And now this morning's worth mentioning media business news...

New CNNmoney.com jam-packed with videos of over paid CEOs and the usual business news run down, too bad they lack embedding capabilities, at least we didn't see the option [PC] Disgraced New York Times newsroom king Howell Raines, will join Portfolio Magazine as a media columnist [NYT] Ticketmaster drops $265 million for ticketsnow, just in time for it's spin off as a stand alone operation [PC]

CNNMoney.com Executive Editor Xana Antunes: We did not borrow at all from Portfolio.com for Fortune.com

-MARTY CNNMoney.com Executive Editor Xana Antunes under questioning from the folks at Fishbowlny.com about the redesign of Fortune.com said that contrary to what blogs are saying about the new site resembling Porfolio.com they didn't get any inspiration from the competitor. OK Xana, we hear you on that one but, with all the past talk by the top people in editorial about how Fortune isn't worried about Portfolio and yada yada yada, wouldn't it have been smart to not come up with a design that would spark these suggestions? When putting your product under the knife to make sure it competes well with a new high profile competitor like Porfolio, the goal should have been to be as original as possible especially with the website. Because at the end of the day, no matter how you try to spin it, Fortune.com does resemble Portfolio.com. We only hope the redesigned print version doesn't carry an italic "F" in the logo. Xana Antunes: Fortune.com Does Not Borrow From Portfolio [FBNY]

Will Conde Nast's Portfolio ever have a real person on it's cover?

Conde Nast's Portfolio is now on its fourth issue...Right?. We thought by now we would have seen an actual person on the cover but clearly this is Porfolio's style? Anyway, with that said, we want to hear what you think. If any, who would you like to see on the cover of Portfolio? WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ON THE COVER OF PORTFOLIO? RUPERT MURDOCH ROGER AILES A WALLSTREETER PHIL DAUMAN SUMNER REDSTONE JEFF BEWKES RICHARD PARSONS RICHARD ZANINO THE 2,000 AOL EMPLOYEES GETTING CANNED I DON'T GIVE A SHIT

Yet another review of Conde Nast's Portfolio

-NEIL YOSHIDA Finally some people who know business share their thoughts on Conde Nast's new business magazine Portfolio. First, a word about the cover: Only a company as fat and complacent as Conde Nast would be arrogant enough to launch a new business magazine with a cover that gives the reader no idea that it's a business magazine. There are two possibilities here. (1) Portfolio thinks that newsstand readers will look closely enough to see the subtitle "business intelligence" just below the title, despite all available research indicating that they generally don't read anything in fonts smaller than GIGANTIC, or (2) Portfolio imagines everyone everywhere already knows what they are because they've gotten quite a bit of media trade press and people who work in media tend to think that everyone everywhere pays attention to media news when, in fact, they don’t. (Other things most print media consumers don't pay attention to: bylines. But more on that later.) We know Conde Nast does cover testing for some of their magazines—Vogue, Vanity Fair, etc. We can only assume the $15,000 or so it would have cost to do that for the "Premier" issue was used to pay people to pick lint from Tom Wolfe's trademark white suit. Or maybe to pay for the first 15 words of his piece, which are as follows: "Not bam bam bam bam bam bam but bama bampa barama bam bamity bam bam…" (Here Wolfe exhibits the typical mentality of a Conde Nast freelancer who is paid by the word: why not insert a few extra bams?) It kinda looks like some kind of art magazine or something at first glance doesn't it? Wonder who or what they have lined up for the next cover? Our Big, Fat Portfolio Review: Even Our Pessimism Was Optimistic [Dealbreaker]

The New York Times tells the story of Portfolio Publisher David Carey’s near orgasm after getting the first copy in his hands. OK so we made that up

-LENN HINDSMANN With the birth of a new magazine that has long been talked about, hyped, plugged etc, come many versions of how it all came together right down to the first copy fresh off the press. But no version is ever like a New York Times version. Kathrine Q. Seelye starts of the article in the usual New York Times manner, heavy on the drama, detail for detail, to put you right there as it happens, or at least attempting to. So after all the reviews, different versions and dissecting by every media site, is the only thing left to do is wait for it to die? Joanne Lipman, the editor of Portfolio, the new business magazine from Condé Nast, tapped gently last Monday on the door of David Carey, the publisher, and then burst into his bright Midtown corner office. “It’s here!” she said, grinning and handing him a copy of the much-anticipated debut issue of Portfolio. Lush, photo-rich and thick with ads (185 ad pages in a 332-page issue), it’s an unmistakable stablemate of Condé Nast’s Vogue and Vanity Fair. Mr. Carey beamed back. He then reached over to a side table and picked up a recent issue of Fortune, one of Portfolio’s chief competitors. The Fortune cover was particularly busy, with a crowd of anonymous Google workers in casual dress and a cover line announcing “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” He held them side by side. His glow said no contest. We hope they don't expect to sell copies based on glamour, because if our memory serves us correctly, you can't judge a book magazine by its cover In a Troubled Time, a New Business Magazine [NYT]

