Boy titles on the block?

Felix Dennis is apparently on the prowl to sell his U.S. lad mag properties Maxim, Stuff and Blender, according to a story in Ad Age. He has retained an investment banking firm to shop it around.

"Dennis has a great track record of not waiting until it is too late to sell, which is the case with Maxim and Stuff," said Mark M. Edmiston, managing director, AdMedia Partners, an investment banking and advisory firm. "Blender is too soon, but no point in keeping that around if the others are sold."

Ad Age said "the lad category has cooled after several years of white-hot growth, and Maxim is now preparing for a redesign aimed at bringing in more mature readers and higher-end advertisers. Its ad pages fell 6.2% last year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Its newsstand sales have fallen from their heights, but its average paid circulation remains robust at 2.5 million, according to its latest statement to the Audit Bureau of Circulations."

"Mr. Dennis is not expected to sell The Week," the story said, "which has turned in rapid growth on a small base while much larger newsweeklies have stagnated."