According to the New York Times, the end is near for Fast Company magazine.
WHEN the Meredith Corporation announced its purchase of Gruner & Jahr’s women’s magazines last Tuesday, Meredith said that Gruner’s business magazines, Fast Company and Inc., were not “material” to the sale. What that means is that two magazines that sold for more than half a billion dollars four years ago now have a value of zero.
As it flees toward its exit from a billion-dollar experiment gone horribly wrong, Gruner & Jahr, a division of the German media giant Bertelsmann, may salvage a few dollars, if not its dignity, by selling Inc. But Fast Company, always more of an idea than an actual magazine, is probably gone for good.
If true, it is a disappointment. And coming at time when they seemed to finally be getting their legs back content-wise.