Rolling Stone magazine gets new owner after 50 years

The iconic Rolling Stone magazine has a new majority owner, ending Wenner Media's 50 years in charge of the publication.

Penske Media, whose portfolio includes Deadline, Variety and Women's Wear Daily, said on Wednesday (20 December) that it had reached an agreement with the New York-based publisher to acquire a 51% stake in the magazine.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed but according to the Financial Times the agreement values the publication at approximately $110m (£82m) and marks the end of Wenner Media's control of Rolling Stone.

The downturn in the print magazine industry and a series of strategic mishaps have piled pressure on Wenner Media, which last year sold a 49% stake in the magazine to Singapore-based BandLab Technologies, a music start-up founded by one of Asia's richest families.

Earlier this year, the publisher also offloaded celebrity magazine Us Weekly and men's lifestyle Men's Monthly to American Media, whose portfolio includes the National Enquirer.

Wenner, who founded the magazine in 1967 in San Francisco with music critic Ralph Gleason, will become the publication's editorial director. His son, Gus, who is currently the president and chief operating officer of Wenner Media, will remain in his role.

"Rolling Stone's past, present and future is great storytelling and that's where we want to put our investment," he said.

"Jay [Penske] has shown repeatedly that he has a deep belief in investing in content and investing in product. This will allow us to do that in a way we haven't been able to over the last couple of years."

Penske, the son of car racing tycoon Roger Penske, has led his media company to snap up a number of titles that had struggled with the move from print to digital and hinted that Rolling Stone represented a long-term investment.

"Like all our investments, our holding period is a very long time," he said. "It's forever."

Launched as a chronicle of the 1960s music scene and counterculture, Rolling Stone achieved iconic status through its covers, which have featured musicians, actors, politicians and other celebrities.

Despite being renowned for its music coverage, political journalism soon became a staple of the publication, which featured a number of great writers, such as Joe Klein, Hunter S Thompson and Tom Wolfe.