Playing the Field

Maxim Put Up for Sale

Courting potential suitors.

Channeling many of its readers, Maxim is playing the field. The iconic lad mag’s parent company, Alpha Media Group, announced Friday that it is exploring both the sale of the property and finding new investors, touting that Maxim “made the successful transition from a magazine property to a multichannel brand.” The magazine was sold to Quadrangle in 2007, before being inherited by six private-equity firms in 2009. Sales and ad pages predictably have dipped since, but the brand remains immensely popular with the military and has strengthened its multiplatform presence. But the mag’s not whoring itself to just the highest bidder. “If the price is not right or the best offer is not found, they will hold,” Ben Madden, the magazine’s president, says.