late.”

– Slate’s Jack Shafer comparing the fate of Condé Nast, in the wake of yesterday’s shutterings, to that of that other overreaching, reality-ignoring American powerhouse, General Motors. Next up: Graydon Carter and Anna Wintour fly to Washington in their private jets to beg for a bailout! (Perhaps it isn’t merely a coincidence that Time opened an office in Detroit…maybe they’re also aiming to take notes.)

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