Somewhere above, was written, "nobody owes you a living". I agree that it is indeed the market working through. All the other players mentioned in this thread, including Traplet have been affected by market forces; nobody owed them (or their employees) a living either. The accusation of 'out to make a quick buck' could just as easily have been a case of, forced by the markets to change direction in order to grow/survive and getting burned in the process.
A few months back we had someone post on here about how they used to run a model shop and the difficulties that this entails. Online retailers also come and go, I imagine the failure rate is higher than bricks and mortar stores. In the same way bricks and mortar businesses come and go, with a disturbingly high failure rate. Cottage industries come and go... I am sensing a pattern here.
In the past it was said that a company life-cycle (established, grows, matures, dies) was on average 37 years. In the current era, whole industries go through this life-cycle in less time.
Years ago, I used to scour the magazine shelves in WH Smith, looking for articles that grabbed my interest or vainly trying to find a solution/method of work for a project that I fancied undertaking. I could also go to the library for an often equally fruitless search. Now I go online and search for specific information, hints, tips, plans, even build logs (video and text). It is almost free, and highly fruitful. I think it is almost inevitable that hobby magazines are going to suffer, sometimes fatally.
Keep watching your screens, as A.I., big data and 5G will also be huge game changers. Big data is already rolling out in China, and 5G is not far behind. I have to remind the Tony Capstick in my head that it isn't a big conspiracy, it is progress. We will win some, and sadly we will lose some; but overall things move forward/improve.