Following the news that Rogers Media is merging Canadian Business and Profit, we contacted Ian Portsmouth, newly-minted publisher of Canadian Business, for more details.

1. Regarding the impact on staff members, Portsmouth said the merger was already taken into account when Rogers Media cut 94 employees in November. While the media house declined our request for specific details at the time, Portsmouth did offer the information that two of the workers laid off were under the Canadian Business/Profit umbrella.

Outgoing Canadian Business publisher Lesley Mellor, howerver, is not one of those two employees. According to Portsmouth, Mellor was offered another position at Rogers but instead decided "that she wanted to spend more time with her family." No further staffing changes are planned, he said.

2. The new monthly publication schedule, as opposed to printing every two weeks, will result in "deeper analysis, more context and thoughtful features." Portsmouth described a bi-weekly schedule as "an increasingly uncomfortable frequency" for any print publication, caught between the breaking-news pace of dailies and websites on one end, and the more in-depth coverage of monthly magazines on the other.

3. Portsmouth is adamant about the fact that Profit will carry on as a distinct brand even though it is being folded into Canadian Business's pages. Along with the Profit section and themed-specials, Profit's events, custom content and research will continue. CanadianBusiness.com and ProfitGuide.com will do separate business as usual, and their approach to content will not be affected by the changing pace of the print magazine.

4. The magazine won't redesign immediately, but readers can expect a gradual revamping. Profit-style content for entrepreneurs is being added, of course, and a new front-of-book section will also be unveiled in the spring.

[*This story has been updated]