Donald Trump and Ocean Drive publisher Jerry Powers have announced the late November relaunch of his eponymous magazine in a reported 5-year, $20 million partnership deal. For Powers, it’s another powerful socialite with whom to align (Powers partnered with Niche Media’s Jason Binn earlier this year). For Trump, it’s yet another attempt to make a splash in print — one product area the real estate mogul has yet to figure out.
Trump launched Trump Style in 1997. After folding, the magazine became Trump World in 2004, which, after a failed relaunch, became Trump magazine, itself having gone through two iterations before quietly shuttering earlier this year.
“All these failed one way or another,” Aaron Sigmond, Trump’s former creative and editorial director, wrote in an e-mail to Folio: Alert. “When will someone finally figure out that while Mr. Trump’s books may sell quite well, the Trump juggernaut stops far short of being able to support a branded periodical? This is simply a formula that just does not, and will not work, irrespective of what Mr. Powers may believe.”
This time, the magazine will be called Trump Magazine, and will be published quarterly with a circulation of 100,000 and a cover price of $5.95. The magazine, launching in New York, Palm Beach, Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago markets, will also be distributed free to Trump Properties. “We’re going to do stories on private jets, the interiors of the new jets, new lines of Louis Vuitton luggage, Mikimoto pearls, stories on very high-end jewelry like Cartier, travel around the world, golf clubs, fashion,” Powers told the New York Times. “It’s definitely aimed at the reader who doesn’t have to ask how much it costs.”
“Mr. Powers can initially strong arm all the Ocean Drive advertisers and current Trump licensees (Trump Vodka, Trump Suits, Trump Home) he wants,” Sigmond wrote. “In the end, like the four versions before it, this publication, unlike Mr. Trump’s egoistic desire to have a magazine, won’t go the distance.”
Glen Albin, editor of Ocean Drive and former editor Interview, has been named editor. Powers admitted he wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the staff of the current version of Trump magazine, published by the troubled Premiere Publishing Group. "This was a rush job," he told mediabistro.com’s FishbowlNY. "I just started talking to Donald two weeks ago. I should have done some more research." Trump had owned 3.7 million shares in Premiere, which has reported net losses of nearly $7,000,000 since 2004.
Egoistics aside, the deal appears to have been pushed by Powers’ camp. As Trump says: “I put up no money.”
