P.M. BRIEFING : Woman Magazine to Close Shop

In a pair of developments reflecting difficult times in the magazine business, Woman magazine is being closed and Woman’s Day has been taken off the auction block for lack of an acceptable bid.

Conde Nast Publications Inc. said it will close Woman magazine after its September issue.

Woman is the first Conde Nast magazine to cease publication since the Newhouse family took control of the company in 1959. Woman has been published for 10 years but was acquired by Conde Nast about 18 months ago.

Separately, France’s Hachette SA said it no longer plans to sell Woman’s Day magazine, saying it was dissatisfied with the bids it received over the last two months and now will invest in improving it.

Both Woman and Woman’s Day have had double-digit declines in advertising pages for the first six months of the year amid an industrywide ad slump.