Time Inc. is closing high-tech magazine Business 2.0, abandoning efforts to salvage a publication that survived the dot-com bust only to be doomed by the rise of Internet advertising; the publication will release a final issue this month. Although the San Francisco-based magazine"s death notice wasn"t delivered until Wednesday in a staff meeting, Business 2.0"s troubles were widely known. The magazine"s total advertising pages plunged 34 percent during the first six months of this year, according to statistics compiled by the Publishers Information Bureau. Like many other print periodicals, Business 2.0 has been hurt by a shift of advertising to the Internet as consumers spend more of their time surfing the Web and less reading magazines and newspapers.
As Business 2.0"s revenue shriveled, Time - part of Time Warner Inc. - had been seeking buyers for the magazine. Dissatisfied with the offers it received in recent weeks, Time decided pull the plug and transfer some of the 9-year-old magazine"s top employees to the company"s main business title, Fortune. "We looked for the best scenario for Business 2.0 - one that would nurture the spirit of the brand"s unique coverage and reporting," said Time spokeswoman Danielle Perissi. Fortune offered jobs to Josh Quittner, Business 2.0"s editor since 2002, and 10 other employees, Perissi said. The magazine"s remaining 18 workers will lose their jobs, although Time
is looking for positions for them at some of its other magazines.