Condé Nast has closed the German edition of Vanity Fair two years after it launched the title amid great fanfare, blaming the economic downturn.
The final issue of Vanity Fair Germany, which was published as a weekly, appeared yesterday. It is unclear what will happen to the 80 Berlin-based staff who worked on the title.
Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Condé Nast International, who committed to keeping the magazine running as recently as December last year said it was his "sad duty" to announce the closure.
"It is a shock when an excellent magazine is closed and particularly so in the case of Vanity Fair Germany. Only 11 weeks ago I publicly vowed that Condé Nast would continue to publish Vanity Fair in spite of difficulties," Newhouse said.
He added: "But the world is changing rapidly and in ways for which no one can be truly prepared. The global economy has been plunged into a crisis of historic proportions. Media owners, such as the US-based parent organisation of Condé Nast Germany, today face very serious business challenges – difficulties which could not have been foreseen even a short time ago.
"In a normal economic climate, we would have bravely carried on publishing Vanity Fair. In today's bleak economic climate, it is impossible."
Newhouse praised the staff who worked on the title, saying that Vanity Fair Germany was an "outstanding" publication that made an important journalistic contribution.
A former editor on Vanity Fair Germany told MediaGuardian.co.uk he had been "extremely disappointed" after starting the job in Berlin and seeing the dummies of the magazine.
"The magazine had nothing to do with the Vanity Fair I knew from America," he said. "They converted it into a weekly magazine covering cheap celebrity crap."
He added that Condé Nast Germany had "no experience with such an ambitious project", and he believed they had chosen the wrong people to fill the leading positions there. It is understood that only one person out of the original launch team remains working on the title.
Vanity Fair Germany launched in February 2007 at a cost of €50m – the most expensive new magazine in Germany in years and Condé Nast's biggest investment outside the US.
However, a year after launch the title was derided as an "expensive flop", with commentators questioning whether the glossy celebrity package of the US flagship title translated to the German audience.
Circulation had plummeted from half a million to less than 200,000 per week, according to German press reports.
There is also an Italian edition of Vanity Fair, running since 2003, and a Spanish version launched last September.
Condé Nast International publishes 110 magazines worldwide, up from the 38 published when Newhouse became chairman in 1990.
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