A stake in Rolling Stone magazine has been sold to a startup
The owner of iconic music magazine Rolling Stone has sold a stake in the publication to a Singapore startup to push it beyond media and into live events and more.
BandLab technologies, a social music making startup, will take a 49 per cent stake in the music magazine owned by Wenner Media, which also publishes US Weekly and Men's Journal. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed by either companies which are both privately owned.
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Head of digital Gus Wenner, the son of Jann Wenner who founded Rolling Stone in 1967, told Bloomberg: "It's a big moment. There is a great opportunity to take that brand and apply it into new and different areas and markets.”
BandLab was founded by Kuok Meng Ru, the son of Singapore business tycoon Kuok Khoon Hong, just last year. It will now focus on hospitality and merchandise around the brand, as well as events, but will not be involved in editorial decisions. The pair will form a new subsidiary in Asia, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The deal comes amid a downward trend in traditional print advertising. It boasts 27.3m global unique visitors to its website in the last 30 days according to Quantcast, the majority of which currently come from the US.