FOLIO: Personalities -- The Blog People Page

You can’t make this stuff up.

Ralph, an Australian men’s magazine, has lost a massive shipment of—wait for it—inflatable breasts. The 130,000 fake breasts, worth roughly $150,000, were to be inserted (deflated, presumably) in the January issue of the magazine (take that, Esquire).

The shipment was packed aboard a boat that left Beijing two weeks ago, a spokesperson told England’s Telegraph newspaper. The magazine issued an alert to area shipping authorities but has h More...

A Swedish magazine has taken experiential journalism to a new extreme.

Editors at Dorian, a magazine targeting gay men, underwent surgical procedures—including nose jobs, liposuction and facelifts—for a feature story the magazine published about plastic surgery.

"Dorian Magazine represents an artistic fantasy world with an idealized beauty,” creative and fashion director Jake Rydqvist said in a report.  “Having the editorial team undergo plastic surgery in order to get insight into the ideal we p More...

Earlier this week, we reported that Ziff Davis Media will no longer publish the print edition of its flagship PC Magazine, deciding instead to focus on its Web site and new digital network. The January issue of the magazine will be its last.

The same fate could be in store for Ziff’s Electronic Gaming, according to CEO Jason Young . He told the New York Times that the tech publisher is “considering” taking the video game magazine to a digital-onl More...

As we all are keenly aware, there have been so many layoffs in the magazine industry—from Condé Nast to Hanley Wood to Mansueto to Forbes—it’s hard to keep track of them all.  We’ve done our best to sum up the layoff stories when we can, rather than report each time a tourniquet is applied. Other media-watchers, like the New York Observer, have taken a similar tact. (See: “Another Bullshit Week in Suck Industry” for a recap.)

Time Inc. has become the gloomy beacon of this type of news. Jaws dropped when the mega-publisher More...

It just goes to show: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Earlier this year, Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic and Architectural Record contributing editor Robert Campbell  said New York City’s Hearst Tower looks like a “misplaced missile silo” and “a cage for a single massive object.”  In the magazine’s January issue he wrote that the building, which opened in 2006, is like a delinquent teen that thumbs its nose at its older companion—the six-story Art Deco building from the 1920s that the new tower sits upon.

Misplaced or not, the tower received praise recently as its designers, U.K.-based Fos More...

The sound of crickets.

That's what the crowd of 120 or so who turned out this afternoon for the Jordan, Edmiston Group's Growth Conference heard during its "State of the Industry" address when JEGI managing partner Tolman Geffs asked this question:

"What is our prediction about what's in store for media M&A over the remainder f the fourth quarter?

"Uh, well ... it's pretty slow right now," he said.

While traditional newspaper and consumer and b-to-b magazine activity was admittedly down this year (severely in newspapers), it wasn't all bad. Geffs, with fellow managing partner Scott More...

While most executives refused to speak on the record about the rash of layoffs and overall panic in the magazine industry, one, Meredith’s Art Slusark, actually did (although, keep in mind, he is a spokesperson for the company).

Here’s his unedited take:

We are in a very tough economic environment overall, and for media companies in particular.  Visibility is very low, and it’s difficult to predict the duration of the current advertising downturn. It is equally difficult to forecast how advertising budgets, which generally reset with the start of the new calendar yea More...

Late last month when distributor and enthusiast magazine publisher Source Interlink named Greg Mays chairman and CEO, the first question I had for the company was what happened to former chief executive Michael Duckworth [pictured].

After several requests for comment, this is what the company’s vice president of investor relations sent over e-mail:

Mr. May’s experience with the company, and his understanding of the channels it operates in, will add value to the management team as it seeks to gain greater efficiencies and uncover new opportunities. The comp More...

In the face of the global economic fallout over the last several months and the continued devaluation of print-centric media companies, what are the chances Reed Elsevier will be able to pull off the sale of its b-to-b publishing unit Reed Business Information?

That’s what I asked a knowledgeable M&A player today. His response: 30 to 40 percent, “if they’re lucky.”

“It will be interesting if a deal actually gets done,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “Big media deals are few and far between right now and will continue to be, at least through the next six months. In M&A, certain thi More...

As FOLIO: reported earlier today, Nielsen Business Media announced a reorganization combining the editorial functions at Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek magazines. As a result, 19 positions were eliminated company-wide, including at sister publication Editor & Publisher.

The reorganization, a spokesperson says, is part of the company’s “ongoing efforts to streamline our business.” So, are more layoffs coming?

Staffers are worried that since the widely rumored sale of Nielsen’s magazine division hasn’t materialized More...

It came as startling news to many when the financial terms of TV Guide’s sale were revealed, showing that California-based investment firm OpenGate Capital paid $1—less than the cover price of one single issue—to purchase the print brand from owner Macrovision. On top of that, Macrovision said it would lend OpenGate up to $9.5 million at a surprisingly low 3 percent interest rate.

Is this like paying the garbage man to take your trash away? It seems crazy that Macrovision More...

Magazines often get a bad rap when it comes to integrating Web 2.0 ideas into their daily editorial routines, but most publishers have embraced “crowdsourcing” as a research tool. It’s become common for editors to ask their readers for help while researching stories (Wired’s editors, for instance, often blog about stories they are writing).

BusinessWeek is taking that tact a mini-step further, asking online readers to submit story ideas they’d like to see reported out. BW editors say they will so More...