Top Editor Out At OK!
Celebrity-friendly photo-heavy gossip rag OK! just can't find any stability in this cold world! Its latest editor has been fired, just months after taking over. (Updated below)
The Disappointments Pile Up for Steve Rattner
More trouble seems to be brewing for Steve Rattner, the mega-financier who runs Quadrangle Capital and the man responsible for managing Michael Bloomberg's vast fortune. Last week the firm announced plans to shut down a $500 million hedge fund focused on media investments after the value of the fund declined and…
OK! Mag Boss Is Very Tired Of Losing Money
Internal drama at baby picture factory OK! magazine? You don't say! Richard Desmond, the crappy celebrity mag's billionaire owner, brought in former Wenner Media exec Kent Brownridge to be GM of the American version of OK! just a couple of months ago. But apparently Brownridge hasn't been able to make any money yet,…
OK! Chief Supersizing His Office?
Just because we're in the midst of the Great Magazine Die-Off and print media in general is having its worst month in the past 20 years is no reason to force editors into less-than-grand offices! We hear that Kent Brownridge, the new general manager of OK! magazine, is "having a wall removed" and combining two offices…
For Frugal OK!, No Posh Bonnie Fuller
Perhaps the recent rumors about editor-from-hell Bonnie Fuller helming celebrity weekly OK! were a clever way of ensuring a warm staff welcome for the real editor-in-chief and publisher, both set for announcement tomorrow. They are former Quick & Simple EIC Susan Toepfer and Niche Media senior VP Lori Burgess,…
Panic Reaches Famous-Baby Picture Market
As if celebrity babies didn't face enough perils — paparazzi, feuding celebrity parents, ill-advised playdates with Michael Jackson — they now have to keep a weary little eye on the stock market. Because amid Wall Street meltdown and the worst advertising decline in seven years rumors are now swirling that the …
OK! Trying To Make Baby Pics Finally Pay
Kent Brownridge, former deputy to magazine mogul Jann Wenner and recent overlord to Maxim and Blender, is now general manager of the U.S. edition of free-spending celebrity weekly OK!. It seems that between billionaire owner Richard Desmond supplying famous-baby-photo cash and editors Sarah Ivens and the creepy Rob…
The End of Home, a Redesign of Interview
Kent Brownridge
Brownridge is no longer the right-hand man to Jann Wenner, but he hasn't left the mag world behind: He's the chairman of Alpha Media, the owner of Maxim and Blender, which is funded by Steven Rattner's Quadrangle Group.
Jann Wenner Is Preggers! Jann Wenner Says He Is An Extraordinarily Talented, Prescient Individual!
Rolling Stone and Us Weekly owner Jann Wenner and his partner, Matt Nye, (for whom he dropped his wife, Jane) are expecting twins in January, according to Business Week's Jon Fine. The newest little Wenners will join his current army of four. But this party is just beginning—the interview transcript is something to…
Is Karen Danziger The Best Media Headhunter?
Today Kent Brownridge, Jann Wenner's former right-hand man and the honcho of new Alpha Media, the former Dennis Publishing, shouts the praises of media headhunter Karen Danziger. She's the exec vice president of Howard-Sloan-Koller Group, and she was the one who suggested somewhat frightening former Rolling Stone…
Multiple sources confirm that Maxim editor in chief Jimmy Jellinek has been canned by his new boss, Kent Brownridge, and his newly christened Alpha Media Group. Furthermore, a source tells us that it happened right before the 4 p.m. start of the Alpha Media Group launch party at the Cellar Bar at the Bryant Park…
Kent Brownridge, Alpha Male, Has Lad Mags
Kent Brownridge's acquisition of the Felix Dennis lad titles is finally complete. As mentioned before, Stuff will be folded into Maxim. No word yet on layoffs or whether they're shopping Maxim editor Jimmy Jellinek's job, but the press release, which you can find below, does indicate that stuffmagazine.com "will…
Kent Brownridge rumored to have won the Dennis Publishing auction, which means he's now the proud owner of Maxim. It also means he beat out Ron Burkle. [AdAge]
Tiny Dynamine
Media Bubble: Charlie Gibson for 'WNT' Anchor
• Today's speculation on the next World News Tonight anchor: Charlie Gibson. Because Diane wants him to. [NYO]
• That Times Mag Mark-Warner-Looks-Nothing-Like-His-Photo correction? It's all thanks to the Observer. [NYO]
• Howell Raines' latest memoir TK on May 9. In case 20,000 words in The Atlantic wasn't enough for…
Media Bubble: You'll All Miss Kent Brownridge
• Simon Dumenco doesn't buy the revisionist history that Jann Wenner pushed out Kent Brownridge, but he knows the often-incompetent mag business will miss the man Dumenco dubbed Dr. Evil. [AdAge]
• New Plamegate wrinkle: Now the prosecutor wants to talk to Time's Viveca Novak, who's so far cooperating with the…
Gawker's Week in Review: Jessica Simpson Left Flackless
• Jessica Simpson gets dumped by her publicist, who's tired of lying to the world about miserable state of Simpson's marriage. Could the PR industry be having its Jerry Maguire moment? Nah.
• Wenner honcho Kent Brownridge is (possibly) forced into an early retirement, courtesy of big Jann himself. Sadly, his…
Kent Brownridge Should Have Seen It Coming
A pal far more theatrical than we are calls to our attention, per the latest Wenner Media tumult, the opening scene of Shakespeare's King Lear. In it, Lear banishes a loyal longtime ally from his kingdom, even though the ally is merely looking out for the king's best interests.
Misty Water-Colored Memories of the Way Kent Was
It's tough to decide on our favorite bit in WWD's profile today of outgoing Wenner Media honcho Kent Brownridge.
