How is the magazine business?
 

I just saw this...




News-press.com
Bonita Springs magazine publisher Source Interlink declares Bankruptcy

Source Interlink Cos., the Bonita Springs publisher of Street Rodder, Motor Trend, Hot Rod and Street Chopper magazines controlled by billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos., sought bankruptcy protection as it moves to become a private company.

The company, which also distributes newspapers and other publications, listed debt of $1.9 billion and assets of $2.4 billion as of April 24 in Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Source Interlink publishes 75 magazines, mostly about cars and motorcycles, putting it at the nexus of two struggling industries. U.S. magazine advertising revenue in the first quarter fell 20 percent from a year earlier, according to the Publisher’s Information Bureau, an industry group. U.S. auto sales tumbled 37 percent in March. Source Interlink hasn’t reported a profit since the second quarter of 2007.
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“This restructuring will materially reduce our interest expense and debt levels,” Source Interlink Chief Executive Officer Greg Mays said today in a statement. The company also runs Web sites and distributes CDs, video games and DVDs in the U.S.

The company bought the automotive magazines, as well as Surfer, Lowrider, Power & Motoryacht and Snowboarder, from Primedia Inc. in 2007 for about $1.2 billion. It also acquired Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly.

Under an agreement with its lenders, about $1 billion of existing debt will be canceled and about $100 million additional liquidity will be provided, the company said. Source Interlink said a lender-approved plan of reorganization will be filed.

In February, the company won a temporary court order prohibiting publishers from blocking magazine shipments to its distribution business. The publishers had objected to a 7-cent delivery surcharge, imposed by the company and since rescinded, according to court papers.

AEC Associates LLC, directly and indirectly, through Digital On-Demand Inc.; Yucaipa One-Stop Partners LP; Yucaipa AEC Associates LLC; OA3 LLC and R. Burkle, own 48.37 percent of the common stock of the company, according to court papers. Scopia Management Inc. owns 9.01 percent, Goldman Sachs Group owns 17.7 percent and the remaining common stock is owned by Dimensional Fund Advisors.

The case is Source Interlink Companies Inc., 09-11424, U.S. Bankruptcy

MORE…...........
Source Interlink Files Pre-Packaged Bankruptcy
by Judith Rosen—Publishers Weekly, 4/28/2009 8:16:00 AM

After trying to right itself financially at the start of the year by charging more for distributing magazines, then suing competitors and magazine publishers with collusion in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York when the increase was rejected, Source Interlink is trying a different tack. This morning, it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware as part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan. According to Source, the bankruptcy is part of an agreement with lenders to eliminate $1 billion dollars of existing debt and to privatize the company. And Source said it expects to come out of the prepackaged bankruptcy in 35 days.

Some may wonder if that’s possible given the level of debt reported in the Bonita Springs, Fl.-based company’s Chapter 11 filing, which owes more than $1 billion and has assets of between $500 million and $1 billion. Leading off the list of the top 30 creditors are: HSBC Bank, which is owed $455 million; Time Warner Retail, $75.5 million; and Comag Marketing Group, $53.2 million. Levy Home Entertainment, which handles book distribution for Source, is out over $14 million. Source said it will pay all creditors in full if they agree to maintain current credit and payment terms.Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).




Now I just need to find 'the rest of the story'





Mick

Damn. I really hope that they can come out of this ok.

Hopefully they can restructure and come out of this.

***Unpopular Opinion Alert***
***Unpopular Opinion Alert***

Paper magazines & newspapers are a dieing commodity. The electronic age is upon us. Paper magazines & newspapers will all but disappear in my lifetime. Using paper for the purposes of magazines & newspapers is a heinous waste of resources when the internet has permeated our lives so completely. I find most of my automotive information on-line and I rarely look at paper magazines.

