The business magazine Portfolio will be published 10 times a year, instead of 12, and Men's Vogue will come out twice a year instead of 10 times, said the executives, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the changes, which have not been announced.
In addition, some of Portfolio's online operations, including advertising sales, will be folded into those of Wired magazine.
Advertising revenue has sharply declined in the magazine industry this year. The luxury product advertising that Condé Nast relies on has held up better than most types, but eventhat has slipped and is expected to fall farther.
Portfolio, started last year amid much fanfare, is Condé Nast's first business magazine and its most expensive new project in years. Executives said the company was willing to lose more than $100 million on it. It had average circulation of 415,000 in the first half of the year, a healthy figure for a new magazine, but it has been roiled by internal disputes and high turnover.
Much of the operation of Men's Vogue, started in 2006, will be folded into Vogue, one of the company's flagship magazines. Men's Vogue has circulation of almost 370,000.
Condé Nast executives said spending had been under budget, with several positions unfilled, which would limit the impact of the 5 percent budget cut.
But the changes at Men's Vogue and Portfolio will result in significant layoffs. Staff cuts at other magazines will mostly be achieved by attrition, though there will some layoffs.
« We can work it out . . . | Main | Proper registration » Portfolio in trouble30 Oct 2008 02:21 pm
I confess, I've never gotten Portfolio's business model--New York Magazine, for executives! I rarely read anything vital in it, which means I rarely read it. And it seems I'm not alone:
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I love traditional print magazines, and don't want them to die out. I just have no idea how they can fix their business model.
"The business magazine Portfolio will be published 10 times a year, instead of 12"
Isn't the hard copy Atlantic published 10 times per year instead of 12?
Hold on, a magazine? I thought it didn't go beyond Felix Salmon's blog.
Uh-oh.
Well, as long as they keep Felix Salmon around.
I subscribed to it after they sent me a lowball offer, presumable because I subscribe to the New Yorker. After three issues, it's definitely not on my must-read list. They have occasionally interesting articles, but it's very personality driven and full of fashion ads, like GQ meets Business Week.
I wonder if they decided with all the i-bankers out of work, their market would dry up soon.
This reminds me, my husband recently got a new job that requires he wear suits, so we went to the Brooks Brothers outlet and have since been getting all sorts of catlogs from them featuring tremendous sales, that indicate that they might be seeing a dip in sales due to a lack of Masters of the Universe buying their $15,000 tie trees.
Everybody's portfolio is down, why should the magazine be any different?
Men's Vogue has to go down as one of the worst ideas in recent magazine publishing history. I'm not surprised at all to hear that it's a failure.
As someone who came to Portfolio from Wired, I was expecting something a bit more informative, and as one of the other commenters said, it is way too celebrity-oriented, to the extent that top business executives can be considered celebrities.
I complained about this after receiving the first issue, and was 'rewarded' with an extra year on my subscription. The magazine did improve slightly (never, ever put Tom Wolfe in your first issue), but I won't miss it.
Men's Vogue has to go down as one of the worst ideas in recent magazine publishing history.
Next month, from the creators of Men's Vogue: xyMaternity, the fashion magazine for men that helps YOU maintain appearances during those delicate trimesters when your steinhoisting ways must bow to inevitable consequences! In our first ish: "Jeans that Really Yield", a blue-versus-yellow review entitled "Which Tones Your Buddha Belly More Effectively: PBR or Original Coors?", plus our exciting take on the raging debate between vertical and horizontal stripes! Don't miss it!
i-bankers wouldn't read Portfolio, sorry
nothing informative in the thing: gossip and posturing by marxists (John Cassidy) and angry leftist media popinjays (Raines and Eisinger to name but two)
I got a free one year subscription and maybe it will expire when the magazine does
Well,
I have to admit, it is better than the Pom-Pom trifecta of Businessweek, Forbes and Fortune. And much, much better than the god awful Money and Kiplinger duo.
I love it when all the pro's know to get out of the market, they simultaneously tell us to stay in the long-run. I mean, is there anything worse than, during the worst slump since the 1930's we have interviews with chiefs of mutual fund managers telling us to stay in for the long-haul?
At least Portfolio had a much, much more skeptical eye towards unfetted capitalism and the conventional wisdom passed on to Middle America which is nothing but a farce.
Two days ago, I completed an online survey for Portfolio they sent me by email.
They were trying to figure out if space available ads in their sister pubs are driving awareness and subs.
The ads didn't tell me anything I needed to know. This magazine has no value to me, whatsoever.
I quit all print subscriptions ten years ago and get everything off the net. I don't think I would waste my time on their web site, either.
My wife likes getting newsprint on her hands, so she keeps the NY Times, even though we are in Calif. But given their "in the tank" reporting for Obama this election, she's about to pull that one.
That leaves the only print pub in our house, The Economist, which we'll keep for my middle school daughter.