Enterprise suspended by Reed
Reed Business Information has suspended Enterprise, its magazine for entrepreneurs, just 18 months after it was acquired.
The B2B title aimed at entrepreneurs running small to medium-sized enterprises suffered from tough market conditions which, according to Reed, had a “negative effect” on the magazine’s revenue streams. Staff were in negotiations this week, but it is understood they have been offered jobs elsewhere in the company.
Publisher Roger Williams said: “Enterprise had a growing reputation among readers and advertisers alike and it is our intention to resume publication when the prospects for the SME market start to strengthen, hopefully in the not too distant future.
“We remain confident that there is a marketplace for Enterprise and look forward to resuming publication in the future.”
Richard Edwards, editor of Crimson Publishing’s Growing Business, said that although the market appeared lucrative, it was difficult to crack.
“It has become really competitive. A lot of big publishing houses have tried to look for growth and found the market really hard to crack. The whole irony of Enterprise is that it was not really for entrepreneurs, it was going to middle managers,” he said.
Edwards suggested Enterprise was less likely to succeed in its target market because it was published by a big company like Reed. “It does have that distance from the market which is very transparent. You have to talk to readers in their own language and if you can’t get close to your readership you are exposed,” he said.
Reed acquired Enterprise from Martin Leach Publishing in 2001. It suffered an upheaval in December 2000 when the editor quit and a number of freelances took legal advice following non-payment of work.
By Ruth Addicott
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