Business

MAXIM-UM REVENGE

IT didn’t take long for Kent Brownridge to turn his guns on his old boss Jann Wenner.

James Kaminsky, who was running Wenner Media’s title Men’s Journal, was named editor of Maxim, the bawdy men’s magazine that rode the lad mag boom on the way up and is now fighting to preserve its gains as the entire category gets slammed. Kaminsky’s pay package is believed to be worth around $600,000.

Kaminsky’s hiring spelled the end of the road for Jimmy Jellinek, who had been Maxim’s editor-in-chief for the past year – a period filled with uncertainty as former British owner Felix Dennis shopped Maxim parent Dennis Publishing USA, whose assets also include Stuff and Blender.

“This will probably be my last job in publishing,” said Jellinek, who added he’s looking at TV and online ventures for his next move. “The print ride has ended for me. I had a good ride and enjoyed myself and I wish Kent Brownridge and Jim Kaminsky all the best.”

Jellinek previously had been the editor of Stuff and earlier, of Complex magazine.

In hiring Kaminsky, Brownridge, in his new role as CEO of Alpha Media Group, has promptly raided his old boss’ company for his first key hire. Dennis Publishing USA has been renamed Alpha Media.

Just days after the Quadrangle Group took over Dennis Publishing USA, Brownridge closed down Stuff and cut loose Publisher John Lumpkin.

About 15 of the 34-member Stuff staff ended up with jobs inside the Alpha Media, among them, Stuff’s former editor, Dan Bova, who was named executive editor of Maxim.

Kaminsky, who worked as Maxim’s No. 2 editor from 1999 to 2000 – and who is a cousin of Melvin Kaminsky, better known as filmmaker Mel Brooks – had been among the upper echelon of editors at Wenner’s Rolling Stone when he was tapped to run Men’s Journal at the end of January.

He had earlier been the editor of Playboy magazine, but fell out of favor with honcho Hugh Hefner.

In his new role, Kaminsky said he’s confident of Maxim’s prospects.

“I think the category has changed, [but] I don’t think it’s dying,” he said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about what Maxim is. I think it’s a matter of getting sharper, funnier and doing some real journalism.

“We had one pretty big narrative piece in each issue when I was there initially,” he said. “I fully intend to bring it back. I think young guys are dying for a magazine that is funny, sexy and useful. I think its best years are still to come.”

The moves came as Brownridge was leading a celebration of the ownership change at the Cellar Bar in the Bryant Park Hotel yesterday afternoon. He made the announcement to the staff that Jellinek was leaving, but word had already spread about Jellinek and about Kaminsky’s pending arrival. Jellinek did not attend the party.

Brownridge and Kaminsky have their work cut out for them, trying to keep the one-time pacesetter relevant.

Over the past year, as rival FHM and little brother Stuff have shut down, Maxim’s circulation and advertising stayed fairly flat, in contrast to its early years of robust growth.

Woes 2.0

The fate of Business 2.0 is still hanging in the balance, despite a spirited campaign on social networking Web site Facebook by its fans to save it.

The magazine is believed to be on target to lose about $10 million, as its ad pages plunged 34.1 percent in the first half of the year to 241.75.

It almost certainly will cease to be published as a standalone magazine by Time Inc. as executives, including Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore and Editor-In-Chief John Huey try to figure out how to dispose of the body.

The magazine has devoured over $110 million of the company’s money in its eight years of existence. Once, in 2005, the magazine hit breakeven and hopes were raised, but the market began faltering again.

The magazine lasted this long probably because it was favored by Huey, who launched an oddly-titled magazine called eCompany Now and combined it with Business 2.0 in 2001 after Time Inc. acquired it for $63 million.

At the time, it was Time Inc’s belated attempt to capture some of the dot-com ad dollars that were fueling the seemingly meteoric rise of titles such as The Industry Standard and Fast Company.

For added coolness, it was based in San Francisco in order to keep it out of the New York orbit of its big brother, Fortune.

But while it had a worthy name, it couldn’t transform the magazine into a moneymaker.

Its circulation is around 600,000 so it seems like the subscriber list, if nothing else, could generate some buyer interest. Interested parties have come from as far away as China and Mexico. Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto, who owns Fast Company and Inc., is said to be looking at the magazine, while Mexican-based Indigo Media is said to be interested in keeping Business 2.0 alive as an online ‘zine. But Time Inc., in a fight to stave off Condé Nast’s Portfolio, certainly would not like to sell it to a rival that competes with Fortune.

The magazine’s lists, such as the 50 dumbest business moves, have become staples and the publication does have a high renewal rate.

Lipman loses

There was a mid-level defection from Joanne Lipman‘s editorial staff at Condé Nast Portfolio.

Jeffrey Chu, who was a senior associate editor, is leaving to join the rejuvenated Fast Company.

“Things are going very well,” said Fast Company Editor Bob Safian.

After a disastrous first year following the dissolution of its old parent company, Gruner + Jahr USA, and its sale to Mansueto, the company has posted an 8.4 percent jump in ad pages in the first half of the year to 196.4.

That’s not all: Tom Foster, who was the editor of Men’s Journal until he was fired by Wenner to make way for Kaminsky, is also joining Fast Company as an articles editor.

Safian said the two additions represent an expansion of staff.

While Fast Company is up, it still trails the big boys in the marketplace by a wide margin and is even behind rival Business 2.0.

keith.kelly@nypost.com