Business 2.0 editor Quittner talks about changes due to closing

Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner talked with Talking Biz News about the decision to shutter the magazine and move some of its editorial staff to sister Time Inc. publication Fortune.

Time Inc. decided Tuesday to close the nine-year-old magazine, effective with the October issue. It declined to sell the magazine to other bidders. Mansueto Ventures, the owner of Inc. and Fast Company, was believed to be interested.

Quittner will become executive editor of Fortune.

Here is the discussion:

1. Who are the journalists from Business 2.0 who will be joining Fortune?

They include Phil Elmer-Dewitt, Paul Sloan, Michael Copeland and others.

2. Business 2.0 had a loyal following of readers. What do you say to them?

We’re hoping to take what we learned here and bring it along to Fortune. Time Inc. has indicated it still believes in the kind of tech coverage we did here and the hope is that it’ll develop even more of a following at Fortune. Personally, I’m excited by the direction Andy Serwer is taking Fortune and looking forward to helping in any way I can.

3. How close was the magazine to being sold to someone else so that it could remain alive?

I wasn’t privy to those discussions so I can’t answer that question.

4. How do you foresee Business 2.0’s content being integrated into Fortune and its web site?

We’re still in the early stages of discussing that. I’d say, look for the results of those discussions by the end of the year.

5. Will some of the better-read Business 2.0 blogs migrate over to the Fortune web site? If so, which ones?

Yes, absolutely. We’re going to take what we learned about the most popular sites and, I hope, double down in ways that will generate more traffic and bring even more readers into the fold. But you’ll have to forgive me at this point; it’s early days and a lot remains to be figured out.