When Portfolio lost Gabe Sherman to the New Republic, the troubled Conde Nast business magazine claimed the young reporter would remain as a contributing editor. (At this point, is anybody not a contributing editor to Joanne Lipman's free-spending title?) Portfolio, which has lost a slew of writers despite lavish contracts, seemed to save face, at a price. Which would make it embarrassing if, as we're hearing, Portfolio's golden boy hadn't in fact come to terms. Some magazines are so toxic that they can't even pay people to do nothing. Hear anything?