Portfolio web site is now live

The web site for the new business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio went live early Sunday evening, and it is a cleaner, more uncluttered look than the web sites of rivals BusinessWeek, Forbes and Fortune.

A statement on the site noted, “Each day on Portfolio.com, you’ll find new ideas and fresh perspectives from the people and companies that are setting the business agenda, including:

• The day’s top business stories, providing the context on how they will impact your day.
• Insights from the most important business writers and industry experts, who will share their opinions on everything from politics to beer.
• A roundup of the most-talked-about companies and executives, with a behind-the-scenes take on why they’re making news.

“Portfolio.com breathes new life into business news by showing the unexpected, dynamic side of corporate life, captured in a highly visual style by the world’s best photographers, videographers, and illustrators.

“The beta site also includes business news headlines from leading Web sources, over 500 thousand company and executive profiles, market analyses, city guides for the top business travel destinations, and a networked community of thought leaders engaged in a forward-thinking business dialogue.”

For those who can’t wait for the first print issue to his newstands in New York in the morning, there are also some of the stories on the publication posted on the site. And there’s a video of prospecting for diarmonds in upper Canada that was interesting. And there are some stories that are exclusive to the web site, such as an item about people who pose as being rich so that they can look at upscale homes on the market.Â

After browsing through the web site for the past hour, I’m impressed. This isn’t like other business news web sites. Then again, it’s not a web site that the average business news consumer is going to go to on a daily basis either. It’s definitely for someone who has the time to sit down and about the article they’re reading. On a Sunday night that’s good for me. But on a Monday afternoon? Maybe not so good.

Finally, for those curious about the magazine’s staff, there’s a list here. Two names that jumped out at me from the list of “contributors” are former Fortune tech guru Peter Lewis and Footnoted.org blogger Michelle Leder.