In a blog post on New Year’s Day, JPG Magazine called it quits:
We’ve spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we’ve reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but just weren’t able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.
There were several reactions to this news across the online photography community, with many people expressing their sadness to see JPG Magazine go. However, Don MacAskill, CEO of SmugMug, reached out to JPG Magazine via Twitter, which is a social media communication tool. This has sparked some reactionary comments and a feeling among many that JPG may be salvageable. Others, however, would prefer to see it just die.
Today, TechCrunch reported that “the company is in the process of taking bids from interested buyers now, and there are already firm offers on the table which are attractive to the company’s current stockholders.” It appears, however, that we won’t know the fate of JPG Magazine until some point next week at the earliest. Stay tuned.