By Paul Pannone

Facing decline in product interest, the Queen of DIY, Martha Stewart, has reportedly been looking to sell out according to Media Life. The recession that began in 2008 helped Stewart’s raking among brides that wanted to save money by taking on tasks they would normally pay a vendor to do. But the stabilization and finding out it’s not as easy as it looks may be the reason for cutbacks at MS.

The Wedding Marketing blog started a campaign against Do It Yourself earlier this year but can’t say whether it’s having any impact to help vendors.

Campaigns like DIY Stinks could not have helped Martha’s cause. In fact many struggling wedding professionals have taken on the crusade of trashing DIY in an effort to keep the money circulating in the wedding industry, rather than stay in the pocket of the couple. But despite the struggling economy attempts to stay connected to brides wanting to save money has been allusive.

Specific steps taken by Stewart’s company have not been good, given the results. Martha’s move to the Hallmark Channel was not well received, suffering a 47% revenue decline a year ago. The company’s stock has continued to lose value but did get a boost in 2008 during the economic crisis when it traded up from under $2 dollars a share to $6.76 in September, 2009 . But since 2010, the stock continues to lose its value, as the economy stabilized.

 The company stock, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSO), has steadily declined since 2000 when it traded for 36.85 a share. Shares are currently selling under $4 dollars, according to Yahoo Finance.

So how will MSO stem some of the losses and turn their business around? eWedNewz reported cutbacks and layoffs that could number around 100 people by the end of the year, consolidating positions. In our investigation we’ve discovered the following:

According to Paid Content, ”the company is restructuring its ad sales team to make one person the focal point across all print, broadcast and online marketing efforts. As a result, Group Publisher Sally Preston is being promoted to EVP, Media Sales and Marketing. With her promotion, three veteran MSLO execs are out: Janet Balis, MSLO EVP of Media Sales & Marketing; Orlando Reece, SVP for broadcasting; and Christine Cook, who was highly regarded in interactive circles as SVP for digital, will all leave the company. Although it wasn’t clear at the moment, it’s safe to assume that several other layoffs will issued before the changes to a single ad structure are complete.”

Publishing sources say the move is consistent with industry reports that have the company cutting costs, raising efficiencies and boosting profits for a probable sale at some point. Some say the whimsical ideas provided by Martha Stewart may be old news, now that the economy and spending is no longer in the free-fall mode it was in 2008.

eWedNewz continues our investigation into this story.

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