I got my final issue of Business 2.0 in the mail today -- at least, the publication's final printed issue. Its death is hardly news; I eulogized its passing when Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) axed the cutting-edge financial publication several weeks ago. But now I'm irked by the exchange the company wants to offer to the magazine's bereft subscribers.
"All unmailed issues remaining in your paid Business 2.0 subscription will be honored by a subscription to FORTUNE magazine," reads the last issue's wrapper, with a copy of FORTUNE going out for every two paid copies of Business 2.0.
I get it. FORTUNE is a thicker, costlier publication. Time Warner is also giving subscribers until the end of the month to request a prorated refund. That's what I'm going to do, and I can't imagine anyone doing otherwise.
I have nothing against FORTUNE. To Time Warner's credit, FORTUNE has hired 10 Business 2.0 staffers, including managing editor Josh Quittner. But the now-defunct magazine has many other great writers who aren't migrating to other Time Warner publications, including Erick Schonfeld, who began blogging for Michael Arrington's TechCrunch site last week.
So why not give FORTUNE a shot, when a refund for my two remaining years will amount to little more than pizza money? Well, I'm a Rule Breaker, my friend. My investing dollar is earmarked for exciting upstarts and disruptive technologies. Business 2.0 fed my appetite, page after page. I have to skim through most of FORTUNE before getting to a story that interests me. I'm grateful when that happens, but I can't just let the magazine swap take place. It sends the wrong message to Time Warner, even if I am just one refund check.
I'm not naive. The Internet itself has become an outstanding replacement for a lot of the provocative content that Business 2.0 used to provide. I'll just have to make more trips to blogs like TechCrunch, GigaOm, and CNET Networks' (NASDAQ:CNET) Webware.
I imagine that more mainstream financial websites like TheStreet.com (NASDAQ:TSCM) and Dow Jones' (NYSE:DJ) MarketWatch will seek to fill the void. (I should also mention that here in Fooldom, several Fools -- including myself -- enjoy digging around for disruptive technologies.) Even search-engine stars with financial portals, like Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), should hear this as a dinner bell.
I sure as heck hope so. Once I get that Time Warner refund check, I'll toast the survivors with a slice of pizza raised high.
Bad move, Time Warner. You just cost yourself your weight in pepperoni.
Recent Fool headlines that have leaned on Business 2.0:
