Vibe Magazine Closes

Vibe, the magazine started by Quincy Jones and Time Warner in 1992 is closing immediately, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The spokeswoman, Tracy Nguyen, said the Vibe staff would be formally notified in a meeting at 2 p.m. She said she did not know how many people would be laid off as a result of the closure.

Vibe's closure is the lates in a string of print media failures. The print media business has experienced massive declines in advertising revenue over the last year.

In a memo to the staff announcing the closure, Steve Aaron, CEO of Vibe Media Group said, “The print advertising collapse hit Vibe hard, especially as key ad categories like automotive and fashion, which represented the bulk of our top 10 advertisers, have stopped advertising or gone out of business.”

The Wicks Group, a private equity firm, bought the magazine in 2006. Vibe’s closure leaves just one large-circulation magazine, The Source, focusing on hip-hop and R&B.

SOURCE: Media Decoder