Conde Nast CEO confirms Anna Wintour to remain at US Vogue... for now

He took to Twitter to put an end to the speculation that Wintour is on her way out
Anna Wintour at Marc Jacobs AW 2018 Show
Getty Images
Chloe Street1 August 2018

The rumours that Anna Wintour might be leaving her position as Editor-in-Chief of US Vogue began swirling back in April, and by July, speculation about her exit had, according to Women’s Wear Daily “reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on the full boil”.

So deafening in fact had the chatter become, that Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg felt compelled to take to Twitter on Tuesday to quash months of hearsay and reconfirm that the magazine’s 30-year veteran would be continuing in her role at the media giant.

“Anna Wintour is an incredibly talented and creative leader whose influence is beyond measure. She is integral to the future of our company’s transformation and has agreed to work with me indefinitely… in her role as @voguemagazine editor-in-chief and artistic director of Conde Nast,” Conde Nast Chief Executive Bob Sauerberg said in a statement on the company’s Twitter feed.

68-year-old Wintour has been at the helm of American Vogue since 1988 and artistic director of Conde Nast since 2013. This year will be her 40th year working for the Conde Nast group.

The tweet comes just one day after Wintour announced the departures of several long serving members of her senior team. Tonne Goodman, the magazine’s fashion director, and Phyllis Posnick, its executive fashion editor, will be leaving their senior roles to become contributing editors, while long-time Vogue LA editor Lisa Love will transition into a new position at CNX, Conde Nast's in-house branding agency.

Moving expensive, salaried staff (such as Goodman, Posnick and, well, Wintour) makes good business sense for Conde Nast, who is expecting to make $100 million dollars less in revenue in 2017 than it did in 2016, according to the New York Times.

The tweet also come a day after news broke that Beyonce will guest-edit the September issue of Vogue, with unprecedented creative control over her image. The pop icon hired Tyler Mitchell, the first black photographer to shoot a cover in the publication's 126-year history.

Wintour has, very uncharacteristically, relinquished creative powers to a popstar and has lost half her steely-faced senior team overnight. Powers are a ’shifting, yet Conde Nast insist she’s not going anywhere.

To be continued.

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