beau branding: June 2011

another one bites the dust. sad to lose 944...

By Chris Mohney at BlackBook June 01, 2011

Print media! Who needs it! Well, there's one less rag to kick around now, as 944 Media will apparently be shutting down 944 Magazine as of the June issue. 944 filed for Chapter 11 last year, and in February of 2011 was acquired by Sandow Media. The troubled 944 had rapidly expanded over the last several years into a multi-edition urban lifestyle stroke book with plenty of celeb tie-ins. Unfortunately, one of those tie-ins contributed to the mag's demise, as a botched Super Bowl party led to messy legal and financial woes.

Regardless, 944 is just one of several lifestyle/design acquisitions from Sandow, which has been snapping up various fire-sale media entities for awhile now (Surface mag, Gen Art, and even Furniture Today, among others). 944 might have just become encumbered with too many alabtrosses to make for a viable relaunch. UPDATE: Looks like the Las Vegas incarnation of 944 will survive in some form.