Success magazine shut down its New York office on Friday and let go its entire staff except for publisher Joseph Guerriero.
On its second relaunch since its founding, the small-business title had built a subscriber base of 650,000, according to its Web site. However, after a yearlong legal battle with Dallas, TX-based direct marketer VideoPlus – which also publishes a magazine called Success – the owners sold the marks and logos to the Texas company.
According to Guerriero, Success had started making money in the mobile market and was on the verge of closing a book deal when the staff was informed of the closing.
“At the end of the day, the owners just didn’t want to continue to invest in a print property the size and scope of Success,” Guerriero wrote in an online statement.
He added that, as far as he knew, the owners had transferred the Success marks and logos, but had retained all other assets and debt. Guerriero has been retained as an employee, but is unsure whether the owners will restart the magazine with him as publisher, or keep Success closed and offer him another position.
