After the gala opening of Hearst's new Norman Foster-designed headquarters—where guests including Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart took in performances by Cirque de Soleil and Stevie Wonder— employees of the family-owned publishing house may have felt like times were good.
But a reality check came last week in the form a belt-tightening memo from executive vice president John Loughlin, which went out to top managers at all Hearst titles, including Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Seventeen, and Esquire.
"As we confront an increasingly challenging publishing environment ... we have to make each of the expense dollars we spend work harder," writes Loughlin, previewing the company's new guidelines for travel and entertainment costs.