From the NY POST:

Billionaire publisher S.I. Newhouse Jr. has begun swinging the ax in his magazine empire.
Over 250 jobs and possibly as many as 500 may be at stake as a new facility begins operation in Wilmington, Del. in January.

So far, at least 15 people have been let go at Golf Digest Cos., one of seven magazine companies owned by Newhouse and his brother Donald through their parent company, Advance Publications Inc.

The head-rolling was contained in a "warn letter" that the company was required to file with the Department of Labor in Connecticut.

Other cuts are expected at Parade, the big money-making Sunday magazine inserted into newspapers; at Fairchild, publisher of W, Details and Jane; and at Conde Nast, publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

Most of the cutbacks are related to the company's pending move to the new shared services facility in Wilmington, Del. For the first time, back-office personnel in areas such as accounting, benefits, human resources and information technology for all the corporation's magazine divisions will be combined under one roof.

The cutbacks are expected to reach into the hundreds by early next year.

The governor of Delaware and the mayor of Wilmington revealed that the companies owned by the billionaire brothers were given $1.5 million in incentives, grants and tax breaks to locate a new shared services facility in the former Hercules Building in downtown Wilmington.

The break comes several years after the Conde Nast wing was given a $10 million break by the city and state to help put up new headquarters in New York.

Wilmington officials have said that there will 250 jobs created at the site there when the facility is fully operational early next year. The project is going to start staffing up in January, said a company spokeswoman.

Presumably, that means that there are a lot more cutbacks to come from sites in the New York City area as the move date approaches.

Officials at Advance said they would not comment on personnel matters and insisted that the 250 number might not necessarily correspond to the cutbacks. "It's not totally lateral," said a spokeswoman. The Economic Development office of Wilmington said that up to 500 jobs could eventually be situated there within five years.