Condé Nast Shutters Portfolio

Condé Nast has shuttered Portfolio, its struggling business magazine. The May issue will be its last.

Staffers were informed during a meeting this morning. Portfolio.com also will be shut down.

Among the affected staffers are editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman and publisher William Li. A spokesperson for Condé Nast did not immediately return a request for comment.

The magazine had watched ad pages plummet 60.9 percent during the first quarter, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures.

Billed as a business publication with big, bold articles and dynamic visuals, Condé Nast launched Portfolio in April 2007. The second issue didn’t hit newsstands for another four months, on August 15.

RELATED VIDEO: Q+A with publisher David Carey

Portfolio carried a total and verified circulation of 449,005, according to the most recent FAS-FAX report.

The magazine was plagued by some staffing issues over its short run, beginning with Lipman’s firing of deputy editor Jim Impoco in August 2007.

The company reportedly spent over $100 million to launch Portfolio. It was said to be the most expensive in Condé Nast history.

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Portfolio shuttered

Submitted by Bikerdude on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 10:13.

It came up fast and it ended fast. Business information is really covered well on the internet, so its a bit understandable that a print information source would not be valuable unless it was unique. If the big, established titles are struggling, it should have been a warning sign to Conde. Just do what it takes to keep Vanity Fair going...

Long Live Portfolio -- er, Vanity Fair

Submitted by MPUG Editor on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 10:32.

Bikerdude makes a great point about Vanity Fair. And that's why, although I tend to be drawn to big beautiful business magazines, I only bought Portfolio off the newsstand a few times and never subscribed. It seemed a lot like Vanity Fair, which I already read, but with a biz bent. If VF cranked up the coverage in that direction by even a feature every other month, I'd feel like I have my serving of Portfolio too. -- MPUG Editor http://www.mpug.com

$100 Million to launch it?

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 10:40.

Conde Naste had more money than sense.

Too bad - it was a good read

Submitted by Dasher on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 10:48.

Just like MPUG Editor, I was a "newsstand subscriber" to Portfolio; it was a much better read than Fortune and Business Week, and gave Forbes a run for its money in terms of editorial style. Too bad it died.

Easy to trash, but ...

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 11:09.

... let's get some perspective here. Portfolio launched at a time when "sub-prime," "bailout" and "recession" didn't appear in the first 100 words of every business article. It presented a different voice in business coverage along the lines of Vanity Fair, albeit without the cloying bits of high-society hipness and Graydon Carter's unbridled hatred of George W. Bush and Co. Portfolio offered a good read, and stood out from the declining quality of recent editions of Forbes and Fortune. It's a sad irony that Portfolio left us with one of the most-entertaining and precise sagas of the Wall Street crash with Michael Lewis' "The End." And, that the article appeared in the December 2008/January 2009 -- the issue where Portfolio tried to patch up the boat by reducing its frequency.

A terrific magazine

Submitted by Mark Braun on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 12:49.

Portfolio was one of my stop-at-the-newsstand occasional reads that was (is) excellent work. By contrast, I am a one-man army at our little magazine, pulling in small but healthy ad numbers but still tickin' because, I believe, that we have the freedom of shifting gears faster than monolithic organizations. Conde Nast is just too big. Love Vanity Fair, but wonder who reads it all?

Farewell to a great magazine

Submitted by phiasko on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 13:10.

I have to admit I will miss portfolio. As a subscriber since issue #1, I felt it elevated the otherwise dry genre of business reporting to something that bordered on what one might call "sexy." I don't care for VF--perhaps because I am not obsessed with the frolicking of celebrities and the rich--but Portfolio was a different animal. Whereas Business Week and Forbes leave me yawning, I was always anxious to dig into Portfolio, which quickly became one of my favorite magazines. There is nothing like it on the newstand, and probably never will be again. I'm sad to see it go.

Portfolio won't be missed

Submitted by mike on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 13:56.

Too bad about Porfolio. I wasn't going to resubscribe anyway. They were taking a liberal left turn with their editorial coverage. Most business people have conservative viewpoints.

Missed the Mark

Submitted by JMeyers on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 14:58.

I applaud their efforts and hate to see another magazine bite the dust but I could never quite get comfortable with the positioning of Portfolio. It was stuck between trying to be a business magazine and a fashion/lifestyle magazine and never made it to either.

Company's struggling business magazine folds.

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