***Unpopular Opinion Alert***
***Unpopular Opinion Alert***

With the above said, I will miss those days of curling up with the latest issue and reading from front to back several times. There was a time in my life when I had my collection of magazines memorized from front to back. I could glance at a cover and tell you what was featured inside. I could go to a car show with my parents and tell them what components were used in that car's motor just from recalling the article I had read in Car Craft. Time marchs on. Sorry if someone from this board is caught up in the turmoil of this issue.

I'm a mixed breed. I like the internet, but I love my magazines. What will I do without Soap Opera digest? I'm switching to Novelas.

****ty news :mad:

Speaking of ****ty, what am I gonna read when I sit on the can for hours on end??? :lol:

I hope the chapter 11 can help them out. :_paranoid

MAN were they exact when they did this estimate. I'm sure it is way more complex then I could understand, But that just seems funny to me

I guess I could say I have assets between $1 and $500 million.

Rodger

Were fine.. a simple 30-day reorg to re-align debt. :)

In fact our magazine - CP - is having great growth.

Officil company memo:

Yea, and as I remember computers were supposed to create "the paperless office of tomorrow"... how did that work out? lol

not saying that it won't eventually happen, but computers don't yet have the portability and other attributes of magazines.

ahh but there will always be bathroom reading material...

"Using paper for the purposes of magazines & newspapers is a heinous waste of resources when the internet has permeated our lives so completely."


All the resources that go into making the electronics to connect and view 'paperless' info, all the batteries that are required to be mobile, replacing all the electronics with the fad of the month, replacing the batteries, etc. All the chemicals and process leftovers for circuit boards, various chips and microprocessors, all the nasty crap in batteries, fans, wiring. The resources to generate 120 VAC to power a quatro core, turbo, hot-shot PC to 'read' a magazine. I get a hardcopy in the mail, read it, save it for future reference or place it in my recycle container at my house. I don't see the heinous waste in hardcopy magazines.

good point....

I don't even subscribe to magazines and most likely never will.
All the reading and info I need is right here on Lat-G.

I will say it is nice to have a magazine when on an airplane though, when no internet is available and no movie to watch.

I'm glad you saw this thread and made a post, Steve. Camaro Performers (and your job) is the first thing I thought of when I read it. Glad the mag is having growth in this economy. That says a lot. Anybody on this forum spends a lot of time on the internet I'm sure, but I'll bet a lot spend a quite a bit of time looking through magazines too. They are just more handy and portable. (Great in the bathroom too).

x2! :thumbsup:

Thanks guys.. :)

Magazines still have an up on the internet.. the net is vast and full of many opions. This is both good and bad since it's also hard to tell the reliable info from the "not so much" stuff. Not that mags don't get is wrong but we have a better track record on average. lol

Also, anyone can get their car featured online but there's still something "special" about seeing your car in print.. on paper.. with real ink. I'm sure Scott can attest to that, he could build pages online but having the car in a magazine was just somehow more noteworthy.

I think the internet can work well with mags. Each brings something different to the party.

I dunno.....

Whenever I hear of a company "re-organizing" I read that as "We've extended our credit terms beyond what we can concievably pay back through our complete mis-management of funding and still maintain our extravagant lifestyles so let's screw our vendors by offering them .10 on the dollar! Someones gotta pay for it right?" http://climbatizeut.users.btopenworl...s/f-grumpy.gif

John

I wouldn't put both in the same category. Newspapers are reporting what happened yesterday. The internet tells you what happened in the past 5 minutes. I read my local daily and most of what I read I already read on the internet the day before. Craigslist is killing newspaper want ad revenue. I'm a typical buyer/seller and I now only use Craigslist. I haven't taken out a newspaper ad in many years now.
Magazines on the other hand do in depth reporting of current events and trends. Newspaper articles are very short. Do you think a newspaper would every do performance comparison between the 2010 Camaro and 2010 Dodge Challenger? Now if it's "porn" magazines you are talking about, I would have to agree. With the internet, who in the right mind would PAY for porn?:rofl:

A thirty day re-organization, that sounds nice and tidy, and convenient too.
Maybe my mortgage holder will give me a quick and easy reduction of debt and I can wait for thirty days for that to happen, no problem.

