EURweb |
VIBE MAGAZINE CLEANS HOUSE: Editor-in-Chief Valdez among several reportedly fired; plus, Jesse Jackson’s son takes over ‘Radar.’
*The Internet is white hot with buzz about last week’s staff shakeup at Vibe Magazine, which reportedly shook loose Editor-in-Chief Mimi Valdes along with executive editor Shani Saxon, music editor Eric Parker, deputy editor Jamie Katz and Lakeba Hollar.
The news first appeared on the Bitter Vibes blog, written by a disgruntled former employee at the magazine. The author posted a note last week that read: “This is poetic justice in the highest order! Maybe someone from the blog will volunteer to help ya pack. Be gone by Wednesday heffas! LMAO”
Reps for Vibe have come out in force to deny the rumors, stating Valdez and the rest of the staff mentioned in the blog have not been laid off. However, rumors of their departure continue to snowball, the latest talk having former Vibe Editor in Chief Danyel Smith returning as Valdes’ replacement.
The blog announcement follows news last week that Vibe is being sold to Keith Glen Media, the parent company of progressive fashion and culture monthly BlackBook. Under the deal, the company is due to take over not only the magazine, but its sister Vibe Vixen and Vibe’s Internet, television and mobile offerings, reports Mediaweek Monitor.
An official announcement of the acquisition is expected to be made Wednesday, ironically, the same day Bitter Vibes says Mimi and company are due to clear out their belongings and leave the building. Even Mediaweek reported in its June 30th article that “Vibe President Kenard Gibbs and editor in chief Mimi Valdes will likely leave the company. Additionally, layoffs, primarily on the editorial side, are also expected.”
During the second half of 2005, Vibe’s newsstand sales grew 8.1 percent, but circulation fell 2.8 percent to 836,611, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
*Meanwhile, Radar magazine has a new owner in Yusef Jackson, the son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson. Through his Integrity Multimedia Co. LLC, the Chicago businessman made a “multimillion” investment in the twice-folded publication that will be spread over a five-year period, reports Target Market News.
Radar launched in 2003 under New York Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman, but folded after releasing only two issues. It relaunched in 2005 with a reported $25 million investment from Zuckerman, but quickly folded again.
According to Target Market News, Jackson has hired Conde Nast publishing veteran David Aimone as Radar's chief operating officer, and the magazine's original editor, Maer Roshan, as editor-in-chief.
"I have been interested in the media business for a long time ... so I went after a big one first," Jackson, 35, told the Chicago Tribune. In 2004, the lawyer and chief executive of Anheuser-Busch distributor River North Sales & Service led an investment group that offered to buy the Chicago Sun-Times for reportedly for $850 million. The paper, after courting numerous potential buyers, decided not to sell.
"I'm still very interested in the Sun-Times property," he said. "The Sun-Times is a great publication, a great paper. It's synonymous with Chicago, and I would love to own it."
The revamped Radar, which according to a statement “cover news, trends and celebrity culture with a bracing honesty and irreverence increasingly absent from other magazines,” is expected to go on sale early next year. A new Web site will be relaunched this summer.
.jpg)
