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Marco Arment Sells Off The Magazine 1 Month After Selling Instapaper

42753v1-max-250x250[1]Do you know how sometimes companies go through a buying binge, gobbling up startups that offer a useful service? Marco Arment has decided to do the opposite.

He’s just sold the digital magazine startup that he launched back in October 2012 to its current editor, Glenn Fleishman. This move comes only a month after Arment sold Instapaper, his save-for-later service, to Betaworks.

Arment posted about this on his blog, and he gives an excellent reason for why he parted with The Magazine. It’s not the kind of work he liked doing:

The Magazine’s development workload was much more front-loaded than I expected. These days, 99% of the work is done by the authors, illustrators, and especially the Executive Editor, Glenn Fleishman.

The actual development required now is minimal, so I’ve been handling the business overhead of The Magazine without doing much of the kind of work I actually enjoy. I accidentally built a business that I’m not very well-suited to run. Glenn’s doing almost everything already, so I’m effectively a figurehead.

According to the press release, Fleishman intends to continue to operate The Magazine same as before. This digital magazine will continue to release biweekly issues of 5 long-form articles that are a mix of reportage and unique personal narratives of interest to curious people with a technical bent.

When The Magazine launched last October it pioneered an idea that was obvious in retrospect but not simple to implement. In the 9 months since it launched The Magazine has become just one of many similar digital magazines, though it is still regarded as the best.

The deal is set to close in 1 June, only 5 days before The Magazine’s 18th issue is due to be released (on 6 June). The full terms of the sale have not been disclosed.

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Comments


Cookie May 30, 2013 um 8:18 am

Maybe it is time for the Natester to cash in on the digital reader.


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