Another sign of the dot.com crash: “The Industry Standard,” once hailed as the new magazine of the Internet economy, is suspending publication and laying off most of its staff. The magazine would officially suspend publication Monday and a large chunk of its 200 remaining staffers would be let go, according to a Reuters news article.
“I’m very upset and very sad about it,” Jonathan Weber, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, told Reuters. “I don’t think it needed to happen this way. I think we had a great magazine and had great people here and I’m very sorry we won’t be able to keep doing it. I’m very proud of what we accomplished here. I have no regrets.”
Publishing company Standard Media is purportedly seeking a buyer. However, it is “quite possible” that it will file for Chapter 11, according to Reuters.
Founded in 1998, the Industry Standard became the fastest growing magazine in American history reaching more than 350 pages. However, as the Internet start-ups that dominated the magazine’s ad pages started to go under, the magazine began to shrink, leveling out to around 80 pages this year, a reported 75 percent drop from last year, according to Reuters. According to Standard Rate and Data Services, Industry Standard’s total circulation as of December 31, 2000, was 192,700, of which 93,500 was non-paid and 99,200 paid.