AOL Money & Finance

Vibe and Creative Loafing: Private equity moves in on print publishing

Posted Aug 25th 2009 4:40PM by Trey ThoelckeTrey Thoelcke RSS Feed
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Private equity

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Vibe Media Group, publisher of hip-hop magazine Vibe, shut down in June, as the poor economy led to declining advertising revenue. Vibe has since been acquired for an undisclosed price by InterMedia Partners, a private equity firm.

InterMedia said it plans to resume publication of Vibe in November as a quarterly magazine. The operations of Vibe are to be integrated with those of Uptown, another urban lifestyle magazine InterMedia owns. Publishing veteran Jermaine Hall has been named as the new editor-in-chief of Vibe, and the new business will be known as the Vibe Lifestyle Network.

Meanwhile, Creative Loafing, the Tampa-based alternative newspaper chain, will soon be in the hands of New York-based private equity firm Atalaya Capital Management. In an bankruptcy auction for the chain, Atalaya's $5.0 million billion bid beat out that of the newspaper's publisher, Ben Eason, the only other bidder.

Creative Loafing got into trouble in 2007 when it took on about $40 million in debt to purchase the Washington City Paper and the Chicago Reader. When the economy plummeted, Creative Loafing's advertising and other revenues were hit hard, leaving it saddled with debt.

Atalaya says it will continue operating the chain, which includes six alternative newspapers.

Even as signs suggest the economic slump could be coming to an end, newspapers and other print publishers continue to struggle. Is it a good time to be investing in the sector? Will we see more private equity interest in print publishers?

Tags: Atalaya Capital Management, Ben Eason, Chicago Reader, Creative Loafing, InterMedia Partners, inthenews, private equity, Uptown, Vibe Lifestyle Network, Vibe Media Group, Washington City Paper

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Last updated: November 23, 2009: 03:06 AM

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