Fortune magazine to add digital paywall

Fortune magazine will be launching a digital paywall and raising its cover price in an effort to diversify its revenue stream, according to chief executive Alan Murray in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday.

The moves are designed to allow the publication to rely less on print advertising. They come after Meredith Corp. sold Fortune to Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon in November 2018 for $150 million in cash. 

As with almost all print publications, Fortune’s print ad revenue has been in a steady decline as digital offerings become more popular for news consumers.{mosads}

“We’re marching toward a premium model,” said Murray in an interview with the Journal. “The goal is to shift to a greater dependency on consumer revenue, the only way for serious journalism to survive in the current environment.” 

Murray did not disclose what the online subscription cost will be or the print magazine’s future cover price. The current price is $6.99.  

Fortune’s primary competitors include Apple News+, a magazine and newspaper subscription offering from Apple that launched in March 2019 and costs $9.99 per month. 

Fortune originally launched as a monthly publication in 1930 before going biweekly in 1978.