Atlantic Media Sells 02138

A small New York publisher called Manhattan Media purchased 02138 magazine, an independent publication geared toward Harvard alumni, from the Atlantic Media Company on Friday, according to officials involved in the deal.

The terms of the sale of the publication have not been disclosed.

Bom S. Kim ’00 and Daniel M. Loss ’00 founded the magazine, billed as the “Vanity Fair of Harvard,” in September 2006 to publish articles about the school’s alumni and campus events.

The acquisition contradicts earlier reports about the magazine’s future. Last month, WWD.com reported that the magazine was on the verge of being bought out by Sandow Media, a company whose publications, such as the money magazine Worth, generally target wealthy audiences.

Tom Allon, the chief executive of Manhattan Media, said that his company intends to “continue building on the direction that the magazine has been taking.”

“It’s a fine publication,” he said. “We hope to make the magazine thicker by selling more ad pages and adding more editorial features and increasing the frequency of publication.”

Representatives from 02138 magazine would not comment on the recent deal.

Manhattan Media, which owns a number of local New York newspapers like the New York Press, also plans to revamp its newly acquired publication as an instrument for social networking and event sponsorship.

“We intend to build a social networking Web site for alumni to stay connected,” Allon said. “We hope it will offer a variety of services different from those of Facebook.”

The magazine has a circulation of roughly 100,000 readers. It is distributed free of charge to Harvard alumni who choose to subscribe.

02138 gained fame for its an annual Harvard 100—a ranking of the university’s most influential alumni. In last year’s list, the top five, in order, were former Vice President Al Gore ’69, President George W. Bush, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Allon said he intends to have a dinner in the fall honoring next year’s Harvard 100.

Allon also said he plans to publish similar magazines and rankings for each Ivy League school.

While no timeline has been set yet, Allon, an alumnus of Cornell and Columbia, said the next project would most likely involve either Yale or Princeton.

“We’re currently looking for summer interns and correspondents from each graduating class to give current Harvard students and recent Harvard grads a great forum for interaction,” Allon said.

—Staff writer Michael J. Ding can be reached at ding2@fas.harvard.edu.