Conde Nast Publications announced that they are shutting down Gourmet, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride and Cookie.  The company will continue to publish its remaining 19 magazine titles, including Bon Appetit.  Conde Nast says the decision to stop publishing these titles is the result of huge cutbacks in advertising.  Gourmet, the nation’s oldest food magazine, has been hard hit particularly hard by loss of advertising revenue, even though its circulation has remained strong.  Ad space was down fifty percent from last year, the company said.

The decision to stop publishing these four magazines will result in 180 layoffs.  The affected employees will be leaving the company by the end of next week with severance packages.