Morning Wire: Conde Nast's Portfolio edition

After a "long hard slog" Conde Nast's much hyped business magazine hits newsstands today and the battle is on for Porfolio to claim their seat among established business titles like Fortune, Forbes, BE and others. Will the Joanne Lipman edited magazine be able to do it? Well as they say only time will tell, not to mention the money. Conde Nast is said to be dropping a load to make the new title work. We didn't get our copy as of yet but we have been browsing through the Portfolio.com website over the weekend and we gotta say we are kinda liking the vibe. The folks at Conde didn’t get buckwild with the over the top graphics and features, and we think that’s exactly what makes the site work. It’s clean and easy to navigate which is key. Now lets see how long they can keep this baby afloat[Portfolio] Mel Karmazin was living in hell working for old man Redstone. In an interview with Portfolio, the former Viacom Prexy says that bigger is better and and seemed to have shot some free advice Jeff Bewkes's way saying "When you make a decision just for your stock price, the deals tend to not work" after being asked If you were Jeff Bewkes, would you split up Time Warner [Portfolio] Former AOL Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin seems to be slowly crawling out of the hole, or shall we say spa he's been hiding in. Not only does the once most powerful man in media answer his own phone, but he took an interview with Portfolio's Joanne Gordon and discussed "his fall from grace, deflecting critics and the perils of believing you’re Superman" [Portfolio] Speaking of Time Warner, current CEO Dick Parsons does have a life outside of that big corner office in the sky you know! He and a bunch of other black people are putting time into turning around Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater. Guess this is one of the many things he will put even more time into when his Time Warner contract expires next year. Wonder if he will still have time for it after he announces that he is running for Mayor of NYC? [Portfolio] What we think will be one of our favorite features on Portfolio.com is a feature called "InnerSanctum" where you get to look around the offices of some of top executives. However it looks like the folks at Portfolio were only able to get two CEOs to let them in [Portfolio] And now Portfolio Editrix Joanne Lipman's welcome letter [Portfolio]

Did you think Portfolio wouldn't have blogs? Shame on you

This just hit our inbox. The soon to be launched Portfolio.com will not surprisingly include three blogs covering the usual. Entertainment, Fashion & Finance CONTINUE... FELIX SALMON TO WRITE FINANCE NEWS BLOG TIM SWANSON TO WRITE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS BLOG LAUREN GOLDSTEIN CROWE TO WRITE FASHION NEWS BLOGFOR PORTFOLIO.COM Felix Salmon will join Portfolio.com as finance news blogger, Tim Swanson as entertainment news blogger, and Lauren Goldstein Crowe as fashion news blogger, it was announced today by Joanne Lipman, Editor-in-Chief of Condé Nast Portfolio magazine. Their appointments are effective April 2007. As the finance news blogger for Portfolio.com, Felix Salmon will examine the personalities behind the big business deals and the power struggles that collectively drive the market. Prior to joining Portfolio.com, Mr. Salmon was a content strategist at Roubini Global Economics, where he wrote the popular finance blog, Economonitor, and was a member of the team responsible for redesigning and rebranding the rgemonitor.com website. Mr. Salmon also writes his own blog at felixsalmon.com. Previously, Mr. Salmon was a freelance journalist contributing to a variety of publications. He arrived in the United States in 1997 from England, where he worked at Euromoney magazine. He holds a master’s degree in the History of Art and Philosophy from Glasgow University and undergraduate degrees in the History of Art, Physics, and Mathematics from Dulwich College. Tim Swanson will take a look at the worlds of film, music, television, and the digital industry as the entertainment news blogger. Prior to joining Portfolio.com, Mr. Swanson worked as a staff reporter at Daily Variety and Variety before going to Premiere magazine, where he spent five years chronicling the collision of art and commerce, as well as writing and editing production stories, profiles, and business features. As chief of the West Coast bureau, he edited Premiere’s annual “Power List,” which ranks Hollywood’s most elite and influential players. In 2005, Mr. Swanson’s magazine article about the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball led to his co-authoring Gimp, the critically-acclaimed memoir of quadriplegic rugby player Mark Zupan. Swanson’s next book, A Lifestyle Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, about HBO’s Entourage, will be published in the fall of 2007. Mr. Swanson holds a B.A. in English and Spanish literature from Willamette University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley. As the fashion news blogger for Portfolio.com, Lauren Goldstein Crowe will write a mix of commentary on breaking news, analysis of the industry, and profiles of behind-the-scenes fashion influencers. Previously, Ms. Crowe was a senior writer at TIME magazine in London, where she covered fashion. Ms. Crowe also worked on the launch of TIME’s first-ever fashion supplement, TIME Style + Design. Prior to TIME, Ms. Crowe was a writer at Fortune magazine in New York, where she covered fashion and luxury goods. Ms. Crowe has a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and undergraduate degrees in English and History from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

First Issue of new business magazine Portfolio is under lock and key and will have no Kurt Eichenwald

-SHOMARI HINES The first issue of Conde Nast's long awaited new business mag titled Porfolio is getting closer and closer to a debut, but according to Memo Pad, publishers and editors of the magazine are going all out to protect it so nothing leaks. One thing that won't be leaking is a marquee piece on terrorism by alleged boy porn financier Kurt Eichenwald. And who can blame the folks at Porfolio. They want their mag to get attention for all the right reasons right. The recent controversy surrounding Eichenwald having given $2,000 to a source while he was a New York Times reporter has reportedly made editors nervous that it will overshadow the launch issue, and Eichenwald is said to be frustrated about access to his editors. Said one source close to the magazine: "I don't think it will be in the first issue." We don't think Kurt's article will be in any of the issues until the scandal dies down. Portfolio Patrol [Memo Pad]