Maxim’s new owner, Sardar Biglari , engineered a wholesale shakeup of the magazine that he had acquired in February through his San Antonio, Texas-based Biglari Holdings.
The 36-year-old investor whose biggest holding is the restaurant chain Steak ’n Shake gave little hint on what the long-term plans may be for the magazine famous for its hot list of fabulous babes.
Maxim was estimated to have lost about $7 million in 2013 before he acquired it in a busted auction for an estimated $12 million.
Gone in the shakeup last week: President Ben Madden; Editor-in-Chief Dan Bova; senior VP of digital Bill Shaw; and associate publisher of integrated sales Sean Flanagan.
Left running the show is VP of business development Stephen Gregory Barr. The top person left on the editorial person is Creative Director Paul Martinez.
Barr did not a return a call to Media Ink, but told the Media Industry Newsletter he wanted to make Maxim more upscale.
As is his custom, Biglari also did not comment.
While he owns a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and an Austin Martin, the flashy cars are in sharp contrast to the low profile the Iranian-born mogul keeps in the press.
“We leave the yammering to others,” he once said in a letter to shareholders, explaining his reluctance to divulge much in the way of strategy.
In his stockholder letter in December 2013, he noted, “We have been building Biglari Holdings to become a mosaic of businesses, an amalgam that produces significant cash,” adding that he prefers to be a long-term holder.
Biglari Holdings had an operating loss of $5.8 million in the first quarter ended March 31, on revenue of $234.6 million.
Maxim was said to have contributed only $1.98 million to Biglari Holdings revenue in the quarter.