If magazines want to sell more maybe they should give us more content.
I know they only have so many pages they can print, but they all have a web presence that is way under used (ok it su*ks)
It would be nice if the magazines would become more 'media', maybe that would be more print and online.

What I would like to see is the magazine with a nice write up and the usual couple of pictures. BUT then how about a a bunch of FULL SIZE pictures on the magazine's web site. After all the magazine is a 'media' company, the current web site su*ks and the few pictures are tiny. Drive us to your web site with full size, very cool stuff that wouldn't fit in the print magazine. Then you can try and sell me all of the advertising garbage froth that I see online.
We know that the magazine has hundreds of huge pictures all taken at the photo shoot, how about sharing a few. I imagine there are even a few more pictures for the tech articles.
I don't think magazines are going away any time soon, but they do need to evolve and one way is to expand their web presence.



Mick

I agree,Seeing your car or work on a news stand is pretty cool.Owners of the cars are the most excited.It will always be easier to carry a magazine around to look at than a laptop.

Look what's going on with SUPER ROD..Anyone seen there books lately,.....I still get my Hot Rod in the mail

Thanks Steve. That's puts things into better perspective for those of us who worked their ass off for years on their own garage floor to build every part of their own car hoping one day that it might come out good enough to be featured here on a killer site like Lateral-g.net. Some of us don't have the resources to send their car off to the body guys, or the suspension guys, or the engine guys, or the audio guys, or the interiors guys, etc, etc, so we end up doing the work ourselves with less equipment and experience than the professionals we could have cut checks to. Or, maybe we do have the resources but want to do it on our own because we're just plain stubborn or a little too proud. As a result, our cars end up being only good enough to make it in online features. There are a few do-it-yourselfers out there that transcend to another level and deservedly make their way into a magazine, but for the most part, most of us average joes will just remain in the "featured-online" category. And for some of us, that'll be good enough. :thumbsup:

Anybody can get there car in a magazine if they cut enough checks to the right people.

X2 :thumbsup:

Yeah, what is going on with Super Rod? I was just thinking about that mag. I subscribe and haven't received an issue in forever. I went to their website and they show the current issue as being January with no info about whats going on.

I subscribe to Chevy Rumble, Super Rod, Street Rod Builder and American Rodder. These are all Buckaroo publications.

I hadn't gotten a American Rodder since Sept. 2008.

I spoke with Sonia that handles the subscriptions. She said that the next issue is schedule for Sept of 2009. At this pace, I going to have the will my subscription to my kids. :rolleyes:

She said they combine the Jan/Feb issue of Street Rod Builder in order to catch up.

Basically, they have felt the crunch of the economy. A lot of advertisers have cut the budgets.

i really felt at the outset when various outlets/publications started giving away the information for free it was a bad move. basically giving away all of the journalistic process/work/credibility ends up in people not getting compensated for their hard work. they should've followed the itunes type of model or like the software registration type deals, with a security code,or something. i dont know if this is even feasible now.

Now that is a great way to blend print and media technology !! The stuff that didn't make the magazine article could be added content found online at the mag.'s website. Genius !!! They could even include some new camera angles and additional info. , hell , maybe even some funny outtake photos.......Hmmm...........:_paranoid

Paul

Why not just offer the same magazine but in digital format? They have to digitize everything anyways for the printer so why not offer it on a subscription basis also, just like paper magazines? The difference could be that rather then JUST photos they could have a videographer at the shoot at the same time shooting and include it in the digital mag. It would be great for how to's and the such along with really getting a good all around view of the featured cars rather than just a few photos at different angles. It would also probably lower their distribution costs since they don't have to pay their distributors which would shore up their bottom lines.

The fact that most of their clientele is already online and used to reading things online is a no-brainer in my eyes!

Only drawback would be that you would be tied to your computer to read it but, nowadays, most people bring their laptops into their garage anyways!

