Little trickles of news, rumors, come in after the appointment of Steve Weitzner as CEO of Ziff Davis Enterprise….

My sources tell me that CMP will be appointing a new CEO in February.  Stay tuned.

Also, stay tuned for much more on Weitzner’s move to ZDE later this week here and in the upcoming issue of min’s b2b, where we talk with the man himself.

Every first Monday after New Year’s Day, a press release comes from on high, from the office of S.I. Newhouse himself.  He doesn’t live in the North Pole, but he does tell you who has been naughty, and who has been nice, and then sprinkles presents and coal down on his Conde Nasties (as Keith Kelly, media reporter for the NY Post calls them).  This year, nine top executives at the company became three, as Mitch Fox, Sandy Golinkin and Amy Churgin all left the company.  Promotions (or, sort of promotions) for six others.  This is just to catch you up.

What wasn’t discussed in the released was Dan Lagani.  Lagani is president of the Fairchild fashion group, which is home to, among others, Women’s Wear Daily, one of the biggest and best B2B media brands (and new to our min’s b2b Boxscores).   Talked to Lagani yesterday; turns out he’s going nowhere and will be reporting directly to Chuck Townsend; which means he’ll be working closely with John Bellando, COO of the company.

I hear this all the time…I say it all the time: Magazine publishing is a people business. The products don’t exist in a vacuum, like an iPod (although, considering the durability of my own defunct iPod, I doubt it would exist for long in a vacuum either). You need personalities to develop, market, and sell the products, and you need personalities to consume them. Yet, so often, top level managers forget this. First, I will point you to the example that came to light today: Company lets top talent go; top talent forms rival company; rival company thrives; rival company buys assets from original company less than three years later.

As a young person in a workplace, I hear that “everyone is replaceable” all the time. Clearly, this isn’t always true. Dan Perkins (CEO of AEGIS…click on the above link to catch up) was not replaceable. In fact, I would argue that his leaving the company was a dual tipping point for the dental division’s descent and eventual sale (his departure both began the business’s slide, and the formation of his new company accelerated that slide). If Perkins was not replaceable, then, logically, not everyone is.

Let’s take this one step further. If a mid-level editor leaves a medium-sized magazine. Maybe a lower-level editor steps up and fills that role, and maybe another young person is hired to pick up the slack and assume his/her rightful place at the bottom of the totem pole. Voila! The mid-level editor has been replaced, right? Wrong. Certainly, if all goes well with the internal reorg (and it often does not), and if all goes well hiring a new editor (and it often does not), and if everyone continues to perform at or above the level of the previous incarnation of the staff, then the magazine should continue to function without a hiccup. But, it will be different. Why? Again, this is a people business. The products we produce are the manifestations of our personalities. That mid-level editor’s stamp will no longer be on the pub. And what if–and this has been known to happen–what if the magazine isn’t as good as it was? Well, then that person was not entirely replaceable.

Maybe everyone is replaceable if you want to run some goofy, sub-par business. But if you want to dominate the market, best your competition, and build something–a company, a product, a trajectory toward success–that you can be proud of, then not everyone is replaceable. There are people that you cannot afford to lose–that is, if you want to win.

An announcement was made within Cygnus on New Year’s Eve regarding the restoration of some of the salary cuts made at the company for the fourth quarter of 2007. I will be attempting to speak with Cygnus CEO Carr Davis this week about the details. More in the upcoming issue of min’s b2b. And, Happy New Year, b2b-ers.

More on the salary cuts here, here, and here.

UPDATE:

The salary restoration will be paid out in the form of bonuses, which will represent 70% of what was taken away in the initial cuts. Though this is a nice holiday season gift for the employees, I wonder just exactly how these bonuses were delt out: Bonus money is taxed at 40-45%, as I understand it. After consulting with a source at Cygnus, I have been informed that the “bonuses” will be taxed at the employees’ normal rates, which varies for every employee.
UPDATE II:

I just received the actual memo that was sent out and signed by Davis and Tony O’Brien (the other CEO). Some highlights:

“We are pleased to announce that Cygnus has granted a special bonus payment- to our hourly and salaried associates who are not otherwise eligible to receive commission, bonus or incentive payments (those who do not have an incentive plan).”

“Amount: 1.25% of compensation. This averages out to roughly $560 per eligible associate, but the actual ammounts will vary depending on compensation. This amount constitutes a restoration of roughly 70% of the compensation reduction absorbed by these associates in October.”