Martha Stewart may have finally found a buyer for Whole Living — one that will keep the magazine alive even as big publishers Hearst and Meredith stayed out of the bidding.
One source said the winning bid could come from a group of Hachette alums — displaced in the Hearst takeover.
American Media Inc., which was believed to be eyeing Whole Living as a way to add circulation only to its Natural Living magazine, is also said to be out.
Active Interest Media, owner of Yoga Journal, is also believed to have looked early on but passed in the latest auction.
With the list of potential bidders shrinking, that will automatically depress a potential sale price for the embattled Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which is retreating from all but its flagship brandS in publishing, Martha Stwart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings.
On the bright side, most staffers have not been laid off yet from the 10-times-a-year title pending the outcome of the latest negotiations.
MSLO paid about $6 million for the magazine and a related newsletter, which it purchased from Boston-based owner Jan Thaw Bruce back in 2005 — when it was still known as Body + Soul.
Whole Living is expected to lose between $3 million and $4 million this year.
At the time of its acquisition, it was a relatively modest circulation title. MSLO began pursuing a strategy that, in retrospect, seems flawed. It tried to pump it up into a big circulation magazine with eight rate-base increases in five years, including the most recent one unveiled in January that pushed it to its current level of 750,000.
But that had the danger of alienating many of the smaller organic and healthy food advertisers who embraced it early on.
If big-ticket advertisers jump on board, the higher ad revenue covers the costs of finding hundreds of thousands of new readers.
But at 750,000 circulation, it was still short of the million-plus circ big advertisers traditionally seek.
In the most recent year through the December issue, the magazine was off 5.7 percent to only 528.65 ad pages. That meant it wasn’t selling enough ads to cover the higher circulation and production costs.
MSLO had no comment but insiders say that the title’s status will be resolved one way or the other before year-end.
Video visions
Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang is still said by insiders to be sharpening the ax for a major downsizing in January — but a new hire this week offered a clue as to where she thinks the nation’s biggest magazine publisher is headed.
On Wednesday, she said that the company is unveiling a new digital video unit and raided Meredith to hire J. R. McCabe as senior vice president, video, a new position.
The company is also building a new digital video studio that will manage digital production for all Time brands.
“Digital video is one of the fastest growing categories for advertisers and with our scale and breadth of quality journalism we think we can have an impact,” said Lang in a staff memo announcing the move.
McCabe is reporting to Todd Larsen, a corporate executive vice president and group president of News & Sports.
East End newbie
Add Manhattan Media, owner of Avenue and weekly city papers, to the list of publishers that are entering the Hamptons market with a new glossy next year.
Even though the company is on the block, President Tom Allon said it has hired Mark Drucker, former publisher of the defunct Plum Hamptons, to be publisher of the newest entry, tentatively called Avenue at the Beach.
Manhattan Media already owns Dan’s Papers on the East End.
He’ll be competing with a former colleague, Cristina Cuomo, who was the editor of Plum Hamptons and is now the new editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury’s Manhattan magazine and will also be overseeing Modern Luxury Hamptons.
They will, of course, be battling Niche Media’s Hamptons magazine, the mainstay that has struggled in recent years, making some rivals think it may be vulnerable.
Avenue at the Beach will start modestly, sending 25,000 free copies out East in the June, July andAugust time period.
Exit at Rodale
There was another recent departure at Rodale.
Best Life told creative director John Mather that his services were no longer needed. That would seem to cast doubt on the title’s prospects.
Best Life was relaunched to some fanfare on Oct. 23 with Hugh Jackman on the cover and a rare short story contribution by best-selling author John Grisham.
A little more than a week ago, CEO Maria Rodale cut loose Rodale books and Best Life editor Stephen Perrine as well as David Zinczenko, editor of Men’s Health and an editorial director of a number of other magazines and a cheerleader for Best Life.