McClatchy killed 4 magazines in one day — the checkout-aisle print model was already dead

On June 2, 2025, McClatchy Media Company announced it would cease publication of four celebrity and lifestyle magazines — In Touch Weekly, Life & Style, Closer, and First for Women — with the final print editions hitting newsstands between June 20 and 27. The company said it had been 'unable to develop a profitable business model' for the titles despite the 'best efforts of many of our talented colleagues.' Staff across all four titles were laid off.

The magazines had been through multiple ownership changes. Originally part of Bauer Media Group, they were acquired by American Media Inc. in 2018 and later folded into a360media when AMI merged with accelerate360's media arm. In December 2024, a360media merged with McClatchy, combining local journalism with lifestyle entertainment. The merger created a larger company, but the four titles still could not achieve profitability.

The closure reflected structural decline in US print media: celebrity weeklies had lost readers to digital gossip sites and social media, their newsstand sales had plummeted, and the rise of generative AI further eroded search-driven traffic to their websites. McClatchy retained the brands' digital assets but stopped producing new editorial content for them.