The TORO story comes to an end as online version is being discontinued

The 10-year run of TORO magazine is coming to an end. Following four years as a glossy men's lifestyle title, distributed tucked inside the Globe and Mail, its print version was suspended in 2007. In 2008, was relaunched as a web-only publication. Now, the online version is being discontinued.

While it ran in print, the magazine had been highly regarded for its emphasis on sports, gear and women and a rather roguish, frat boy sense of humour. But it also published, under the editorship of Derek Finkle, a good deal of excellent long-form journalism that gained admiration, including 10 gold National Magazine awards and 5 silver out of 63 nominations. 

It was originally founded by Christopher Bratty, he of the developer family and William Morassutti took over in 2008 as editor in chief of the online-only version of the magazine, a position he maintained for three years. (He left in May 2011 and now lists himself as content editorial director at Venture Communications.) 

The website last posted a "TORO woman" profile in August and issued its last newsletter post in July. There continue to be occasional posts on the site, some as recently as a few days ago, but they are fewer and farther between. When we asked what was happening, we were told that the digital content created in the past five years could continue to appear as an online archive, but no new content would be created after this month. The magazine has closed its office.

"Our owner initially sought to launch TORO in its print form to showcase great Canadian talent, from the editors, writers and photographers who created the content to the subjects it covered," said Christina Butterfield. "We sought to the do the same online, introducing a strong video lineup to the mix and finding some talented new contributors when we launched in 2008. In the end, despite strong audience growth and increased awareness, we experienced sales declines that we couldn't overcome."