Surprising and shocking news today – Rolling Stone has put itself up for sale! Yes, you heard it right. Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone is putting his majority stake in the company for sale. By this action, the magazine business, which has been one of the most popular ones right from the 60’s would no more exist in the same way it did before.
Rolling Stone magazine has always been known for its portrayal of popular artists and bands with cutting edge music. Apart from this, they are also known for their political and cultural reporting. With years of reporting, the magazine actually started developing a cult following, with many people treasuring their Rolling Stone magazine copies.
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According to the latest business news, apparently this sell off has emerged due to less advertising, drop in readership to online alternatives and an overall drop in its business attractions quotient. The company recently closed its print edition.
The sell-off happened when Wenner Media LLC sold a 49% stake in Rolling Stone to Singapore-based BandLab Technologies in September 2016.
This is the first time when the magazine company allowed an outside investor. The deal was struck in order to take the company towards different directions, according to Gus Wenner, the company’s digital chief.
Wenner Media had hired Methuselah Advisors to make take the sale ahead. On the other front, BandLab technologies are a budding digital music company that is co-founded by Kuok Meng Ru, from one of the richest families from Asia. BandLab Technologies declined to comment on this situation. BandLab is a flagship business of Kuok, which is a cloud-based online community that allows artists to make, share and collaborate through their music.
After the deal with BandLab, Rolling Stone has struck a partnership with heritage Guitar owners and Developers PlazaCorp. This decision involves making a guitar-making site in Kalamazoo, Michigan into a national music destination.
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