The TNR was never profitable though and likely could never be given its current structure.
But I wonder why buy and gut TNR if you could have just started a separate endeavor. TNR isn't that strong of a name - it is just a name is relatively small circles of elitists.
Let's be blunt about it- Buying TNR was an attempt to buy status with the old school intellectual liberal elite. Which is completely valid as far as it goes.
The unimaginably bad mistake is to then screw around with it in a way that makes it no longer what he was trying to buy.
The article makes it sound like it was originally bought when the buyer was feeling successful. As the buyer started to feel less successful due to other circumstances in their life, they started to feel less comfortable with the idea of owning a print magazine that was losing money. Thus the idea of reinventing it to be profitable.
But I wonder why buy and gut TNR if you could have just started a separate endeavor. TNR isn't that strong of a name - it is just a name is relatively small circles of elitists.