Is Portfolio in trouble?

CityFile New York wonders whether business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio is in trouble given the current economic conditions.

CityFile writes, “Since its debut in 2007, Portfolio has struggled to gain subscribers and advertisers, fired editors and hired new ones, changed its cover strategy, and emerged as the perpetual train wreck that media obsessives can’t get enough of. But now we hear things are worse than ever. ‘With everything that’s happened over the past few weeks, everyone is much more concerned,’ an insider tells us. For good reason.

“Recently-released circulation figures show that despite editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman‘s decision to put actual human beings on the cover several months ago, just 15 percent of the copies placed on the newsstand during the first half of 2008 actually sold, a figure well below what will be necessary to make the magazine profitable. (The report also indicated that 22 percent of the magazines are distributed for free.)

“But there are plenty of other concerns. With the economy in shambles, advertisers are cutting back on their budgets, and the decrease in ad spending is expected to have a greater impact on the weaker titles in Condé’s portfolio compared to the magazines with established audiences and advertisers. And although the economic downturn is benefiting financial news media outlets like CNBC, glossy titles that follow months behind current events clearly have difficulty keeping up with the turmoil unfolding on a daily basis.”

Read more here.