VIBE, a magazine that was founded as a joint venture between Quincy Jones and Time Inc. Ventures before being sold to a pair of venture capital owners, is shutting down after 16 years.
Said CEO Steve Aaron in a memo to staffers yesterday, “I must tell you some tough news. Vibe Media Group is shutting down effective today [June 30].” About 50 people are out of work as a result.
Through July, its ad pages had plunged 39.2 percent to 224 pages, according to Media Industry Newsletter.
Aaron said the magazine had finished 2008 ahead of its previous year, but then the capital markets dried up and fashion and automotive advertising got hammered by the recession.
“These facts, coupled with the continuing decline of the music industry, not to mention the newsstand wholesaler consolidation in early 2009, all negatively impacted our business in a significant way,” said Aaron.
The current owner, Wicks Capital, with backing from Capital Source, bought the magazine three years ago for about $35 million. It has suffered millions of dollars in losses since then.
the magazine was purchased three years ago by Wicks Group for about $35 million and lost millions more in the subsequent three years
Yesterday, ex-staffers were expressing remorse.
Reached in London yesterday, former editor Mimi Valdez said, “When I heard, I was just sick over the news. It was such an institution.”
Current Editor-in-Chief Danyel Smith didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Spin out
Spin, the one-time sister title of Vibe that is now owned by Niall McEvoy and San Francisco-based Hartle Media, also had a downsizing yesterday, with around six people let go.
Insiders said it was mostly back-office staff and not editorial.
Its ad pages are down 25.8 percent through July to 267.
Publisher Malcolm Campbell declined to comment.
Media move
American Media, owner of Star, Shape and National Enquirer, is losing Chief Financial Officer Dean Durbin after a year and a half.
He’s joining Cengage Learning, a Stamford, Conn.-based educational publisher.
Chris Polimeni, a senior vice president and treasurer at AMI, will assume the duties but not the CFO title.
Fast exit
Mercurial Wenner Media boss Jann Wenner has bounced the respected industry veteran Fran Farrell as publisher of Men’s Journal after less than six months.
Farrell’s being replaced with one-time associate publisher Matt Mastrangelo, who most recently worked on group corporate ad sales.
Here it comes
The death of Michael Jackson has transformed what is usually a lackluster start of summer into an expected newsstand blockbuster that may single-handedly rescue the slumping newsweekly and celebrity categories.
Publishers were printing over the weekend in anticipation of the July 4 holiday, when suddenly they had to scramble the jets.
“I’m hearing the celebrity weeklies are increasing their print runs anywhere from 30 percent on up,” said one executive.
Time, which put out a special issue on Monday, is cranking out close to a million copies of a commemorative issue, said industry sources.
Celebrity magazine leader People is putting Jackson on the front cover, but is also doing a rare double cover with Jackson on a black and white back cover that leads to a special commemorative section.
Meanwhile, OK! owner Richard Desmond, chief of Britain’s Northern + Shell, is taking a colossal gamble that a photo of what appears to be a dead Jackson on the cover will sell big.
He is said to have paid $500,000 for the photo, and a spokesman said the mag has upped its print run for the expected spike in demand.
However, Desmond runs the risk of alienating advertisers who generally avoid issues featuring death on the cover. Indeed, rumors are swirling that some advertisers are upset with OK! and may pull schedules.
However, Publisher Lori Burgess said that has not happened. “I haven’t heard from anyone calling to cancel schedules or meetings,” she said.
Plus, the bet could pay off. The National Enquirer in August 1977 sold 8 million copies of an issue that featured a cover shot of Elvis Presley in a coffin. That issue remains the best-selling tabloid of all time.
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CORRECTION: Fash ion magazine In Style had 930 ad pages through its July issue, (excluding special issues), down 25 percent from a year ago. keith.kelly@nypost.com