Time Inc. is betting fewer issues will bring good luck to its business magazine Fortune.
As part of a major redesign to be unveiled in January, Fortune is cutting its publishing frequency to 18 issues a year from 25, as the title grapples with a 30 percent decline in advertising pages and expected competition from BusinessWeek, which was just bought by Bloomberg LP.
The cutback in the number of issues is part of a broader revamp of the magazine, which will include an overhaul of the cover and the introduction of new feature sections, including “Career,” which will offer job advice, and a series of columns, such as this week’s first-person account by ex-car czar Steve Rattner of his days on the president’s Auto Task Force.
New Creative Director John Korpics is planning to do away with cover shots of CEOs and move toward more conceptual covers similar to a recent issue that featured a face-off between a BlackBerry and an iPhone.
In addition, the magazine will begin using a heavier, more expensive paper stock.