Maxim, the lad mag known for racy photos of scantily clad women and ribald humor, is hanging out the “for sale” sign.
Parent Alpha Media, which is backed by investors including Cerberus Capital, said yesterday it is considering a sale or a partnership.
“Now is the optimal time to entertain strategic relationships and offers,” Alpha Media President Ben Madden said in a statement to advertisers.
He said Maxim is profitable, despite a 22 percent drop in ad pages last year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. In the second half of 2012, it had total paid and verified circulation of 2.54 million, up by 1.4 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.
UK publishing maverick Felix Dennis introduced Maxim to the US in 1998, where it soared past other male-oriented titles.
“I was the first guy into the desert with a beer truck,” he once joked.
After its print momentum slowed and then slipped, he sold Maxim, along with Blender and Stuff, for $250 million to private-equity firm Quadrangle Group in 2007.
When Quadrangle was unable to meet its debt covenants, Cerberus, which had loaned the group $100 million to do the deal, converted its debt to equity to become the majority owner in 2009.
Investment bank Houlihan Lokey has been hired to handle the transaction.