Time Inc. Is A Swirling Vortex Of Doom, Time Inc. Veterans Say

Lately, it seems like Time Inc. is only in the news for depressing reasons. Deep staff cuts, falling revenue, alarming editorial decisions — there seems to be little good news to go around.

That might be why Gabriel Sherman's new piece in New York magazine reads like a competition between anonymous sources over who can deliver the most despairing quote about the company's fortunes. Here are some of our favorites:

"'Time Inc. is like Iraq. It’s a dire situation,' says a former senior executive."

"'What is this company?' one recently departed editor asked me."

"'Private equity could drain the cow until there’s nothing left,' speculated another longtime Time Inc. executive."

"'Why would you want to go out in your last job as a man who gets paid to watch a cadaver put in the ground?' one former senior editor told me."

Yikes. Even the most heartening quote—from Time editor Nancy Gibbs, who told executives, "If you want to save money you can start with my salary"—is still pretty gloomy when you think about it.

Read Sherman's full opus here.