The company traces its roots to 1909, whenCondé Montrose Nast, a New York City-born publisher, purchasedVogue, a printed magazine launched in 1892 as a New York weekly journal of society and fashion news.[2]
Nast initially published the magazine under the corporate name Vogue Company. In 1922, he incorporated Condé Nast Publications as the holding company for his interests.[3] Nast had a flair for nurturing elite readers as well as advertisers and upgradedVogue, sending the magazine on its path of becoming a tophaute couture fashion authority. Eventually, Nast's portfolio expanded to includeHouse & Garden,Vanity Fair (briefly known asDress and Vanity Fair),Glamour, andAmerican Golfer, published from 1908 to 1920.[4] The company also introducedBritishVogue in 1916, and Condé Nast became the first publisher of an overseas edition of an existing magazine.
Condé Nast is largely considered to be the originator of the "class publication", a type of magazine focused on a particular social group or interest instead of targeting the largest possible readership.[5] Its magazines focus on a wide range of subjects, including travel, food, home, and culture, with fashion the larger portion of the company's focus. This company also opened aprinting facility inOld Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1924 but closed in 1964 to make way for more centrally located sites capable of producing higher volumes.[6][7] During theGreat Depression, Condé Nast introduced innovative typography, design, and color.Vogue's first full color photograph byEdward Steichen was featured on the cover in 1932, marking the year when Condé Nast began replacing fashion drawings on covers with photo illustrations―an innovative move at the time.[8]Glamour, launched in 1939, was the last magazine personally introduced to the company by Nast, who died in 1942.[9] The Nast family connection to the publishing business remained, with Nast's sonCharles Coudert Nast serving as the company's longtime general counsel.[10]
In 1959,Samuel I. Newhouse bought Condé Nast for US$5 million as an anniversary gift for his wife Mitzi, who lovedVogue.[11] He merged it with the privately held holding companyAdvance Publications. His son,S. I. Newhouse, Jr., known as "Si", became chairman of Condé Nast in 1975.[12] Under Newhouse, Condé Nast acquiredBrides in 1959,[13] revivedVanity Fair in 1983 after it was shuttered in 1936,[14] and launched the new publicationSelf in 1979.[15]
At the outset of the newmillennium in January 2000, Condé Nast moved from 350Madison Avenue to4 Times Square.[16] The move was viewed as a significant catalyst for the redevelopment ofTimes Square.[17] In the same year, Condé Nast purchasedFairchild Publications[18] (now known as Fairchild Fashion Media), home toW andWWD, from theWalt Disney Company. In 2001, Condé Nast boughtGolf Digest andGolf World fromThe New York Times Company for US$435 million.[19] On October 31, 2006, Condé Nast acquired the content aggregation siteReddit,[20] later on spun off as a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Condé Nast's parent company in September 2011. The company folded the women's magazineJane with its August issue in 2007, and later shut down its website.[21] One of Condé Nast's oldest titles, the American edition ofHouse and Garden, ceased publication after the December 2007 issue.[22]Portfolio,Mademoiselle andDomino were folded as well. On May 20, 2008, the company announced its acquisition of a popular technology-oriented website,Ars Technica.
On October 5, 2009, Condé Nast announced the closure of three of its publications:Cookie,Modern Bride, andElegant Bride.[23]Gourmet ceased monthly publication with its November 2009 issue; the Gourmet brand was later resurrected as "Gourmet Live", aniPad app that delivers new editorial content in the form of recipes, interviews, stories, and videos. In print,Gourmet continues in the form of special editions on newsstands and cookbooks. That same year, Condé Nast announced the launch ofLove magazine, a bi-annual British style magazine founded by fashion journalist Katie Grand. In 2020, Grand announced her departure and was replaced by Whembley Sewell.[24]
In July 2010, Robert Sauerberg became Condé Nast's president. In May 2011, the company was the first major publisher to deliver subscriptions for theiPad, starting withThe New Yorker; the company has since rolled out iPad subscriptions for nine of its titles. In the same month, Next Issue Media, a joint venture formed by five U.S. publishers including Condé Nast, announced subscriptions forAndroid devices, initially available for theSamsung Galaxy Tab.[25]
In September 2011, Condé Nast said it would offer 17 of its brands to theKindle Fire.[26] The company launchedConde Nast Entertainment in 2011 to develop movies, television series, and digital video programming. In May 2013, CNÉ's Digital Video Network debuted, featuringweb series for such publications asGlamour andGQ.[27]Wired joined the Digital Video Network with the announcement of five original web series including theNational Security Agency satireCodefellas and the animatedadvice seriesMister Know-It-All.[28][29]
In October 2013, the company ended itsinternship program after being sued by two former interns claiming they had been paid less than minimum wage for summer internships there.[30][31] In November 2014, the company moved intoOne World Trade Center in Manhattan, where its headquarters are now located.[32] On September 14, 2015, the company announced Sauerberg as its new CEO, with former CEO Charles H. Townsend taking the role of Chairman, and S. I. Newhouse Jr. taking the role of Chairman Emeritus in January 2016.[33] On October 13, 2015, Condé Nast announced that it had acquiredPitchfork.[34]
In July 2016, the company announced the launch of Condé Nast Spire, a new division of the company focusing on consumer purchasing data and content consumption through the company's own first-party behavioral data.[35] The Chairman of the company, Charles Townsend, retired at the end of 2016,[36] and the Chairman Emeritus Newhouse died the following October.[37]
In March 2018, Condé Nast announced the launch of theinfluencer-based platformNext Gen.[38] The company's Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer, Pamela Drucker Mann, stated that the platform would feature both "in-house and external talent with significant and meaningful social followings". In April 2019, Condé Nast appointed the former CEO ofPandora Media,Roger Lynch, as the company's first global CEO.[why?] It also sold the magazineBrides to the digital media companyDotdash, and in May of the same year, announced the sale ofGolf Digest toDiscovery, Inc.[39] In June of the same year, Condé Nast soldW to a new holding company, Future Media Group.[40]W editor Stefano Tonchi later sued the company forwrongful termination, with Condé Nast suing Tonchi in response, seeking the return of "all monies paid to [Tonchi] during his period of disloyalty", claiming that he had acted as a "faithless servant" during the sale ofW, and had interfered with the sale to benefit himself.[41]
Roger Lynch was appointed chief executive officer in April 2019, and in October 2019, announced plans to increase Condé Nast's revenue from readers.[42][43]
In June 2020, following theglobal outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19, it was reported that Condé Nast had experienced a drop in advertising revenues of 45% as a result of the pandemic. It was also reported that the company had, in previous years,sublet six of the company's 23 floors in the One World Trade Center, following the cancellation of a number of its publishing titles.[44]
In November 2023, the company announced it would be cutting about 5 percent of its workforce which would impact approximately 270 employees. Some of the reasons given for this are pressures from digital advertising, decreasing social media traffic, and shifting audience preferences towards short-form video content on platforms likeTikTok andYouTube Shorts.[45]
In January 2024, union members from the company's publications set a strike for 24 hours aligned with the announcement of96th Academy Awards nominees claiming that the company was "engaging in regressive bargaining and breaking the law in bargaining by rescinding an offer that they had previously made around layoffs".[46]Anne Hathaway walked out of aVanity Fair photo shoot the same day, January 23, in solidarity with the union.[47]
In December 2024, Condé Nast announced additional layoffs specifically targeting top executives at the company.[48]
In October 2025, the company announced that it would no longer feature new animalfur in its editorial content or advertising. The decision followed a nine-month campaign against Condé Nast and its business partners by theCoalition to Abolish the Fur Trade.[49]
United States
