National Geographic to end newsstand sales of magazine next year, focus on subscriptions, digital

NEW YORK — The familiar yellow-bordered cover of monthly National Geographic will no longer be sold on newsstands starting next year, as part of cutbacks affecting the venerable magazine.

The company’s focus has shifted to digital products and it will offer a special edition on newsstands, a spokesperson said Thursday. Subscribers will continue to receive the print edition each month.

Newsstand sales make up a small percentage of the magazine’s nearly 1.8 million monthly circulation, according to the magazine.

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Even magazines that began publishing in 1888 are not immune to the economic headwinds that affect the media. Known for its colorful photographs around the world, the magazine was founded more than a century before him by the National His Geographic Society, which supports science and exploration.

National Geographic’s ownership has changed twice in the past decade, first with a sale to 20th Century Fox and then in 2019 when it was acquired by The Walt Disney Company. The company has been hit by a series of layoffs.

Craig Welch posted on Twitter Wednesday that the magazine’s new issue, which features his 16th and final feature as a senior writer for the magazine, has arrived.

“NatGeo fires all staff writers,” he wrote.

Accurately, the magazine said that no one has the title of “writer” anymore, and that there are people who both write and edit.
Instead, non-staff people will write the stories. This change occurred as a result of the organizational restructuring in April.

The company did not say how many people have lost their jobs.

“National Geographic will continue to publish a monthly magazine dedicated to great multi-platform storytelling with cultural impact,” said spokesperson Chris Albert. “The staffing changes will not change our ability to do this job, but rather give us more flexibility to tell different stories and reach our audience anywhere across many platforms. ”

“The implication that recent changes will adversely affect the quality of the magazine and its storytelling is completely false,” he said.