Hey, you know what’s probably not fun? Working for someone’s failing pet project. Especially when that someone is S.I. Newhouse and when that pet project is the $100 million money pit known as Portfolio.

S.I. Newhouse has been hanging out with Portfolio EIC Joanne Lipman. Last week, there was a breakfast meeting that ended with a new managing editor, Jacob Lewis. And this week, S.I. is making editorial changes.

The two had a very long look at the upcoming November issue and S.I. left asking for redos. If your friend at Portfolio has been M.I.A. lately, apparently it’s because they’ve been closing the magazine for the past three weeks.

Even with S.I.’s editorial guidance, the ad count continues to drop: This issue is down to 107, from 117 in October. January should continue this trend. The magazine would be lucky to get 50 pages in what is traditionally the hardest month for ads.

This whole thing is like watching a slow motion car wreck, but one with really fancy cars.