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July 17, 2007

Dead-tree media deathwatch: R.I.P. Business 2.0

It's official.  Business 2.0 joins the dodos and dinosaurs, with all but a core staff of 10 getting 1-year-salary severance agreements (so Peter Kafka's sources say).  The lucky 10 will reportedly augment Fortune's Valley coverage--assuming they want to.
 

The good news (for magazine folks) is that B 2.0's problems appear to have been at least partly management-related.   NYT reports that Time Inc. consolidated sales for its finance-business magazines earlier this year, and the sales force reportedly ignored B 2.0 to focus on the sexier Fortune.  The circ was reportedly stable, just north of 600,000. 

But, in any event, B 2.0 ad revenue collapsed, dropping 38% year over year, despite a red-hot business market, stock market, and advertising market.

Forbes' Brian Caulfield has more on the larger story here: Despite the economic boom, the ad dollars are going to bloggers and Google, not Red Herring, B 2.0, et al.  It's not just the wasted paper, ink, and postage--it's the time delay.  By the time the magazine arrives, everyone's already read the story online (or ignored it, if the magazine is trying to "protect it's business" by maintaining a firewall).  Expect more B 2.0-type announcements to come.  Forbes

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Comments

also right when rup is poised to take over WSJ---- and do we have a WSJ-TV coming? i think so

WSJ already has regular video on its website, it's very high quality, and I wouldn't mind seeing a WSJ TV. It would probably be like a PBS, with a finance focus.

I hope the Dow Jones-Murdock deal goes through. Murdock knows entertainment, and current business television is so drab it's ridiculous. Cramer will at least keep you awake and is no talking head.

No goog earnings bet this quarter?

Couldn't happen to a nicer publication. The few times I've dealt with their reporters, I've found them to be both incompetent and arrogant. Good riddance, may their reporters end up rewriting wire copy.

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