Conde Nast's Portfolio

Had a chance to flip through Conde Nast's new business magazine, Conde Nast Portfolio, for a few minutes the other day.

The title's much-discussed first issue was not exactly a great success in the eyes of many reviewers, but I have to say that what I saw and read was not half bad.

A few of the features that I can recall offhand:

An article on the rise of Dubai and its recent oversized entry into the world of horse racing/horse auctions;

A study of T. Boone Pickens' troubled personal life;

The story of some private equity investors who made a successful bet in the music industry, backing the label that spawned the multi-platinum selling group, Maroon 5;

Roger Lowenstein's review of Nassim Taleb's new book, The Black Swan;

And an article on the recent craze over Chinese contemporary art.

I didn't bother with the Tom Wolfe piece, and I remembered too late that there was supposed to be an article on fly fishing in there somewhere that I did not see as I was flipping through.

All in all, nothing groundbreaking, but a very decent showing for a glossy mag with its particular look and feel.

I found the content and style to be very evocative of Vanity Fair (no surprise there, given its publisher), with a bit of Fortune, The New Yorker, and Trader Monthly thrown in the mix. The ads seem to target a similar audience. I'm not sure how the readership is split as far as male/female demographics.

If you're at the newstand, give it a look. You might like their Vanity Fair-style take on the movers and shakers in business, or find something interesting besides.