Not everyone at Condé Nast was on the same page when it came to Anna Wintour’s pick for Vanity Fair’s new editor, industry sources are buzzing.
After Wintour announced Vogue creative editorial director Mark Guiducci as her choice to become the first ever VF global editorial director this week, multiple sources told us that Wintour “went rogue” in choosing Guiducci, who happens to be close pals with her daughter, Bee Shaffer.
Sources said that Wintour made the pick against Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch’s wishes.
“Anna steamrolled him. He wasn’t in the meeting when she announced [Mark] as the new editor,” a source told Page Six, adding of the choice, “Everyone was sad. It looked like a funeral.”
Another insider scoffed at the notion that Wintour has the power to pull one over on Lynch. “He runs the company. That’s just a fact. He was obviously a part of the process, and he and Anna were very much aligned,” the second source said.
The insider added that the exec’s absence in the room isn’t unusual. “He’s never a part of those editorial announcements,” they said.
Guiducci’s role was described in a press release by the company as, “a newly created role that puts him at the helm of one of the company’s most iconic brands.”
“My first job out of college was here and it proved to be the most extraordinary journalism school I could have imagined,” Guiducci said in a statement. “To return now, fifteen years later, as global editorial director — reuniting with former colleagues and meeting new ones around the world — is the honor of my career.”
Wintour described the new VF editorial head as “an energetic and creative editor at the center of his generation and a leader under whom Vanity Fair will grow in ways I can foresee and, no doubt, many ways I can’t.”
Either way, one insider told us the mood at the mag is “dire.” We hear that staffers have been calling him a “nepo” hire given his ties to Wintour and her daughter.
The consensus around the office seems to be, “Anna wanted someone to control,” according to the source.
Guiducci also previously served as editor-in-chief of high-end Garage magazine.
But while we hear Hollywood insiders were shocked by her hire, people in the know expected it.
We’re told that while the company did a series interviews, Wintour always wanted Guiducci for the gig.
A Conde Nast spokesperson told us “Roger’s thrilled about Mark’s appointment and is excited for him to run the title.”
In April, former editor in chief Radhika Jones announced she was leaving after a 7-year run helming the monthly magazine. At the time, Condé Nast artistic director and editor in chief of Vogue, Wintour, attended the meeting and was said to be “tearful” as Jones gave her farewell, sources told Page Six.
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