Semi-OT: So Modified Luxury & Exotics...no more eh?
12-26-2008, 12:44 PM
#4
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As a former editor...
Yes, it is true...MLE is GONE. Another sign of the print-magazine apocalypse.
I used to write for this wonderful mag, and after the Primedia acquisition of it (and then SourceLink acquired Primedia), things continued to spiral downhill.
In fact, the early warning signs were there back in 2004.
The print magazine world is all but dead...there is NOTHING in a magazine that can't be found more timely and more in depth than can be found on the internet, which is FREE.
Csaba Csere, editor of one of the largest automotive titles around , recently resigned.
Alas, it is not the end of the print magazine holocaust.
Turbo and Sport Compact Car folded recently, HCI is surely not far behind and Super Street is taking ads for **** phone calls. I'd say they're close to the end.
Even the big ones can't hold out forever.
I used to write for this wonderful mag, and after the Primedia acquisition of it (and then SourceLink acquired Primedia), things continued to spiral downhill.
In fact, the early warning signs were there back in 2004.
The print magazine world is all but dead...there is NOTHING in a magazine that can't be found more timely and more in depth than can be found on the internet, which is FREE.
Csaba Csere, editor of one of the largest automotive titles around , recently resigned.
Alas, it is not the end of the print magazine holocaust.
Turbo and Sport Compact Car folded recently, HCI is surely not far behind and Super Street is taking ads for **** phone calls. I'd say they're close to the end.
Even the big ones can't hold out forever.
12-26-2008, 10:37 PM
#7
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Wanna know more dirt?
I worked for Petersen Publishing in the late 1990s. They do (did) Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Car Craft, Super Street and many, many other mags.
They were bought out by a British company, EMAP, in 1998 for $1.1 billion. EMAP owned "MaxPower," one of the hottest tuner titles on the planet.
The company was REALLY worth about $600 million, tops.
Fast forward to 2001, and Primedia (Turbo, Sport Compact Car) buys up what EMAP just bought in 1998 for $505 million.
Wait...let's get this straight: Petersen is bought by Brits for $1.1 billion, then is sold three years later for half that price.
Brilliant business people, the lot of them.
Then, in 2007, SourceInterlink comes along and basically buys the package all over again for $1.2 billion...in a time when the company wasn't even worth $100 million.
Bottom line, like the dot com bubble, the print media bubble has burst. Why don't you hear more about this? Because the print media titles only print editorials based on what advertisers want...they'll never print their own obituaries.
While all of this was going, ex-Primedia folks went out and started their own ventures. Some even started magazines. I've seen several of them come and go, including MLE whose primary appeal to me was that they were NOT part of the Primedia "Evil Empire." Unfortunately, MLE WAS eventually acquired by the Evil Empire and alas, it too died at the hands of brilliant financiers like those who put together these deals.
Where did their employees go? Some went to work for SEMA. Others went to work for auto parts aftermarket companies. Some went into the internet business. A lucky few got out of the industry altogether.
So, if any of you ex Primedia or SourceInterlink execs are reading this, thank you...thank you for making the internet great. Thank you for ignoring my advice in 1996 to shift to the online environment for news and putting only feature car spreads in the pages of thinner, cheaper magazines. I hope you all rot in hell.
/rant
They were bought out by a British company, EMAP, in 1998 for $1.1 billion. EMAP owned "MaxPower," one of the hottest tuner titles on the planet.
The company was REALLY worth about $600 million, tops.
Fast forward to 2001, and Primedia (Turbo, Sport Compact Car) buys up what EMAP just bought in 1998 for $505 million.
Wait...let's get this straight: Petersen is bought by Brits for $1.1 billion, then is sold three years later for half that price.
Brilliant business people, the lot of them.
Then, in 2007, SourceInterlink comes along and basically buys the package all over again for $1.2 billion...in a time when the company wasn't even worth $100 million.
Bottom line, like the dot com bubble, the print media bubble has burst. Why don't you hear more about this? Because the print media titles only print editorials based on what advertisers want...they'll never print their own obituaries.
While all of this was going, ex-Primedia folks went out and started their own ventures. Some even started magazines. I've seen several of them come and go, including MLE whose primary appeal to me was that they were NOT part of the Primedia "Evil Empire." Unfortunately, MLE WAS eventually acquired by the Evil Empire and alas, it too died at the hands of brilliant financiers like those who put together these deals.
Where did their employees go? Some went to work for SEMA. Others went to work for auto parts aftermarket companies. Some went into the internet business. A lucky few got out of the industry altogether.
So, if any of you ex Primedia or SourceInterlink execs are reading this, thank you...thank you for making the internet great. Thank you for ignoring my advice in 1996 to shift to the online environment for news and putting only feature car spreads in the pages of thinner, cheaper magazines. I hope you all rot in hell.
/rant
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