Personal Investor Falls Victim to Its Competitors

A victim of increased competition among business publications and shrinking advertising revenue, Personal Investor magazine has closed and sold its subscriber list to a Boston investment firm.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Personal Investor, a bimonthly magazine based in Irvine, published its last issue in November. Founded in 1985, it was circulated to 65,000 top corporate executives and other serious investors.

Beginning in January, Personal Investor subscribers will begin receiving Worth, a new personal finance guide owned by mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments in Boston. Worth will be based in Boston and New York.

Personal Investor’s parent company, Plaza Communications Inc., said it laid off three employees after the closure, including editor Russ Wiles. The Irvine firm’s roughly 30 remaining employees will continue to put out Registered Representative magazine, a trade publication for stockbrokers with a circulation of 74,000. Plaza Communications Chief Executive Tolman Geffs said Personal Investor faced a stream of new competitors including Smart Money magazine, a joint venture of the Hearst Corp. and Dow Jones & Co. scheduled to make its debut in March. Personal Investor also competed against such magazines as Money and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

“This is a time when there is a great deal of additional competition coming into that marketplace,” Geffs said.