PARAMUS, N.J.—Magna Publishing Group has purchased Club Magazine and its sister publications from Club Media Inc., increasing the total number of titles it publishes to over 60. The deal also includes Club International, Club Confidential and Best of Club.
Magna Publishing Group already includes established magazine titles such as Swank, Genesis, Fox, Gallery, Velvet and Gent.
Genesis Editor-in-Chief Dan Davis, veteran editorial director for Magna, has been named editor-in-chief of Club Magazine.
“Club is definitely one of the biggest men’s titles and it definitely becomes our biggest title on the Magna roster,” said Davis, who will continue to edit Genesis as well. “Club has been known a long time for its quality and we plan on continuing that quality in all aspects.”
The acquisition, effective immediately, solidifies Magna as the largest publisher in the men’s sophisticate field in terms of sheer volume of titles.
The company that eventually became Magna started out as a printer before beginning to publish Partner and Game in the 1970s. After purchasing Velvet in the late 80s, it officially became Magna Publishing Group when it bought Swank and its associated titles from GCR in 1993. Magna acquired Genesis and its related titles in ’97 and last year bought Gallery, Fox and Lollipops from Montcalm, which had declared bankruptcy.
“With this, it’s the biggest acquisition to date, getting the Club titles and web and DVD rights,” Davis said.
The first issues of Club and its sister titles under the Magna umbrella will be the January 2010 magazines, which are projected to be on the street in November.
