Powerful Media, owner of Inside magazine and a media news Web site of the same name, is said to be close to hammering out a deal to sell itself to Primedia’s Media Central, headed by CEO Steve Brill.
The industry was abuzz yesterday with speculation on what a final deal would look like.
Rumors of mass firings swept the Inside newsroom of nearly 100 people.
Several knowledgeable sources said they expected Powerful Media’s major venture capital backers – Flatiron Associates and Chase Capital Partners – to stay on board in the new lineup in exchange for an equity stake in Media Central.
Powerful Media’s founders, Kurt Andersen and Michael Hirschorn, raised more than $30 million last year but are believed to have burned through about half of that so far – and are said to be spending money at the rate of more than $1 million a month on the money-losing magazine and Web site.
A deal now means that the unspent venture money – some $10 million to $15 million – gets rolled into the Media Central operations. Media Central is a unit of Primedia with media trade publications including Folio, Cable World and the Book Publishing Report newsletter.
Brill started the magazine Brill’s Content three years ago and added the Web site Contentville. Brill recently teamed up with Primedia to run its media properties as CEO under the Media Central umbrella.
Not clear is what will happen to the Inside magazine. TheStandard.com speculated that the two titles would merge into one. Another source tells The Post that Brill wants to keep the two titles alive, with Inside focused on the business side and Brill’s Content aiming for a larger consumer audience.
Inside and Brill executives could not be reached.