Massive Layoffs Rock Forbes Magazine

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Rumors are still flying, the dust has yet to settle, and management isn't talking at Forbes, the bi-weekly business magazine founded in 1917. Given the numbers being bandied about of editorial employees who were axed this week because of the recession-induced loss of advertising pages and circulation, it's really just a matter of whether to characterize the layoffs as  "catastrophic" or "cataclysmic."

Of  Forbes' approximate 200 editorial employees, The New York Times blogger David Carr reported from 40 to 60 may have been terminated. The Media Jobs Daily blog confirms 27 editorial layoffs, but suggests that including cutbacks on the business side of the fortnightly publication places the number of lost jobs at close to 100.

Bureaus are feeling the impact of the reduction, with London, Los Angeles, and Tokyo bureau chiefs purportedly among the casualties, along with New York's Senior Editor. Ad pages at Forbes  have allegedly declined by at least 30 percent over the first three-quarters of this year, compared to what already were paltry figures in 2008.

No word on whether Forbes may follow the lead of its competitor, Time, Inc.'s  Fortune, which faced with a 35 percent drop-off in ad pages, is reducing the frequency of its publication from 25 to 18 issues annually.

Previously, Forbes slashed 50 positions when it merged its print and Web operations. Unsolicited advice to Steven Forbes  from "TUOL": It may be time to start contacting the "Forbes 400" and the billionaires list the magazine routinely features with hat-in-hand.