»
S
I
D
E
B
A
R
«
A CONDENSED COMPANY
December 21st, 2009 by Clark Humphrey

Reader’s Digest might have been the first “aggregation site.” Its original concept was to take existing articles from other magazines and rewrite them into a unified, compact package.

Then it became a near-right, squarer-than-square money machine.

Now, the NYTimes reports, both the magazine and the company that bears its name are hollowed-out shells of their former selves. A leveraged buyout led to millions in debts, massive layoffs, and the installation of new execs spouting acronym-heavy motivational schticks.

They’re even abandoning their mammoth quasi-colonial suburban offices. Which, despite the mag’s mailing address, are not in Pleasantville NY, but in another town a dozen miles away.


One Response  
  • Art Marriott writes:
    December 21st, 20091:24 pmat

    Clark,

    The mention of Reader’s Digest and the path to its current state of distress reminded me of its mention in a mid-80’s book, “The 100 Best Places To Work in America”. It’s worthy of note (and considerable regret) that RD is far from unique among those honorees to have since followed a trajectory which ultimately led to few workers in a less pleasant environment.


Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

»  Substance:WordPress   »  Style:Ahren Ahimsa
© Copyright 1986-2025 Clark Humphrey (clark (at) miscmedia (dotcom)).