There’s been a lot of discussion about why Portfolio magazine failed. Some of the talk has concerned how vicious some of the talk has been.

James Ledbetter, editor of the excellent The Big Money, gets us deep inside the Portfolio drama. A while back, he writes, he was in a panel discussion with an anonymous Portfolio writer who said that recently launched biz publications like The Big Money might have trouble making it over the near future.

Ledbetter then challenged him to a bet regarding whose publication would fold first. The anonymous Portfolio writer didn’t take part in the bet. Must’ve known something was up.

The point here is this: Watch out if you’re ever on a panel discussion with Ledbetter. His publication may well outlast yours!