Say Goodbye to 'Weekly Reader'

Scholastic has owned Weekly Reader, a magazine aimed at children and what can only be described as a grammar school must-read, for about six months and today they've announced that they're shutting the 110-year-old publication down.

Scholastic has owned Weekly Reader, a magazine aimed at children and what can only be described as a grammar school must-read, for about six months and today they've announced that they're shutting the 110-year-old publication down. "Like all papers, Weekly Reader was struggling with changes roiling the print world and was under pressure to develop digital editions. Along with school budget cutbacks, those challenges were compounded by ownership turmoil that left the paper with few resources to invest," reports The New York Post's Josh Kosman and Keith J. Kelly.  More specifically, sources told Kosman and Kelly, "subscribers to each of the most popular editions, which cost as little as $4.99 a year, have fallen from 1 million in 1990 to less than two-thirds of that figure, according to sources." Back in 2002, when the publication turned 100, the AP had reported Weekly Reader about 7 million subscribers.

What happens now, as Kosman and Kelly explain, is that Scholastic will fold Weekly Reader into Scholastic news and will only retain five of the Weekly Reader's 60 employees. The move will result, "a better news and information experience in print and digital formats for teachers and students," Cathy Lasiewicz, a Scholastic spokeswoman, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg. Scholastic had bought Weekly Reader on February 10 for an undisclosed sum which Kosman and Kelly surmise was between $10 million and $20 million.