Gay media upheaval: NY Blade newspaper stops publishing, HX mag sold
”HX Magazine and the web site hx.com have been sold…. HX Magazine issue 931 dated July 10th, which will be released on July 3rd, will be the last one produced by HX Media and its staff.”
A press release sent from HX magazine founder, Matthew Bank, to the New York Press. (NY Press)
”Everyone was let go, but the people on The Blade know that they may come back if The Blade is coming back…. The economy and the future of print media being more difficult was definitely weighing on us.”
Matthew Bank, founder of HX magazine, explaining what has happened to The New York Blade. Just prior to suspending operations at the dwindling gay newspaper, its sister publication, HX magazine, was sold to an unnamed buyer.
The NY Times reports that the NY Blade’s Pride edition was down to 28 pages, and an auditing firm appears to show that their most recent distribution data had dwindled to 16,000 copies. (The New York Blade remains on the list of “Publications” at Window-Media’s website with a claim of 52 pages and 100,000 readers.) Two other gay publications related to the Window-Media/HX/Avalon partnership also ceased publication within the last several months: The New England Blade and Genre Magazine. (NY Times)
The New York Blade was originally founded in the 1990s as a joint venture by the Washington Blade’s long-time publisher, Don Michaels and a NYC-based publishing and distribution company. The DC & NY Blades were then sold to Window-Media when Michaels retired in 2002. But not long after, Window merged interests with Avalon Equity, an investment fund. It appears that the New York Blade ended up being split between the interests of HX, Avalon and Window-Media. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the federal Small Business Administration had an involvement with the millions of dollars handled by Avalon, and the fund was forced into receivership in late 2008. Bank reportedly said that the Avalon receivership had little to do with his decision to sell HX.
”Now, on top of the news that New York’s HX magazine, partially owned by Avalon, has been sold, we’re also told by an insider that Unger just announced his “resignation” to his staff.”
From the gay blog Queerty regarding the head of Avalon Equity, David Unger, and the investment fund that he ran to buy a major interest into the gay newspaper chain, Window Media, that publishes the Washington Blade and a number of other regional gay publications. It was reported that the Small Business Administration put Avalon into receivership late last year because it did not have enough capital on hand to comply with the terms of a multi-million dollar loan it was given. (Queerty)
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