A month after the demise of Rosie magazine, Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing announced yesterday the elimination of 120 employees who worked on the publication.
The final issue of Rosie O'Donnell's namesake magazine hits newsstands Nov. 12 as the publisher and celebrity continue their legal campaigns against each other.
G+J filed a $100 million lawsuit against O'Donnell for leaving her namesake magazine Oct. 1. O'Donnell countered with her own suit against the publisher two days later.
The termination of the joint venture agreement between the two sides was announced Sept. 18 with both vowing to take legal action. O'Donnell and G+J had squabbled over editorial control of the magazine for several months.
Rosie hit newsstands in April 2001 as a replacement for G+J's ailing McCall's publication. It took off and, according to G+J, was on its way to profitability despite a 10 percent decline in subscriptions and newsstand sales this year. The September issue had a record number of ad pages even though advertising is down in many publications.
During the six months ending June 30, Rosie's total average paid circulation was 3.5 million, slightly below the 3.6 million circulation in the previous six months, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. At its height, Rosie had 3.8 million in circulation.
