R.I.P. Conde Nast Portfolio

Last year we wrote a post commending Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine. They did some good muckraking on the Orange Midget and FrankenDodd, as well as other recent scandals.

Now, just two years after launch, publisher Conde Nast is shutting it down.

Conde Nast Publications said it is closing Portfolio, the glossy business magazine it launched with fanfare two years ago.

Portfolio staffers learned of the decision in a meeting Monday morning with the magazine's editor in chief, Joanne Lipman.

Under its chairman, Si Newhouse, Conde Nast has been known for its patience with money-losing titles and previously appeared ready to give Portfolio at least until the second half of the year. But ad declines across the company's titles, including at the ones that traditionally could be counted on to cover losses at underperforming properties, has forced the publisher to have a shorter leash.

The news comes about six months after Conde Nast drastically reduced the staff of the magazine and cut its frequency from monthly to 10 times a year, in a move executives said would buy the publication more time to stem huge losses. But with downward pressure on advertising showing no signs of easing, Conde Nast executives said they determined the outlook was too dire to keep the publication alive.

A sign of the times. Not only is the publishing industry hurting in general, but Portfolio tried to write about business and capital markets in the age of Obama. Portfolio will be replaced by a new title, Politburo, which will chronicle the exciting moments in Obama Administration decisions on what the economy needs to produce and how it should be distributed.