A dumb moment in business journalism history

Brad Stone of The New York Times writes the following on the Bits blog:

“We’re sad to report that employees of Business 2.0 magazine were told today that the monthly publication will close next week, after they finish the October issue.

“As we wrote in July, executives at Time Inc. were weighing whether to shutter the seven-year old business/technology publication as the magazine’s ad pages precipitously dropped this year. After our article boosted public support for the publication – followers started a support group on Facebook – Time bosses gave the publication a two month-long reprieve during which it weighed offers from Fast Company publisher Mansueto Digital, and others, to buy the brand and its 623,000-name circulation list.

“But apparently Time Inc., a unit of Time-Warner, did not want to arm another competitor. We hear that ‘Kill Teams’ from the headquarters of Time Inc in New York will visit the magazine’s 29th floor offices in San Francisco tomorrow.”

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