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Mack Reed at LAVoice.org breaks the news that LA.com, the city guide and shopping site put together by the parent of the Daily News and others — but best known for its dishy gossip blog, LA.comfidential — isn't working out. The boss, Lynda Keeler, has been let go along with other top managers, but editor Laurie Pike stays. Reed says the business plan is being rethought and that Los Angeles News Group, the corporate layer above the Daily News and other local papers in the Dean Singleton chain, is taking over. He says the hammer came down two weeks ago as part of an LANG restructuring that has cost 100 editorial and business side jobs, but hasn't been reported.
It seems LA.com's plan to attract young, solvent women with a blend of entertainment news, listings and travel content and utility, and then selling their eyeballs to high-end advertisers like L'Oreal and Amex in exchange for ad space wasn't quite raking it in fast enough to keep the content-heavy site afloat.
Mentions of Keeler seem to have been exorcised from the LA.com site.
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