Lipman to blame for Portfolio's failure

Paul Smalera, a former Conde Nast Portfolio staffer, writes on Gawker that the business magazine’s demise rests solely on the shoulders of editor Joanne Lipman. Smalera writes, “Yet in too many ways to enumerate here, we did not operate in what I fondly call a reality-based environment. In Lipman’s meetings, firings were never firings, stories […]

Other business magazines will fail

Jon Friedman, the media columnist at Marketwatch, predicts that the closing of business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio on Monday won’t be the last of the biz glossies to shutter. Friedman writes, “The business model no longer can be sustained in a digital age. In a bear market where people prefer to sit on the sidelines, […]

Portfolio never distinguished itself from the biz mag competition

Yvette Kantrow, executive editor of The Deal, writes Monday that the demise of business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio is primarily due to the fact that it never distinguished itself in a crowded market. Kantrow writes, “Portfolio was strictly a bubble phenomenon, dreamed up at a time when the masses still liked to talk about money […]

Portfolio publisher: Lipman changed business journalism

Conde Nast Portfolio publisher William Li defended the magazine’s editor in chief, Joanne Lipman, who has been criticized for her management of the editorial content of the now-defunct magazine, to New York Observer reporter John Koblin. Koblin writes, “‘She changed business journalism,’ he said. ‘Portfolio changed business journalism. The whole idea of writing breathlessly glowing […]

Why Conde Nast Portfolio failed

Jon Fine of BusinessWeek has some ideas as to why business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio didn’t last more than two years. Fine writes, “Conde Nast made a classic mistake of spotting a consumer magazine ‘opportunity’ based on advertising and demographic considerations, not actual reader demand. (And judging from the last few years’ worth of ad […]

Could Portfolio have survived?

James Ledbetter writes on The Big Money about the death of business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio and wonders whether it could have survived under different circumstances. Ledbetter writes, “The question was never a lack of talent; if anything, Portfolio hired too many talented people and didn’t know how to make them play nice together. The […]

Conde Nast Portfolio closing

David Carr of the New York Times reports Monday that Conde Nast Portfolio, a two-year-old business magazine, is closing. The magazine is closing as of the May issue, and the Web site will close in the second quarter. Carr writes, “The decision was announced to the staff at 10 a.m. on Monday by David Carey, […]

Conde Nast Portfolio extends cost cutting

Keith Kelly of the New York Post writes Monday that the cost cutting at Conde Nast Portfolio has extended to the cover photo. Kelly writes, “In the May issue, Lipman is running a recycled photo of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the cover. “The shot was actually run as an inside photo in the June […]

Conde Nast Portfolio's turnaround plan

David Kaplan of PaidContent.org talks to Conde Nast Portfolio publisher William Li about how the two-year-old business magazine can turn its performance around. Kaplan writes, “But the latest blow came with Q1 ad page results showing that Portfolio‘s p plunged 60 percent (the mag’s reps say the adjusted number would be 46 percent if it […]

New blogs on Portfolio

Gary Weiss, a former BusinessWeek reporter and editor who has been a contribuing editor at Conde Nast Porttfolio, has moved his blog over to the Portfolio site. In addition, Ryan Avent from The Economist will be replacing Felix Salmon on the magazine’s list of bloggers. Salmon is going to Reuters. Jeff Bercovici from Portfolio writes, […]