A group led by the private-equity firm InterMedia Partners and InterMedia’s luxury magazine publisher, Uptown Media, has reached an agreement to acquire Vibe and its Web site. The new owners say they plan to relaunch Vibe.com in the next few weeks.
They intend to bring out the print edition only at the end of the year and then publish it quarterly rather than monthly, possibly increasing the frequency after 2010.
via- WSJ.com.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Wonder if Robyn F. will still be the PE?
@Donnar Party,
Robyn left Vibe just before they shut down.
Maybe being quarterly for print and daily for the web makes more sense.
Do the boring, but necessary stuff on the web and good long form stories with di-no-mite photos for the print edition.
Done right the quarterly magazine could become a collectors book.
Just a thought.
I hope they pay all the ppl that shot for them and haven’t seen a penny…
@john, seriously. Most have given up.
I hope it makes a great come back. I remember when it first launched and my friend, the charismatic, PE George Pitts phoned me.
A brilliant place for photographers to show their talent.
Lets root for them.
Manuello Paganelli
http://www.ManuelloPaganelli.com
Los Angeles California
Does this mean the recession is over? Seriously, it’s good to see someone making a forward-looking investment.
It will be interesting to see how they handle the quarterly print and the regular Web versions. I’ve long thought that was a strong option for magazines to combine the best of both worlds. To do that right you almost have to view the print and Web versions as separate entities — sharing a common look/feel but each having unique content.
Let’s hope they don’t succumb to the temptation to view the print version as an alternate advertising vehicle — i.e., toss in a bunch of crap that has already been published on the Web and try to roll the advertisers for extra money. Sorry, I’m being cynical again.
Probably an early indicator will be how they staff-up. If the print version doesn’t have at least a small dedicated staff it’s probably going to wind up being something tossed together over a long weekend every quarter.
This is great news. JPEG and Vibe both get second chances. Who else is coming back from the brink?
Any one have a email address for the photo ed at Vibe?
Thanks
SB
And what about VibeVixen? Are they coming back as well? Anybody know?
I checked out the website. So who is the new PE?