Life magazine shutting down for the third time

Decline in newspaper business cited as reason for discontinuing supplement

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updated 1:28 p.m. ET March 26, 2007

NEW YORK - Magazine publisher Time Inc. is shutting down Life magazine again, a brand it had resuscitated in late 2004 as a newspaper supplement.

Time Inc. said in a statement Monday that it would keep the Life brand going on the Internet, where it will launch a Web site with photos from its massive image collection, and by publishing books.

The company cited the “decline in the newspaper business” and poor advertising outlook as factors in its decision.

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Life had been carried in 103 newspapers, and competed in the weekly newspaper supplement business with Parade, owned by Advance Publications Inc., and Gannett Co.’s USA Weekend. American Profile, a privately held supplement, targets smaller newspapers.

Time Inc. has now shut down Life magazine three times.

Originally launched in 1936 as a weekly, Life was suspended from regular publication in 1972 and brought back as a monthly in 1978. It was suspended again in 2000, then brought back as a newspaper supplement in 2004.

“The market has moved dramatically since October 2004 and it is no longer appropriate to continue publication” of Life as a newspaper supplement, Time Inc.’s CEO Ann Moore said in a statement.

Time Inc., a unit of the media conglomerate Time Warner Inc., is a major magazine publisher with titles including People, Sports Illustrated, Time and Fortune.

In a reflection of the tough times facing magazines, in January the company announced nearly 300 job cuts and sold 18 of its smaller magazine titles including Popular Science, Field & Stream and Parenting. Time Inc. is repositioning many of its brands to follow its readers and advertisers onto the Internet.