Portfolio is magazine industry's A-Rod

Friedman wrote, “Conde Nast’s willingness to invest substantially in Portfolio has been an underlying issue. Money is a big issue. You might say that Portfolio looms as a tale as potentially neurotic as, say, Alex Rodriguez’s tenure with the New York Yankees. Rodriguez, in his fourth year in pinstripes, has posted statistics worthy of a future baseball hall of famer.

“But the public’s unreasonable expectations have made the player feel more like a failure than a success. A-Rod must suspect that he could swat 90 home runs in a season and critics still would carp that he fell short. Is it fair or logical? Nope. Is it inevitable? Of course.

“Likewise, in the year ahead, Portfolio could sell a million ad pages and win 75 journalism prizes — and these accomplishments wouldn’t encourage the skeptics to declare the venture an unqualified success.

“Just as the public resents Rodriguez because he is baseball’s highest-paid player, much of the publishing industry happily twists a knife in Conde Nast’s back because it is lavishing so much money on Portfolio (an estimated $100 million, covering the next few years).”

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