By RUSSELL ADAMS

Condé Nast Publications Inc., struggling amid a widespread advertising slump, plans to cease publication of four magazines.

The magazines to be closed are Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, according to a memo to employees written by company Chief Executive Chuck Townsend.

The cuts are designed to “navigate the company through the economic downturn and to position us to take advantage of coming opportunities,” Mr. Townsend said in the memo Monday.

Condé Nast, publisher of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, is a unit of Advance Publications.

The closures are the product of a three-month review by McKinsey & Co., which Condé Nast brought in to streamline the publishing house in preparation for what is expected to be a slow recovery in magazine advertising.

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