The parent company of Costa Mesa’s Riviera has sold the luxury magazine to Atlanta-based publisher Dickey Publishing Inc.
The sale includes 26 other regional luxury magazines that also were published by Los Angeles-based Modern Luxury Media LLC.
The deal comes after Modern Luxury put itself on the market in May. The magazine publisher hired New York-based investment bank Berkery Noyes & Co. to handle the process.
Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed.
Dickey won out over several other potential buyers, according to Bill Colbert, chief executive at Modern Luxury.
“There has been keen interest in Modern Luxury,” Colbert said. “Dickey Publishing distinguished themselves in a number of respects by placing the greatest value on Modern Luxury, our team, our brands and each of our markets.”
Dickey, publisher of Jezebel and Atlanta Luxury Living, has brought on Atlanta-based radio broadcaster Cumulus Media Inc. to run Modern Luxury through its Cumulus Structured Management Services division.
Cumulus will use the radio network’s existing sales force to drum up advertising for the magazines.
No word on what the sale means for Riviera’s Costa Mesa operations.
The monthly magazine competes with Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp.’s Orange Coast magazine and Irvine-based Freedom Communication Inc.’s Coast.
Riviera also vies against startups Newport Beach-based M magazine, the quarterly publication by luxury home brokerage McMonigle Group, and Newport Beach-based Bask magazine, a quarterly by brokerage Surterre Properties Inc.
Riviera’s sale ends an overexpansion for Modern Luxury that culminated in the departure of founder Michael Kong in February.
Colbert, Kong’s replacement, took over in March.
Kong and his brother founded Modern Luxury in 1993 with a single magazine, Chicago Social.
By 2007, they had nearly two dozen city magazines targeting upscale readers and advertisers.
Early on, Modern Luxury teamed with the late Roy Disney’s Burbank-based Shamrock Capital Advisors, which helped fuel the magazine publisher’s expansion into Orange County and other markets.
Shamrock sold its majority stake in 2007 to investors led by Beverly Hills-based Clarity Partners LP.
St. Joe, Radio Disney
St. Joseph Health System, an Orange-based nonprofit that runs 14 hospitals in California and Texas, is working with Burbank-based Walt Disney Co.’s radio division as part of a yearlong campaign on children’s health.
The Catholic hospital operator started working with Radio Disney in July as part of St. Joseph’s “Healthy for Life” campaign.
The partnership includes sponsored events, radio spots and online campaigns.
St. Joseph is coordinating several events with Radio Disney that started with July’s Huntington Beach Fourth of July Festival.
The events include educational programs where parents and kids are encouraged to sign pledges to be healthy for life.
Another 14 events are planned throughout the year in the state with Radio Disney, according Susan Solomon, vice president of marketing for St. Joseph.
Radio Disney also will be airing spots in California featuring St. Joseph doctors and nurses that provide health and wellness advice. It plans to feature a link on its website to redirect Radio Disney visitors to St. Joseph’s website healthyforlifeonline.org.
The website features cooking, exercise and overall health tips.
St. Joseph was approached by Disney earlier this year as the entertainment company was looking to get more involved in the health of kids.
Disney was attracted to St. Joseph after seeing a number of its previous campaigns handled by Orange-based public relations shop Westbound Communications.
The hospital operator has spent about $3 million in the past three years on the campaign, which started from a doctor’s desire to get physical education back into public schools.
“It started with a couple of schools and a couple of classrooms in Orange County,” said Kevin Andrus, St. Joseph vice president of corporate communications.
The campaign has grown in the past year to include classrooms near St. Joseph hospitals in Northern California. The goal is to expand the program to all areas where St. Joseph has hospitals.
Motorcycle Magazine Shutters
Costa Mesa-based Cycle News magazine shut down after nearly 50 years of publishing.
The weekly magazine, which reported on the motorcycle and racing industries, closed last month after being unable to recover from a decline in advertising.
The Sept. 2 issue was the magazine’s last.
The closure of Cycle News is the end of an era in motorcycle publishing.
Cycle News started in the Long Beach living room of Chuck and Sharon Clayton in the 1960s and at one time was the go-to news source for motorcycle executives and racers.
The magazine saw a steady decline in ad revenue and readers in the past decade as enthusiasts turned to the Internet.
Last month, Paul Carruthers, the magazine’s editor for the past 25 years, left.
Cycle News joins other motorsports and automotive magazines that couldn’t weather the downturn.
Irvine-based Haymarket Worldwide LLC ended its IndyCar Series magazine last year after a four-year run. Automotive publisher Irvine-based Source Interlink Media LLC, part of Bonita Springs, Fla.-based Source Interlink Cos., folded a handful of auto enthusiast titles last year, including Turbo Magazine and Sports Compact Car.
Another auto magazine to fall to the economy was Irvine-based Velocity magazine.
