Business

Trump’s loose lips

Donald Trump

Donald Trump (
)

It seemed that Donald Trump had long ago buried the hatchet with Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter — but now a new Trump profile by an ex-Vanity Fair writer seems to be re-igniting the feud.

In a profile by Vicky Ward in the soon-to-be-released issue of Jason Binn’s Du Jour Magazine, Trump calls Carter one of the more dishonest members of the media.

The Trump-Carter feud goes back to 1984, when Carter profiled the mega-developer for GQ for an issue on “Success.”

“I have a much better relationship with the public than with the media,” Ward quotes Trump as saying.

“Some of the media is great, some of it are just dishonest,” The Donald tells Ward, before singling out Carter as being among the dishonest ones.

Trump said Carter’s GQ article on him “was the worst article” ever on him — “but the cover was great so I put it up [on my office wall],” he tells Ward, gesturing to the cover hanging near his desk at Trump Tower.

Trump’s tussle with Carter really picked up steam in 1986 when the Vanity Fair editor ran Spy, the defunct satirical monthly that he edited with Kurt Andersen. Spy routinely pilloried Trump.

It was in those pages that Carter and Andersen infamously dubbed Trump a “short-fingered vulgarian.”

It seemed in recent years, however, that Trump seemed to have forgotten all about it, and had even invited Carter to a couple of his weddings.

Carter also seemed to be making nice, sending out complimentary copies of Vanity Fair to Trump.

Which makes the Trump comments seem that much more out of left field.

The Donald, in the Du Jour story, levels the harshest criticism he can against an editor — saying he doesn’t read a word Carter edits in the glitzy Condé Nast title.

“I don’t even look at that magazine,” Trump says. “He sends it to me every month, ‘From the desk of Graydon Carter.’ I don’t even read it. I just throw it away.”

So far, no return jabs from Carter.

He and his lawyer, Allen Grubman, are said to be working out terms of a new contract with Condé to keep him atop the monthly.

Carter’s current contract is said to expire soon.

So a big public feud with the larger-than-life real estate mogul and the “Apprentice” star may not be something Carter seeks at the moment.

VC move

Salon Media is searching for new editor-in-chief now that the incumbent, Kerry Lauerman, is quitting to join Lerer Ventures.

There, he will work on a start-up idea under the venture capitalist’s incubator program.

“[Lauerman] has something that he is really passionate about that combines commerce and content and he decided to take the plunge,” said Eric Hippeau, managing director of Lerer.

Hippeau said Lauerman will “probably unveil something in the fall.”

The Lerer executive declined to divulge any more details. “Everything we do is stealth,” he said.

“We’re investing money from our fund into this deal,” Hippeau said.

Shortly after news broke on Politico.com late Wednesday, Lauerman tweeted, “It’s true. I’m off to a very exciting new adventure. Eternally grateful to @salon for (gulp!) 13 remarkable years.”

He’s held the top job for three years.

June 12 will be his last day.

Lauerman divulged little more when Media Ink caught up to him, but he did say, “It will definitely have a real strong journalism component.”

Salon CEO Cindy Jeffers — a Huffington Post alum who took over for founder David Talbot last year — gets to pick her own editor-in-chief.

She could not be reached at press time.

Dave Daley, the executive editor, is handling editor-in-chief duties on an interim basis, according to a spokesman.

Hard return

Cerberus is likely to get only a fraction of the $100 million-plus that it and several smaller investors had loaned to Alpha Media and Maxim over the years as it prepares to make presentations to potential buyers starting next week.

The bidders are believed to include at least one publishing company and several companies that specialize in licensing — suggesting that Maxim Clubs or Maxim brand grooming products could be headed for store shelves in the future.

One source characterized most of the bidders as “bottom-feeders.”

Houlihan Lokey, the investment firm handling the divestment, did not return calls.

Alpha Media is on the block, and the preliminary bids are believed to be in the $20 million to $30 million range.

That’s a far cry from what the company commanded back in 2007, when it included sister titles Blender and Stuff.

Indeed, six years ago it was purchased by Quadrangle Group, which at the time included Steve Rattner and Peter Ezersky, for about $250 million from British publishing maverick Felix Dennis.

Stuff and Blender were quickly closed and the shrinking ad pages in the surviving laddie magazine, Maxim, meant it was unable to service its debt.

Quadrangle defaulted in 2009 and walked away. Cerberus reluctantly became the majority owner.

The private-equity powerhouse and its partners had to put in a second round of financing to keep the company operating at the time of the takeover.

Quiet Time

It’s been all quiet on the CEO quest for Time Inc., as insiders are getting increasingly worried and restless.

The silence this week is because Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes is in Chengdu, China, attending Fortune’s Global Forum.

Instead of focusing on a new CEO, Bewkes is rubbing elbows with the likes of JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, Coca-Cola boss Muhtar Kent, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, GE top gun Jeffrey Immelt, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell, former NBA star Yao Ming and AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong.

Speculation is building that if Bewkes doesn’t tap an outsider by next week, then the job will go to one of the trio of insiders who are said to be under review.

They are: Howard Averill, chief financial officer; David Geithner, an executive vice president who is in charge of the top-grossing Style and Entertainment Group, which includes People (and who happens to be the brother of the former Treasury Secretary), and Todd Larsen, a former Dow Jones president who is currently running the News Group that includes Time and Fortune.

It may mean nothing, but Larsen is the only one of the three on the China trip — although that may be because his group includes Fortune.

At the very least, it will give Bewkes a chance to see how he interacts with the crowd of heavy hitters.

Notable by her absence was lame duck Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang.