Business 2.0 is Dead

by Brian Solis

It was definitely ahead of its time in the Web 1.0 era. After all, it was formed to document to the renaissance of business as local and global commerce evolved right in front of our eyes.

After a seven year run, Business 2.0 has been pulled from life support and allowed to die peacefully – according to Brad Stone of the New York Times.

This is not a eulogy. I will leave that honor to Owen Thomas.

Business 2.0 had great times, but this year, its revenue practically dissipated. This is somewhat ironic considering that an entirely new Web 2.0 economy had finally gathered enough momentum to sustain the life of Business 2.0, and even Red Herring, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

This is not unlike what other print publications will face in the near future however.

Executives at Time Inc. gave the pub and its employees a two month reprieve while it entertained offers from Fast Company publisher Mansueto Ventures among others. Hey, with a 623,000 name-circulation list, you might think that someone would value it enough to pay a premium. However, Time decided that it would rather let that list evaporate than give it to a competitor.

Editor Joshua Quittner, and nine other editorial staff members have been reassigned to Fortune magazine, where they will help enhance technology coverage, conference business and the Web site.

It’s a shame to see this, just when most businesses that suffered during the bust are starting to enjoy the economy once again. Perhaps Time Inc. is planning a new, more substantial publication to document these times, say something like Business 3.0?

Oh and by the way, we’re looking for an SF-based part time or full time reporter or editor. Email us if you’re interested – dontpop at gmail dot com.

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