Fortune magazine will drop from 25 issues a year to 18 in 2010, and it is being redesigned, executives at Time Inc. said on Friday, as the magazine joins the crowded ranks of publications looking for cost savings and strategic advantage in hard times. Fortune will focus more on “long-form, deep-dive journalism, great narrative stories,” said its managing editor, Andy Serwer. Plans call for an additional 8 to 12 pages per issue, including a new section advising readers on managing their careers. The magazine recently hired a well-known designer, John Korpics, to alter its visual style, moving to a less cluttered look, fewer portraits of chief executives on its covers and heavier paper stock. Some of the changes have taken effect already, and others will appear from now to January. The changes are part of another round of budget cuts at Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine publisher. Some layoffs were expected by year’s end, though the executive said the number had not yet been determined. The news was reported in Friday’s Wall Street Journal. Through September, ad pages across the magazine industry have fallen 27.3 percent this year, but business magazines fared much worse. Fortune, down 34.9%was among the hardest hit, while its closest competitor, Forbes, was down 30.8 percent. Fortune’s paid circulation, just over 850,000 in the first half of this year, has changed little in the last decade. Time Inc. would not say whether the magazine turned a profit. Mr. Serwer said he was not concerned that publishing less frequently would lower Fortune’s profile, adding, “We do have a Web site that is going to be more active than ever, we have live events and our journalists are on TV all the time.”

Related Posts:

• businessYNTK | More magazine staff layoffs
• businessYNTK | Newsweek Magazine cuts staff…
• peopleYNTK | Rihanna 4 Glamour Magazine’s “Women of the Year” Issue