The next edition of Cleo magazine will be the last to hit newsstands, with its publisher confirming the closure of the long-running monthly mag.

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The final edition of Cleo, which was first published in 1972, will be the March edition on sale February 22, Bauer Media announced.

Founding editor Ita Buttrose told News Corp she had seen the closure coming.

“The writing was on the wall once I knew they were going to start stripping stories from other publications rather than commissioning stories here in Australia,” Ms Buttrose said.

“It’s sad. It’s like a death in the family for me, but it hadn’t been the mag the Cleo team created all those years ago for some time now.”

Bauer also plans to relaunch Dolly with a greater focus on the online market.

“Scale, engagement and a robust digital strategy are key to our success, and we believe we have a compelling offer in Dolly and Cosmopolitan to lead our young women’s portfolio into the future,” Bauer Media Group interim CEO Andreas Schoo said.

“Our investment plans for Dolly will see us take a digital-first approach, with a focus on mobile video, social media and e-commerce supported by restructured print and digital editorial teams to ensure we are generating the best in market content for consumers; when and how they want it.”

And just like that as CLEO’s closure is confirmed, DOLLY as we knew it, is gone too. Sad on so many levels. Vale. https://t.co/EjKc9LaQOW

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) January 20, 2016