No wonder Giant founder Jamie Hooper was none too
keen to talk about the sale of his men's entertainment magazine to Radio
One. The deal, reported yesterday on Radar, was announced officially earlier today, along with the purchase price: a scant $270,000. (And you felt bad when Spin only fetched $5 million earlier this year.) That six-figure payout looks even more paltry when weighed against the more than $10 million Hooper reportedly received in initial funding from his father-in-law, venture capitalist Mort Meyerson.
With Hooper leaving the company, Giant's editor in chief, Smokey Fontaine, was named CEO in a statement that also noted "certain back-office functions will be consolidated into Radio One's corporate offices." Presumably that includes the three employees from the magazine's photo and production department who were laid off today, along with online editor Charles Coxe, a former number two editor at Maxim.
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