Esquire editor-in-chief Jay Fielden to step down
Esquire editor-in-chief Jay Fielden told staffers on Thursday that he is exiting the venerable but struggling men’s title at the end of June, the latest high-level departure at Hearst Magazines.
“For me, the time has come to explore new opportunities, perhaps more than one,” he said in a farewell post. On Instagram Thursday, he posted a shot of himself leaving the building.
No replacement was named amid signs that deeper cuts at the magazine are unfolding.
Fielden is said to have differed with Troy Young, who officially took over as president in June 2018 after a three-year stint running the digital operation at Hearst Magazines.
Fielden was at the helm for only 3½ years but the rumor had been circulating for weeks that he’d exit when his contract expires at the end of June. He is believed to be among the highest-paid chief editors at Hearst in part because he was also editorial director at Town & Country, overseeing the title where he had begun his Hearst career 10 years ago after Condé Nast shut down the Men’s Vogue title he had been editing.
Fielden had been put in place when David Carey was still the Hearst Magazines president. He was tapped in 2016, after David Granger was forced to step down as Esquire’s EIC after 19 years.
While Hearst has avoided the jolting mass layoffs that hit many publishers, it has quietly been consolidating and cutting staffers as the print ad revenue continues to tumble even as digital grows. And Young has been reshaping the top echelon.
Within days of Young’s appointment last year, chief content officer Joanna Coles, a Fielden booster, resigned and was quickly replaced by Kate Lewis, a Young ally who had also been working on the digital side.
In another recent high-level departure, Michael Clinton, the president of marketing and a 21-year veteran of the company, announced his retirement on May 14. Also headed for the exit, according to sources, is Michael Hainey, a veteran of GQ who launched GQ.com and joined Esquire as executive editor in 2016 and also served as an editor-at-large for Town & Country. Hainey couldn’t be reached for comment.
Fielden is credited with rejuvenating Town & Country but struggled in a declining market with Esquire. The latter quietly cut its print frequency from monthly to eight issues this year. But insiders said the print version was considering further cuts to six times a year or even to quarterly next year and was looking to develop other revenue streams in blogs, videos and podcasts to help shore up the bottom line.
The magazine, now 86 years old, has been owned by Hearst since 1986. During its heyday from 1961 to 1973 under legendary editor Harold Hayes, it was renowned for both discovering young up-and-coming writers and publishing some of the greatest names in letters — from Ernest Hemingway to Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.
It was owned briefly by Clay Felker, who tried unsuccessfully to turn it into “Esquire Fortnightly” (every two weeks). But he sold it in 1979 after two years to Chris Whittle’s 13-30 Corp. before it was sold to Hearst in 1986.
Esquire has had its ups and downs since. Under Granger, it won 17 National Magazine Awards including one for General Excellence in 2006, the same year Granger was named Adweek’s editor of the year.
But it has not been as prominent on the awards circuit in recent years, with several nominations but no wins as the overall market struggled. In past times of troubles, Esquire’s status was helped at home because it was also a big brand overseas. That may not be the case anymore as the British edition of Esquire already got scaled back to six issues a year in 2018.
