Business 2.0 lives on...for a month

Time Inc. has told the staff of Business 2.0 to put aside the previous talk about the magazine shutting down and to begin work on an October issue. The suits were apparently persuaded by a Facebook group that found lots of support for Business 2.0 from names that count in the tech world.

"Late in the day, we get the call: The governor has granted a reprieve to explore other options," said one staffer. "This is at once celebrated and greeted with horror. How the hell can we produce another issue? Meetings are called, a battle plan produced. We live to fight another day."

The extraordinary turn of events, which by no means guarantees that the October issue will ever see the light of day, was only the latest in a strange series of developments at Business 2.0, a magazine with many fans but rapidly falling advertising. That ad-page decline, a whopping 34.1% in the first half of the year, had many wondering whether the title would be squeezed out amid intensifying competition in the business-news category.

Some of the readers who voiced their love include Ned Desmond, president of Time Inc. Interactive and a former president of the magazine; Craig Newmark of Craigslist; Om Malik, creator of the blog GigaOm; and James Ledbetter, formerly of The Industry Standard.