Window Media, a company that owns the Washington Blade and a handful of other gay publications, has reportedly closed down, taking its newspapers with it just a month after the respected Blade celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Project Q Atlanta reported this morning that employees of the Southern Voice and David, Window’s two Atlanta-based papers, arrived at the office to find the locks changed and a note on the door:
“It is with GREAT regret that we must inform you that effective immediately, the operations of Window Media, LLC and Unite Media, LLC have closed down.” The note continues that employees should return Wednesday with boxes for their things.
“We had no inclination it’d be this morning. Everyone’s in shock right now,” the Southern Voice‘s editor, Laura Douglas-Brown, told Creative Loafing.
Window Media, which also owns the Southern Florida Blade, the Southern Voice and 411 Magazine, has had a tough couple years. In August 2008, the company’s major stakeholder, Avalon Equity Partners, was put in receivership by the Small Business Administration for failing to have private investments totaling half of the SBA’s $38 million loan to the firm. In July, Window CEO David Unger quit amid speculation that he was forced out by the SBA. There were also rumors this May that Unger was trying to sell some of Window’s assets.
Window was founded in 1997 with the goal of buying gay publications around the country to build a nationwide chain.
No one is answering phones at Window or the Washington Blade.
According to The Advocate, the Blade has been breaking news throughout its history, reporting from New York during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic and outing a nominee of Bill Clinton for firing gay employees. It also became the first-ever gay publication to interview a Republican presidential candidate last year.
Late Update: The Politico is reporting that members of the Blade‘s staff are launching a new venture. They’ll meet to discuss it tomorrow.
Late late update: The entire staff of two Window publications, South Florida Blade and 411 Magazine, will get to keep their jobs, according to an announcement by 411 editor Sheri Elfman. Both publications will now be published, under new names, by Multimedia Platforms LLC, which owns half of the Florida web site Mark’s List.
Elfman said 411 will now be called Mark’s List Magazine. The Blade will continue on under an as-yet-to-be-announced name on a biweekly basis. (Via Bilerico)
The move may have been in the works for a while. According to documents with the Florida Department of State, Michael Kitchens — the COO of Window Media — is listed as a manager of Multimedia.