If you like to read on the can, I can't help you!!! :lol:

John

X2:thumbsup:

Nothing against you Steve because i don't know what context you meant it in.I just agree with the point hes making.

I'm online a lot in the evenings checking out everyone's cars/trucks, but still like the thought of having cars in ink.

My cousin was thumbing threw a PHR a couple years ago and just happened to see my car in it....he had no idea I was building a camaro (we apparently don't talk much) but thought it was WAY cool that a car that cought his attention was mine...and right there on the news stand! Odds of him stumbling onto that article online arent so great.....

I think there is still room for both paper and interweb features.

I hope the mags can pull through... there is a very cool thing seeing a your pride and joy in print. It's also very "permanent" feeling. From a business standpoint, nobody knows what's going to happen. Buffet just said he'd never buy into newspapers again. Ad revenues are tanking. Magazines are hurting all over. It's going to take some really savvy management to pioneer the next generation of print / digital entertainment, and I hope consumers end up with something super kick-ass, which would also be great for generating revenue. I'd be a little leery of the 30-day re-org "nothing's going to change" idea... I'd imagine many things have to change to help them stay afloat. At any rate, if you like your magazines, it's time to support 'em!

I don't agree with his point. My old Nova and pleanty of others prove it wrong. :thumbsup:

Just rambling here...


I subscribe to quite a few magazines, but the check goes to (in one instance) Palm Coast FL to a mail drop. My guess is that the magazine sold it's subscription revenue off. The magazine does not care if I subscribe or not.

I get one or two magazines in the digital only format, its OK but not my favorite format, I won't do it again, no matter what Marty says.

The magazine is based on an 'add revenue model', that would answer why Air Ride has been on six covers in 18 months. Not bashing Air Ride here, those guys are cool and they make great products, but if those guys have 1/3 add pages in 10 or 20 magazines and each add costs five grand the revenue is just a math equation. If they spend alot of money and want to be on the cover, it looks like they have it figured out. BUT all of that advertising they have sold ALOT of product too.


So if you want to help the magazine, buy add space.

If you want to be on the cover, buy add space? Maybe, but not a sure thing.




I want the magazines to survive, so they need to give us more stuff or content. I've seen photographers take 400 shots during a photo shoot, so put a few FULL SIZE on the web site. There needs to be more content if you're going to survive in the future. Maybe then we can read all of the writers thoughts on a certain car, not just the 1000 words that the editor asked him or her to write.




Mick

His point is if you have the finances anyone can send there car off to someone and have something incredible built worthy of a magazine.So if you don't agree with this please prove me and him wrong and explain how this is not true.

Again? Ok. It goes both ways. Yeah, those kinds of cars get in the magazines, but plenty of non pro built non big buck cars get in the magazines too.

Well, I did mention in my rant that some home builders do occasionally get their cars featured in a magazine, but for the most part, magazines mostly feature high-buck rides or sponsor's/vendor's rides. Of course, I don't have a problem with that because I understand that they have a business to run and we all hope they'll stick around. I guess the main point I was trying to make is that I don't think it's true that 'anybody' can get their ride featured online if you also couple that remark with the comment that getting your car featured in a magazine is on a whole different level. I don't think the cars that are featured on websites like this should be pointed out as 'anybody could have done that'. I don't think that's quite fair to the folks who spent a lot of time building their cars and were stoked when their car was featured online. If someone wants to argue that this point of 'anybody can get their car featured online' is actually true(the argument is there), then it can also be argued that 'anybody' can get their car featured in a magazine if a person spends enough money, or sends the car to the right builder, or knows the right person in the publication business and so it shouldn't be considered as something 'extra special'. I'm a huge fan of magazines and I subscribe to about 6 of them, constantly purchase them at the newsstand, and I always will. However, if someone says "I got my car in a magazine", I don't really pay much attention to that remark unless I also hear from that person that they built all or most of the car themself. If I hear that, then I'm like, "You da man!". :bow:

Yep...job isn't finished until the paper work is done! :rofl: