Categories: OLD Media Moves

Kelly: Portfolio launch renews clash between Time and Conde Nast

The New York Post’s Keith Kelly writes in Sunday’s paper that the launch of new biz glossy Conde Nast Portfolio is really about the battle between two magazine industry titans: Time Inc. and Conde Nast.

Kelly wrote, “For years, the publishing titans rarely clashed: CondÃ© Nast’s fashion titles such as Vogue had the women, and Time Inc., with Fortune, Sports Illustrated and Time, had the men.

“The bad blood, some say, began in 1994 when Time invaded the beauty/fashion world with the launch of InStyle – sucking some advertising dollars from the category.

“Then, Vogue, four years ago, launched Teen Vogue into a category where Teen People was once hot. Time Inc. answered when it made the disastrous move to turn Life into a newspaper supplement – invading the very profitable turf of Newhouse-owned Parade. Life will publish its last issue next Sunday after burning through an estimated $50 million to $75 million.

“The bad blood extends beyond the $5.2 billion in Time Inc. revenue and the $2 billion in revenue that CondÃ© Nast, a privately held concern, is believed to ring up. In 1997, Fortune leveled a vicious hit on then-CondÃ© Nast CEO Steve Florio. CondÃ© Nast’s GQ then ran an article critical of Time’s John Huey.”

Read more here.Â

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.