New York magazine might be for sale…

Magazines. New York magazine and websites including The Cut (fashion) and Vulture (culture) is the latest magazine-media group to be put up for sale, although the owning Wasserstein family has cryptically said it “would be happy to continue owning” the business. But CEO Pam Wasserstein’s comments have managed to confuse whether she was thinking of expanding through acquisition, divesting or bringing in a new investor: “Partnering to support acquisitions or other ways of growing might make sense. Or it might not.” The 50-year-old New York magazine was bought by Bruce Wasserstein for $55m in 2004 and has been controlled through a family trust since his sudden death in 2009 at age 61.For the past decade, his family have proved to be devoted and patient owners, and their investment in digital media seems to be paying off (sort of). About 35m people visited its sites in June — double the traffic of the year before. The fortnightly magazine sells an average of 400k copies.  “Bid ’em up Bruce” Wasserstein made his name with complex (and hostile) deals successively at First Boston Corp, Wasserstein Perella, and Lazard. His surviving private equity firm continues to be a substantial media investor, including the acquisitive Northstar Travel Group (acquired in 2016) and ALM Media (2014). We should expect the New York Times, Hearst Corp and maybe even Penske Media to be keen to explore some kind of investment in, or acquisition of, the influential New York magazine. Time was when Conde Nast would have been in the running but not now. Perhaps other trophy buyers could include Michael Bloomberg or even Jeff Bezos.