News stories this weekend reported that Time Warner could sell its magazine operations, leading to speculation as to what would happen with its business titles — Fortune, Money and Fortune Small Business.
Capital Research Global Investors owns more than 8 percent of the company’s stock, and one of its managing directors, speaking at the University of South Carolina, predicted that the New York-based company would sell its print operations and focus solely on entertainment.
All three magazines are struggling this year, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau.
Fortune’s advertising revenue for the first six months of the year was down 35.8 percent to $84.7 million from $131.9 million. Its ad pages are off 38.2 percent during the same time period to 702.18.
Just for comparison purposes, BusinessWeek — which has been put up for sale by McGraw-Hill, had ad revenue of $77.8 million in the first six months of the year, off 33.4 percent.
At Fortune Small Business, the situation is somewhat better. Its ad revenue was down 7.5 percent to $20.8 million in the first six months of the year, and its ad pages were off 8.8 percent to 184.51 during the same time period.
At Money magazine, advertising revenue fell 27.6 percent to $46.2 million, and ad pages fell 30.5 percent to 233.66 during the first six months of 2009.
Industry wide, ad revenue fell 21 percent and ad pages fell 28 percent during the first half of the year.
