6664: Rolling Out In Style—Without A Ride.

As previously noted, the King is dead. The magazine apparently failed to gain enough advertisers. The final issue tells the story. There are the obligatory beer and Hennessy ads. Plus, you’ll find the standard fare from Rocawear, Lugz and Stacy Adams—alongside countless porn products and male enhancement drugs. But the vast majority of messages are for tires and rims. Missing from the mix, ironically, is the once-lucrative support from automakers. The rims are without rides.

6634: The King Is Dead.

From Target Market News…

King Magazine to close with upcoming issue due to ‘economic conditions’

By Richard Prince

After six years and 50 issues, King magazine, which dubs itself “the illest men’s magazine ever,” is folding, publisher Dennis S. Page confirmed Wednesday.

King’s full-time staff of about seven is being let go, he said, and its next issue, now in production, will be its last.

“It’s brutal out there,” Page told Journal-isms. “It’s the worst economic conditions in 30 years.”

Page is also publisher of SLAM (on basketball), XXL (hip-hop music), Rides (automobiles) and Antenna (“what drops next” in consumer products). All are published by New York-based Harris Publications.

King reported an average circulation of 173,530 for the six months ending Dec. 31, down 11.3 percent from the year before. Advertising, not circulation, was the problem, Page said. The publication’s revenue staples were automobile and alcohol ads.

Page said XXL, as a music magazine, did not have the same problem and that there were “no concerns” about it folding.

Additional Note: Jimi Izrael offers his perspective at The Root.