Amid waning newsstand sales and falling print readerships of periodical publications, Source Interlink Distribution announced last week it would end “substantially all” of its operations, which would entail the laying off of approximately 6,000 employees (including 1,200 full-time employees). Failure to come to new terms with publishers and other distributors in the past half-year, in addition to worsening economic conditions for magazine supply companies, led to this decision. Source Interlink is a big player in getting printed magazines from their publishers to retail markets and reportedly brought in $750 million in annual revenue.

“This unfortunate decision is one that was made out of necessity,” said Source Interlink CEO Michael Sullivan. “The periodical supply chain is one that has been flawed for quite some time and despite our truest efforts, surviving in a declining industry proved impossible without the support from the suppliers.”

The announcement followed a report that Time Inc., experiencing its own economic turmoil, had declined to do further business with Source Interlink, which was one of its biggest wholesalers.

Source: The Wall Street Journal