Business 2.0 enjoyed extraordinary early growth in readers and advertising, selling more than 2000 advertising pages in just its second full year of publishing, believed to be a record for an American monthly newsstand magazine. The publication's early competitors included
Fast Company, the
Industry Standard and
Red Herring. The magazine was sold by original publisher
Imagine Media to
Time Inc., the publishing division of
Time Warner, in July 2001. Betting on a tech rebound, Time combined
Business 2.0 with its own fledgling business magazine,
eCompany Now. Having originally found success with wonky examinations of the interaction between
technology and business, later on in its run, under the ownership of Time Inc., the magazine broadened its focus, running cover stories on topics ranging from real estate to employment trends and outer space. Despite an upturn in the fortunes of startups and technology companies,
Business 2.0 was unable to turn a profit.
Josh Quittner, the editor since 2002, who had previously helmed
Netly News and
ON Magazine, led a team that published out of the
Fortune Group of Time Inc. In November 2006, in an effort to connect with the large numbers of readers who had come to rely on web blogs for news,
Business 2.0 launched a series of staff written blogs. In July 2007
The New York Times reported that the September issue could be the magazine's last. In response to these reports a number of readers organized a
Facebook group called
I read Business 2.0. And I want to keep reading! to speak out against
Time Inc.'s possible decision to close the publication. Nevertheless, on September 5, 2007,
The New York Times reported that Time Inc. had confirmed it would shut down
Business 2.0 with its October 2007 issue "as the magazine’s ad pages precipitously dropped this year". A number of the reporters and editors have been transferred to work on
Fortune. ==Notable features and articles==