The Legendary Rolling Stone is for Sale

After 50 years of ownership independence, the legendary magazine that unites music and pop culture, Rolling Stone, is up for sale, reports Mashable.

Gus Wenner, son of Rolling Stone founder Jan Wenner and president and CEO of Wenner Media, explained in a statement that the company wants to explore strategic options for its majority stake to find the best position for future brand growth.

– We have made significant strides in transforming Rolling Stone into a multi-platform company, so we are excited to find the right way to build our brand on strong foundations and achieve exponential business growth, said Wenner.

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Jan Wenner founded the magazine in 1967 in San Francisco, which soon became synonymous with rock’n’roll culture, featuring cover stars such as the legendary band The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and of course, the Rolling Stones.

Renowned global writers such as Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe often wrote for the magazine, and famous music critic Lester Bangs took his first journalistic steps at Rolling Stone.

However, a false story about a campus rape at the University of Virginia, published in November 2014 and later retracted, severely tarnished the magazine’s reputation.

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Jan Wenner considers the sale of the magazine a smart move. According to Wenner Media data, the magazine’s audience consists of 60 million readers monthly.

In September 2016, 49 percent of the magazine was sold to the Singaporean company BandLab Technologies, while in the last three years, the brand’s digital traffic has increased by nearly 50 percent, social media presence by over 100 percent, and video views have skyrocketed by an incredible over 700 percent. In September 2016, 49 percent of the magazine was sold to the Singaporean company BandLab Technologies, while in the last three years, the brand’s digital traffic has increased by nearly 50 percent, social media presence by over 100 percent, and video views have skyrocketed by an incredible over 700 percent.