Hearst took Company digital-only after its circulation fell by three quarters

Company launched in 1978 as a Hearst monthly aimed at women aged sixteen to twenty-four — the younger sister of Cosmopolitan in the UK portfolio. At its peak the print edition was selling 332,603 copies per month in the second half of 2004, a fixture of the newsstand for a generation of young readers.

Ten years later the arithmetic had flipped. Circulation had fallen more than 30 per cent year-on-year to just over 90,000 by the second half of 2013, and the tablet edition had attracted only 2,057 average copies a month. On August 13, 2014, Hearst announced Company would become a standalone digital brand after the October issue, on sale September 5. Chief executive Anna Jones thanked the editorial team led by editor-in-chief Victoria White; whether the move would cost jobs was, the publisher said, too soon to say.

The pivot followed the traffic: Company.co.uk had grown 46 per cent in six months, with return visitors up 99 per cent and social traffic up more than 140 per cent. The audience had moved; the format had not. Jones framed the cut as focus — 'a unique and dedicated service to this dynamic 16-24 old female demographic' — and promised the brand would remain a key part of Hearst's portfolio, just without any paper.