Vibe magazine has seen better days.
According to the New York Times, the 21-year-old R&B and hip-hop magazine has been brought out by SpinMedia, the company that houses websites like TMZ, Gawker, BuzzFeed and JustJared.
The sale, which was for a disclosed amount, also included Vibe.com and Vibevixen.com. Steve Hansen, SpinMedia’s chief executive, described the magazine as “an industry leader in the urban and hip-hop category for decades.”
“It’s really exciting to add this to SpinMedia’s collection of music properties and bring more digital DNA to the team and see what they can do,” he said.
He went on to say that the sale may mean that Vibe will exist solely online. “We are still trying to find a print model that makes economic sense in the digital age,” he said.
According to SpinMedia, Vibe’s websites have 1.4 million visitors and serve 1.6 million video streams, while the print circulation only reaches an average of 301,000 readers.
