Readers Digest going down?

I am sad, so sad.  Have you heard?  From the website 24/7 Wall st the list of the top 10 brands that may disappear in 2011.  Some on that list include T-Mobile, Blockbuster and Radio Shack (my husband loves that store).  But losing Readers Digest (which is on the list) is like losing a family friend.

Readers Digest is the ONLY magazine I read, the only one I buy and the only one I have ever bought a subscription to.  I read it cover to cover every month and so look forward to every new issue.  Thinking it may be gone, or worse yet, sold and changed (into something unrecognizable) just saddens me.

Here is what they have to say about it.

Reader’s Digest was once the most widely read magazine in the world.  According to the company, it still may be when its overseas editions are taken into account.  Last August, the company took its US operations into Chapter 11 to decrease debt. It emerged from bankruptcy in February with $525 million in exit financing. The company cut the number of issues it publishes a year from twelve to ten last year. It also cut its circulation guarantee for advertisers to 5.5 million copies from 8 million. It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago that a magazine as old and famous as Reader’s Digest would be shuttered. Iconic titles like House & Garden have been closed, Newsweek is for sale. BusinessWeek might have been closed if Bloomberg had not bought it for next to nothing. The parent of Reader’s Digest has a number of niche magazines, such as  Every Day with Rachael Ray and Taste of Home. The company’s book and music businesses reportedly also do well. Reader’s Digest also has 50 editions of its flagship magazine published around the world. But, if the trends in the US publishing industry have shown anything, it is that large, widely circulated magazines like Newsweek, US News, and TV Guide have no future in America in their current form. Reader’s Digest may live on outside the US and its parent company may survive. However, Reader’s Digest as it is known in the US will be gone.

Read more: 24/7 Wall St. Ten Brands That Will Disappear in 2011

The brands they put on the list last December for 2010 are either gone or on a short-term path to extinction.  This doesn’t look promising.

I hope for a miracle cause Reader’s Digest will be missed